A Bike Ride Around Town and in and out of Memories

Today, instead of riding a bike trail, we decided to take a bike ride around town. It ended up being 15 miles. We had to wait for a train on 9th St. near the beginning of our ride. As I was sitting there waiting I started to think about all the memories 9th St. holds from my growing up days. Funny how one can drive down the streets of Watertown and never think about any of that, but riding a bike gives you much more time to reflect and remember. Come with me on my ride down Memory Lane.

This used to be the Old Elm Mill right on the train tracks on 9th Street. I remember when this mill burned to the ground and we all went with our families to watch the place burn. It was a big fire due to the grain in the mill and it was huge excitement in this town. It has been rebuilt and is now part of a carpet store.

Another memory on 9th Street is Faye Maas' house. Not sure if her parents are still alive or still live there, but that house holds lots of memories, most of them scary. Someone had hanged themself up in the attic at some point or at least that is the story Faye told us which made this house somewhat haunted to us. We had lots of sleepovers there and the ouija board was a staple at those parties. I always pushed the pointer to the right answer especially when it involved "who likes me" questions. I didn't want to take the chance that the board could actually give me a bad answer. We also called Mary Worth, who was some dead lady and played Up Table Up. Lots of witchcrafty things going on there and to think that Faye is now married to a WELS pastor!

Another house on 9th Street belonged to family friends, the Fentzlaffs. My family spent lots of good times at that house until the Fentzlaffs moved to Brookfield where the good times continued. I actually met their neighbor in Brookfield, a girl named Jan Tenhula. She was definitely from the big city and hanging with her was so much fun. She would take me along "cruisin' the Ave" which was Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee. She always was up on the latest trends. The Fentzlaff's oldest son suffered brain trama in a scuba diving accident gone terribly wrong and then Zeno, Lorraine, and Mike all died within years of each other. Only one son remains, but we have since lost touch. Funny what the mind recalls just by seeing a house.

We rode up to Walmart. There is supposed to be an airplane in the sky here that was taking off, but not sure it is there. There are new condos built in this area and it is there that I recently reconnected with a long, lost friend, Pam Wilke. She and I met when our girls were little and we were great friends until different High Schools took us in different paths. It felt so good to sit in her new living room and catch up. We shared lots of good memories on our visits. John and I will be going to Pam's wedding on Labor Day. Her husband, Bob died of brain cancer about three years ago and she has been blessed with another man to love and with whom to share her life. We plan to keep our friendship nurtured in the future.

After Walmart, we rode down Airport Road to Ebenezer Road and back again. You can see Ebenezer Moravian Church up at the top of the hill. My High School boyfriend's family used to live on Airport Road and we passed the old house. We dated for over three years and I think I was in that house two times. He was either embarrassed of me or of his family, not sure which. Since he had five brothers and sisters, he enjoyed hanging out at my house. Lots of memories from that relationship, a long walk down Memory Lane for sure.

This is the wastewater treatment plant. We like to ride the mile out and back because it goes along the river and has little traffic. I remember touring the treatment plant with our gradeschoolers at Mary Linsmeier. Quite the interesting tour, for sure. That is the only memory from that spot.

From there, we headed home and rewarded ourselves with subs from PJ's. There are many more memories along this route, but I have revisited enough for one post.

Tonight we are going out with our college friend, Joan-making more sweet memories. Should be fun!