The Shoe on the Road

How does that happen? You are driving down the road and there it is. A shoe. Can someone please tell me how the heck shoes end up on the roads? Did someone’s sister or brother throw it out the window as the family station wagon cruised down the interstate? But these aren’t kid’s shoes, they are almost always full sizers.

A week ago I spotted a black high top shoe (a sneaker, a gym shoe, what are they calling them these days?). It was in the westbound lane of Grand River Ave, just before the railroad tracks. It looked like a nice shoe. The next day, Shoe was a few feet closer to the tracks. Fast forward to today, and Shoe has crossed the tracks and made it all the way to the stoplight nearly 500 feet away.

Shoe is heading west.

Perhaps Shoe got fed up with its partner. Perhaps it has dementia and is lost. What is really sad is that people keep running over it. No one stops to help Shoe, or ask if it needs a ride, or takes it to Goodwill. Nope, they just drive over it like they do the neighborhood squirrels, raccoons, and opossums. I bet they don’t even notice it.

But I do.

I have changed my route to work so that I can follow Shoe and see where it ends up. If it gets too close to the curb the street sweeper will suck it up. Perhaps it knows this fact and that is why Shoe stays in the middle of the road. I don’t know. But I look for it every morning.

Shoe must travel another 1500 feet or so to reach the Grand River. By my calculations, at the current rate of travel of 70 feet per day, factoring a delay of 48 hours getting bounced around at each of two very busy intersections, Shoe should arrive at the River in about three weeks, give or take. That would be around June 13^th. Then, shoe will have to find a dog to grab it and toss it over the bridge so it can begin its big summer adventure down the Grand. Thrilling.

My only fear for Shoe is that it gets where it's going before it loses its...sole.

Sorry couldn't help myself.