Published: June 22, 2007 11:46 am      

Trail ride turns into a trip down memory lane

Recent leisurely rides along the Allegheny Highlands Trail have been more for me than a journey from the Frostburg trail head to the Borden Tunnel or beyond to the Big Savage Tunnel. They have been a surprising trip down memory lane.

Especially the downhill rides that seemingly transcend the years by the mile.

As a South Cumberland kid, I often played sandlot ball at the area ball fields - Taylor Field, Penn Avenue, Constitution Park or Post Field - with a bunch of neighborhood kids (big guns like Tom Valentine, Bill Weisenmiller, Russ Davis, Jeff Bailey, Bill Adams, Gary Cooper, Gary and Jim Walters, to name just a few). Kept me in shape for my formal play with the Dapper Dan Giants and the Hot Stove League Rotary - but so did regular bike rides along the C&O Canal towpath. Talk about easy living.

The biggest things on my mind were playing ball, riding my three-speed Schwinn, and daily delivering of the Cumberland Sunday and Evening Times - a great eight-year education in responsibility and relationships - that allowed pinball encounters and frosted-mug root beers at Storer Bros. confectionery on Virginia Avenue, and occasional saved-up-for purchases of fancy pullover sweaters displayed in Schwarzenbach's storefront window on Baltimore Street. Not to mention fabulous fish sandwiches from Burke's Tavern on Fifth Street (now west Industrial Boulevard) or a trip below the Virginia Avenue subway to the "real" South End for a Lacy's hoagie.

Regular visits to Packie's Bakery, Dutch Bartik's Sno Cone Shop - which also featured hot roasted peanuts - and Wachter's cigar shop, with the absolute best supply of comic books, ruled the day. (Except for mandatory haircuts at my grandfather John I. "Pop" Nixon's Old Homestead barbershop on Virginia Avenue.

And there was whiffle ball in the alley (key players: N.T. Smith, Tom Frame, Donnie Helm, Dave Howser, Royce Smith, Gary Brinkman and big brother Jan, although sometimes he wouldn't let me play). There were also daytime, dusk or anytime raids of neighbors' cherry trees even though I had one in my own backyard.

But, more importantly, there was yet another activity that benefited me the most - my frequent, solitary trips to the old Penn Avenue School library, that served as the public library site at that time in the early 1960s.

Browsing the narrow aisles lined by metal shelves atop wooden floors, I would discover treasure after treasure in books on every subject. Reading was something that I loved since first grade, along with spelling and writing. I wanted to be able to pronounce the word, spell it and know its meaning. (As a third- or fourth grader at St. Mary's School, I was the only one who could define the word nonchalant. Boy, was I proud.)

Armed with a stack of hardbacks half as tall as me, I'd hurry a few short blocks home to explore my newly found treasures. My mind was quick and my curiosity greater and I would absorb the pages one by one, envisioning what I read. Within a couple of days, I had finished each book, clearing the way to return the books well ahead of the due date, and to qualify for a fresh supply of reading material. The hospitality accorded to me by Mrs. Rice, the librarian, and her kindly co-worker whose name I cannot recall, added to the enjoyment. I did this every summer as a kid. And, all the while, reading daily the Cumberland News in the morning and reading (and delivering) the Evening Times in the afternoon. That was living. Reading was the best, and still is.

Now, there are books that you can listen to. Watching the movie rather than reading the book has been an option for many years. For me, reading the book has always proved more enjoyable.

The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew mysteries, Ian Fleming's exciting James Bond novels, all took me on adventures that I could not have experienced without the printed page.

So four or five decades later - who's counting? - I still like to ride my bike, play ball and most importantly, read (and write).

Oh, yes, things are much different in today's high-tech world. But there is one thing that will never be replaced - the printed page and the enjoyment it offers to those who take it in.

Want to help your kids? Want to give them something that they will forever appreciate and use? Read to them. Let them see you reading. Show them the value of reading and its benefits.

And take them for a bike ride on the Allegheny Highlands Trail for a leisurely scenic ride and leave your 2007 stress behind.

Why not make a memory? And maybe even unlock some fond memories of your own.

Jeffrey Alderton can be reached at jlalderton@times-news.com.