PRINTConnecting with nature
July 3, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
There’s something really appealing about getting away from summer city life. A muggy evening spent on a rickety wooden porch with a cold beer, a small group of friends and new acquaintances, crickets providing background music … so that’s why people take off to lake houses and cabins in the woods on weekends.
Sure, the downtown patios are inviting, but there’s an alternative to Columbia’s urban bar scene: the Trailhead Barn and Grill, Chris and Jane Rodriguez’s bar that’s pretty much in the middle of nowhere. (It’s a 35-mile jog north and west to Higbee, the nearest town to the Trailhead.)
“The Hidden Hitching Post” looks at how the couple makes a living and a life doing something Jane had always dreamed of. Since last November, the Rodriguezes have been serving food and beer (sorry, no liquor) to nearby residents and nature lovers just passing through. So far, so good, especially since the building’s previous life, also as a bar, was a little too rowdy for most.
Opening a restaurant is a risky venture. This couple lives just up the stairs, has a knack for making patrons feel at home and loves the rural area they’ve nestled into. And when that's the case, putting in some hard work isn’t all that unappealing.
But as ideal as it might seem to permanently get out of town and away from the daily drone of rush hours, crowds and blaring sirens, it’s just never going to actually happen in my life. I’m too attached to my connections to the outside world — such as my computer and its ability to get me on the Internet almost anywhere. As up-to-speed as I like to think my technological habits are, I’m constantly struggling to stay ahead of the curve.
For a guide to what’s hot and what’s not in the wireless world, look at “Go-go gadget.” It might surprise you to learn that YouTube videos and Facebook feeds have gone the way of 8-tracks and VHS tapes.
