St. Peter Herald

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Oct. 13, 2010 - Certainly many of us in St. Peter wil miss the Red Jacket Trestle, which is coming down because the fall flood of 2010 rendered it unsafe. Flood water ate away at one of the support pillars of the bridge, which dates to 1874. If there's a more peaceful and scenic paved trail in Minnesota or the world than the Red Jacket, I hope to someday see it. The spectacular trestle stands tall near the 4-mile mark. "Tall" is the understatement. We never measured the bridge's height, but it seems like at least 70 feet. Surely many a St. Peterite has stood atop the bridge deck, dropped a leaf, watched it float in the breeze and counted how many seconds before touching the Le Sueur River's current or river bank. And then run to the trees to pick another leaf. Over and over again. That was economical fun for the Lee family years back before the kids discovered Facebook. The Red Jacket Trestle was extra special in April, May and June of 2006. The Red Jacket Trail covers 5.75 miles from the Mankato YMCA to its outlet north of Rapidan. I could find time in those days to run just once per week, and it was always a 10-miler on the Red Jacket Trail. Five miles out. Five miles back. Each mile in under eight minutes. Total time for the 10-miler was always one hour, 18 minutes and some seconds. Treading across the trestle between miles three and four was always daunting because the entirety of mile 5 was uphill on the out-and-back course. Conversely, mile 6 was entirely downhill, and at the base of it was the inviting trestle, which offered perhaps the most spectacular view of the run. What a beautiful area of Southern Minnesota that is, and seeing it from atop the trestle was the best eye candy on the run. Losing the trestle as part of the trail experience is a bummer. But, the Red Jacket Trail has a low route in that area too. It's not like the trestle was essential to the trail. It sure was a nice touch, though. Oct. 12, 2010 - I'll shout it from any mountaintop: I love that duck. The tennis players, and many others, know her as Peepers. Peepers was heard over the North Intermediate School loud speaker when she paid a visit in late May. She got another mention over the Middle/High School loud speaker in September when she followed John to school and made an appearance at the front door. Peepers is the Lee family pet duck and has been been since her egg hatched in our living room in May. This is one of those crazy Grandpa stories that keeps on giving, and will until at least next spring, apparently. Grandpa in April gave John, 12, and Sophia, 9, an incubator and 20 mallard eggs. Only one hatched. Peepers needed tender loving care to the maximum, so that meant a large Tubberware bin and a heat lamp in, you guessed it, our living room in the spring. We moved Peepers to the back porch in late May as the temperatures started warming up. By June 20, Peepers was living in the back yard and roaming freely. No fences. No boundaries. Peepers' daily routine involved visiting a cat in the neighbors' west-facing window at 6 a.m. She would fly away for the day. We wouldn't see her.

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