Walk across Rowan begins

Salisbury Post reporter Mark Wineka starts his latest cross county walk at the Wil-Cox Bridge. Now closed to Southbound US 29 traffic the Wil-Cox bridge awaits it future as a possible pedisterian bridge. The bridge is currently own by Davidson County. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

William Givens stands near his home on US 29 North of Spencer talking about the days of his youth when he enjoyed making forts in the woods nearby and playing with friends. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Now closed to Southbound US 29 traffic the Wil-Cox bridge awaits it future as a possible pedisterian bridge. The bridge is currently own by Davidson County. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

A boater on a jet ski motors under the US 29 Bridge on the Yadkin River. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post,

As seen from the Wil-Cox Bridge, a lone person stands near the waters edge at the York Hill Boat access on the Yadkin River on Sunday afternoon.Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Robin Smith, has been waiteressing at Hendrick's BBQ off and on for 15 years. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

The flowering planters that line the streets in downtown Spencer draw many butterflies. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Hugh Jarvis (left) talks with Randy Gibson in the parking lot of the North Carolina Transportation Museum on Sunday afternoon. Jarvis' family gathered at the NCTM for his 75th Birthday for a picnic and a tour of the museum. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Salisbury Post reporter Mark Wineka takes shelter from one of several bouts of heavy rain in the foyer of Sideways Tavern along US 29 North of Spencer during the first day of the latest Walk Across Rowan. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Hendrick's BBQ has a three wheeled red wildfire delivery vehicle parked out front with hopes of someday making deliveries. in the meantime it is a advertising display. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com - Follow Mark across the county on his blog! Just click here.

 SPENCER — We had just reached the part of Spencer where sidewalks begin, not far from the Chicken and Oyster Shack.

William Givens spotted us from the other side of North Salisbury Avenue and walked over.

Post photographer Jon Lakey and I were soaked and, looking west, we saw more rain headed our way. But we were hot and steamy and thankful we could stop and speak with Givens.

The rain had stifled his plans for going to High Rock Lake and hanging out on Goat Island. The day had pretty much been devoted to church and taking the family out to eat so far.

He learned we had started our walking trip at the Yadkin River, near the now demolished N.C. Finishing Co. plant. He sure would like to see that place become a racetrack, as proposed in the past, Givens said. It would mean a lot of revenue for the community and, above everything, jobs.

Givens had once been part of the demolition crews tearing the old textile plant apart and hoped it would give him a good line on a job building the racetrack to replace it.

But things have yet to pan out, and Givens is now unemployed.

“Our work just got slack, man,” he said.

Givens inherited his grandmother’s house after spending much of his childhood in Spencer.

The house? “It’s not the prettiest thing, but it keeps me dry,” he said.

The town? “I’ve run these streets all my life,” he said.

He told us a few good stories and also noted that a tornado passing through Spencer some months back had ripped some shingles and metal off his house.

But again, it keeps him dry — more than could be said for Jon and I Sunday on the first day of our walk through the heart of Rowan County.

• • •

After attending the morning service at Yadkin United Methodist Church, Jon and I started our five-day trek at the Yadkin River.

We walked several hundred yards north past the rubble that is now the former N.C. Finishing Co. site and stopped in the middle of the Wil-Cox Bridge, which spans the Yadkin River and connects Rowan to Davidson County.

The bridge is closed to vehicle traffic these days and, I think, actually belongs to Davidson County. For us, it was a great pedestrian bridge from which we could see the north-south railroad bridge, the busy Interstate 85 bridge traffic and, behind that, the seven smokestacks of Buck Steam Station.

Two jet skis roared through on the river under us.

Highway historic markers reminded us we were relatively close to Trading Ford and following a trading path used long ago by Indians and the first settlers of this region.

By following U.S. 29 south toward Spencer Sunday, we also were on the Blue Star Memorial Highway, which honors the country’s armed forces.

It wasn’t a good sign, standing on the bridge at 12:55 p.m, when we felt the first drops of rain.

• • •

The rain seemed to be going sideways by the time we reached the Sideways Tavern.

Drenched already, despite the plastic ponchos and trash bags we tried to employ, we placed ourselves under a skinny eave of the tavern building.

We ate our peanut butter sandwiches there, and regretted that we hadn’t made a dash for the dryness of an open garage across the street.

It wasn’t long before we heard sirens and saw a Miller’s Ferry firetruck pulling into the parking lot. It paused before turning around and heading back toward the direction of Spencer.

At first, Jon and I worried that we had tripped some kind of alarm at Sideways, but a guy in another Miller’s Ferry rescue vehicle drove by, stopped and asked whether we had reported the strong odor of gas.

We said no, and he also headed back down the road.

As the rain was letting up, the tavern’s neon “Open” sign came on, and we heard noises inside. I rapped on the door, and one of the Sideways employees allowed us to step into the alcove and shake off the water.

It proved to be good shelter from the storm.

• • •

Just up the road from Sideways, we ran into Phil Hannah, a rising junior at North Rowan High School, who had just popped out of the woods near the railroad tracks.

Hannah and a friend were looking for a cell phone he had dropped on his way to show firemen where the smell of gas was coming from. Apparently, they had called it in.

“It was a big hiss,” Hannah said. “It sounded like air pressure. I’m assuming it was a leak.”

Hannah had been visiting his girlfriend’s house across the street.

The leak apparently was close to the tracks and continuing work on a transmission line in this area.

Neighbor Ed Welch, a third-shift worker at the Food Lion warehouse, had just awakened and heard all the sirens.

Now he was helping Hannah find his cell phone.

We wished them luck.

• • •

The second rain hit us not far from Hendrix Barbecue.

We decided to sit out this deluge inside. Waitress Robin Smith brought us two iced teas and kept the refills coming.

Hendrix is one of those barbecue places with good food — it was fried flounder and meat loaf night Sunday — plenty of metal soft drink signs, lots of pig stuff and country music on the radio.

It has a steady drive-through business, besides all the regulars who eat breakfast here, then dinner and probably lunch the next day, Smith said.

The best part about the job is the people, she said, and Smith knows most of the customers.

“Bye, Jerry, we’ll see you back across the river,” she told one man as he left.

Another time, she greeted a couple at the door with, “Hey, how y’all doing? Good to see you.”

“I have some customers here I waited on 15 years ago,” Smith explained later.

We asked Robin who could tell us about the tiny three-wheeled truck parked outside the restaurant that said it was a Hendrix delivery vehicle.

Young Dana Garris, one of the managers and son to owner Bill Garris, came by our booth later to answer our questions.

They haven’t quite figured out how to get into the barbecue delivery business efficiently, Dana explained of buying the Japanese truck, a Wildfire.

“Then we figured we’d play with it,” he said.

The truck has been good for parades and as a moving billboard. Just parking it out front draws a lot of attention.

It requires motorcycle tags, has a motorcycle engine and drives like one. It also has a CD player, power steering and air-conditioning.

It can attain speeds up to 55 and 60 mph, and Dana said it’s hard to complain about the gas mileage at 72 mpg.

We paid for our teas and, walking by the Wildfire, noticed its decaled message on the raised back tailgate:

“This is as fast as I can go.”

• • •

We had to stop at Real’s Latin Mix, the place where the sign has said for years: “LPINS” — which translates to Lowest Prices in North Spencer.

Its gas price of $2.58 a gallon was pretty low.

A woman clerk inside, who asked not to be identified, said most people are coming in for beer and cigarettes, too, and the place also offers plenty of fishing worms, nightcrawlers, beef jerky and Red Bull.

• • •

The N.C. Transportation Museum at Spencer Shops seems to take up one whole side of Spencer proper.

It attracts people from across the state — people such as those who came from Gastonia, Greensboro, Charlotte and elsewhere for Hugh Jarvis’ 75th birthday party.

Jarvis, who lives in Charlotte, said he grew up in Mooresville, where he delivered the Salisbury Post, Charlotte News and Grit newspapers as a boy.

Some 14 family members met at the museum Sunday to celebrate with Hugh.

“It’s been very enjoyable,” his sister, B’Ann Vance of Gastonia, said. “The rain didn’t spoil the picnic which we had under the shelter.”

Vance’s 21/2-year-old great-granddaughter, Zoey, heard her tell me her name and protested.

“No, your name is Gram,” Zoey said.

• • •

Scott Severt had just started a tiller at his auto upholstery shop on South Salisbury Avenue when we were walking by.

He stopped the machine and visited with us for a little bit, explaining it was the first year for his garden behind the shop.

All that was left were watermelon and cantaloupe, he said.

He had been in the residential construction business before the economy bottomed out. Since November, he has been working at the shop his father started.

“I just kind of got into it by accident,” Severt said.

By the time we spoke with Severt, the sun was out, and Severt already had peeled off his shirt. Spencer folks were coming onto their porches, taking to the sidewalks again or getting ready for Sunday evening church services.

It had been a full, wet day, filled with sideways rain, a gas leak, iced tea, a three-wheeled truck, family gatherings and the sobering fact that things could be better for a lot of people.

And as we walked toward Salisbury, I decided Jon and I should put a sign on our own tailgates:

“This is as fast as we can go.”

Wineka and Lakey’s route today will take them through Salisbury, mostly following Main Street.

Mark will be giving daily updates on his travel experiences across Rowan in his blog.  Click here to read the latest!