The road behind my house, US Rt. 24, is one of the busiest arteries into and out of Toledo. It runs roughly along the Maumee River from Toledo to Ft. Wayne with the first third of the trip quite beautiful because the road runs right along the river through that bit.
Some years ago the Ohio Turnpike doubled its tolls, doubling truck traffic on secondary east-west roads overnight. Even before the toll hike Rt. 24 was heavily traveled by trucks heading through Toledo to Indianapolis. After the hike it became a nonstop river of semis.
Today various state and federal bodies are in the process of re-routing 24 and converting it to a four-lane limited-access interstate. This will remove one of two rivers bisecting Waterville--the Maumee will stay but the river of trucks on Rt. 24 running through the center of town will go, and we will be the happier for it.
But though the truckers won't miss our town (and we won't miss them), I suspect the truckers will miss the Waterville Pig....
One of the more visible houses alongside Rt. 24 in our town has had a big concrete pig in its front yard the entire time I've lived here. Every few weeks the owners redecorate their pig. The pig has been sitting in a rowboat fishing in the river. It has driven a herd of reindeer while seated in a sleigh. It has hatched Easter eggs. It's a regional landmark, yet I've never heard anyone speak about it publicly. It's never been in the news. It's never been featured in a paper. So after fourteen years of enjoying the pig I think I'm going to start casually chronicling it here.
With the 4th of July approaching what will any self-respecting, patriotic pig be doing? Lighting off mortars and bombs, of course.
