I’m impressed. Arthur and Raleigh Upshur haven’t let wind, rain, or heat deter their cross-country bike trek. Amazing scenery, fascinating people, and incredible wildlife — including a six-foot snake in Colorado and a plague of frogs in Kansas — keeps their trip interesting, Arthur writes to The Bee. An off-route visit to Augusta, Kan., to see Raleigh’s granddad’s childhood home turned out to be quite the experience for the two bicyclists, culminating in some tire-piercing dirt and gravel roads back to the route, and several miles biked in the dark with the lowing of cows and coyotes yodeling in the background. Not only have they determined to stick to the main roads, says Arthur, but he has learned that headlamps at night are great bug attractants.

Last week they left the hilly Ozarks of Missouri, where they enjoyed the famed (among bicyclists, that is) Cook’s Café 42 flavors of pie; not that Arthur and Raleigh tried all 42 varieties…. The flat lands of Illinois made for a quick and pleasant ride, and July 24 found them in Kentucky where the real challenge is (and are my feline sensibilities surprised by this?) dogs. A canine caper involving teeth and the tent on top of Raleigh’s bike finally led the bikers to break down and buy pepper spray. “Just the sight of the container makes most dogs back down,” writes Arthur. Well, you know how much sympathy I have for those bike-chasing Kentucky canines.

Unlike the inhospitable hounds, they are finding Kentuckians to be great people full of great stories. And as much as they are relishing the beauty of that state, they are pleased to note that the last state on their trek, Virginia, is only a couple of days away.

Those who may have thought Debbie Aurelia isn’t serious about securing her position as Newtown’s new town clerk in November’s election probably changed their minds on Tuesday night when the candidate showed up to accept her endorsement by the Republican Caucus, just ten days after having an emergency appendectomy.

After a rainstorm last week, 8-year-old Colin Villamana of Pumpkin Lane found a balloon on his lawn with a note attached. The note was from another boy, Mendy Diomonte, who launched the balloon from Camp Bais Dovid in Monsey, N.Y., which is in Rockland County. The note requested a response, so Colin sent off a card to Mendy with his name, age, and location. He sent it by way if the US Postal Service and not by balloon, however.

Jim Hellauer, a Newtown expatriate now living in Philadelphia and Florida, stopped by the office last week as part of his tour of some of his old Newtown haunts, including Hawley School. He spent a comfortable night at the Dana Holcombe House overlooking the flagpole, which gave him an unmistakable sense of where he was. Jim says hello to all those locals who may remember him.

You can always bribe a cat with a mouse. I heard a few snickers as I strolled across the desk and peered beside the keyboard and saw an electronic mouse, but I have learned to use it to peruse my own e-mails anyway. Luckily, I also learned to read in one of my past nine lives, though some snarks have suggested that I have yet to learn to write. I opened an e-mail this week that will probably need to reach more people (and cats) other than myself by August. The Fairfield Hills Authority meetings that regularly take place at Town Hall South at 7:30 on the third Tuesday of each month will be taking place on the third Wednesday starting in August. Now you know! For anyone interested in hearing the progress from architects and planners involved in the future redesign of the Fairfield Hills campus, dust off your notebooks for Wednesdays!

I have been reading over our education reporter’s shoulder as she researches the old district schools for the Back-To-School supplement. Besides learning that there were 27 district schools in Newtown before the 1920s, I found out that the Edmond Town Hall Theatre used to have competition from another theater that was across from St Rose. The competition closed, however, because it wasn’t equipped for talkies and the theater on Main Street was.

To cut down on all the shouting and cryptic sign language, a telephone has been installed in the police station lobby to allow members of the public speak to directly to emergency dispatchers through the thick glass windows in the dispatch center — just when the dispatchers were getting good at reading lips.

Talk about a sign of the times. AT&T, the telephone company, has removed the coin phone that formerly stood outside the police station. It seems that the telephone company wasn’t making any money with the pay phone, now that virtually everyone who wants one has a cellphone.

Town police conducted a sobriety checkpoint on the night of Saturday, July 21, and early morning hours of Sunday, July 22, on Church Hill Road, near Hawley School. Although the enforcement project did not turn up any drunken drivers, police did note 33 motor vehicle violations during the course of their work. Eight police officers are stationed at the checkpoint, so it’s not a good idea to try to avoid it once you encounter it. In fact, police take the trouble to find out why motorists turn around after they encounter the checkpoint. So when you see one of these checkpoints, you better resign yourself to having to stop one way or another.

I’m trying to come up with a similar system to track down readers who might want to avoid reading this column for one reason or another. The best I’ve come up with is my never-ending plea to…

Read me again.