June 20, 2008
Jammin' on the one
Forget Baton Bob, Beetle Bob and Ponytail Bob. My favorite St. Louis micro-celebrity is Raynard Nebbitt, the guy who rides a ten-speed bicycle with a model of the Rock Hill overpass mounted on its handlebars. I'm sure you've seen him pedaling furiously down Arsenal or Lansdowne. My friends and I used to compare sightings, wondering if Raynard had a miniature replica of the whole town of St. Louis. At lunch with my friend Breanna, I asked her if she'd ever had a Raynard sighting. Being the kind of girl who knows about everything, Breanna had not only seen Raynard, she informed me there is a grassroots campaign to rename the Rock Hill overpass after him. We then shared the regret that everytime we see Raynard we're either in our cars or on foot. "He's an original. I wish more people could be like that," Breanna observed wistfully.