I flew under the eaves of a building downtown as fast as my wings could carry me. The thunder was tremendous, but then there was no rain. Instead, I discovered various Limestone Countians having brainstorms! And what booming ideas they had!

I often fly over the collection of rusting vintage cars across from the Armory off Stewart Drive. One passerby I overheard wondered, “I’ll bet some kids from the Vo-tec School could work wonders with these cars. They could fix them up, even without engines, and display them like new around town. What a project that would be! We could have vintage sportscars from the ’30s and coupes from the ’40s located at strategic places all around the county. A plaque could tell of the kids’ class and year the vehicles were rebuilt. Talk about a cool project! Every class could do one or more of these. Talk about a memory that would always be there to come visit again!” That would be something I’d fly to town to see!

Outside Starbucks, I heard another idea expressed. A lady said, “You know that old wooden building at the intersection of Highway 231 and Lindsay Lane, by the new roundabout?” “Yes,” her friend responded, “The one that looks like it is about to be destroyed?” “Well, that was once a real stage-coach stop on the way to Ardmore. If you look carefully, nearby is a concrete cover to the well they had for the stage-coach’s horses. The wood frame on the building is over a hundred fifty years old. Wonder why the city doesn’t make something out of this? That’s real history there.”

A little later I was winging my way down Jefferson from Highway 72 toward the county courthouse and overheard a couple driving to the library across the boring bridge over the soul-less creek who said, “Wouldn’t it be nice to have regal trees alongside the road from Jefferson to the Courthouse? For that matter, the whole creek bed along Jefferson could be made into a pleasant park with picnic tables. Instead, we welcome visitors’ arrivals to our memorable Town Square with fast food joints and auto parts stores.” My winged spies tell me that part of the creek will be redeemed once the Farmer’s Market area becomes a park.

“Fewer people from elsewhere actually stop in Athens these days,” his counterpart said. “Ever been by Buc-ees at any time of any day? People from every state of the Union drive in, fill up their gas tanks, go to the bathroom, buy tremendously overpriced corporate stuff, then leave. Ever notice anything local sold there? You could walk in nude to Buc-ee’s and emerge fully clothed with Buc-ees logo attire from head to toe.” “I noticed there’s no place to sit down at Buc-ees, anywhere,” his friend commiserated. “Yep. That’s their business model. Guy drives in, spends buckets of money in their store, and goes. No stop at a real restaurant, like Village Pizza, a veteran’s museum, a Town Square, anything. People have the illusion they are ‘saving time’ at a quick bathroom break, on their way somewhere else. Athens is only an exit sign. No wonder folks just blow past Athens to Buc-ees.” Now, I thought that a little harsh, but then again, maybe she had a point. What would you stop for in Athens, or Limestone County? Are we really just waiting to become a suburb of Huntsville?

We have so much we could do. Instead of making tourists just pockets of money to be shaken down, why not advertise “the lowest priced hotels in Alabama?” Instead of coming up with endless ways to raise “tourist taxes,” we might make the area somewhere people wouldn’t mind stopping and spending a day or two. After all, people flock to Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsboro for just that. Or, make Athens a destination with major sporting or music events, like the Fiddler’s Convention? Make music that goes beyond fiddling and sponsor major band concerts. We could find fields for that at either of our colleges, or even at the future Pilgrim’s Pride Park. Hey, Pryor Airfield could have Air Shows! Wouldn’t that be something to see? I like car shows. Why not make Athens famous for car shows, and invite Jay Leno to host it?

Ah, we can dream on. But then, without taking the first step, or winged flight, how will we ever know if it might not just work?