City Mouse Makes a Movie #13

Previously: As shooting on the movie begins, Sophie is anxious about her role.

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I had originally imagined this scene taking place on High Street, but then I decided specificity of location wasn't all that important. There are sharrows (bike icons with directional arrows) on High now, but there wasn't when I lived in Columbus. The city has taken baby steps towards building an infrastructure for bikers - nothing as revolutionary as in places like Minneapolis and Portland, but the support for biking is there.

I tended to avoid High Street the further north I biked. Once you get past the Short North neighborhood (which is right outside the downtown area), you reach the southern edge of the Ohio State campus area, and this is where High begins to slope upwards. I would turn east a little bit and then turn onto a side-street with less traffic (and a somewhat gentler slope) and continue north. This was a favorite route of mine. If I was entering the downtown from the west side, where I lived, I'd take a route that took me past the hockey arena and the minor league baseball park.and through a heavily wooded neighborhood until I turned east toward High. I remember the section of High within the campus was always bumpy and ragged, which was a big reason why I tended to avoid it. Hopefully they've paved that section by now.

In addition, there are two beautiful bike trails that run north-south, just like High, where one can bypass car traffic altogether. My favorite was the one on the west side, the Olentangy River trail. Often times, coming home around twilight, I'd see rabbits scurrying back and forth along the path or through the grass. (I had an idea for a strip about 9-to-5 commuter rabbits using this route to travel back and forth to work, but it never happened.) It was such a beautiful and relaxing ride; a little bit of genuine nature within the city.