IT'S STRANGE the way little rituals and habits become a part of our lives, whether they make sense or not.

I recently found myself thinking about that after getting a call from Mike Long of Colonial Beach.

A trucker for some time, Long rang me up to mention something he's noticed driving through Caroline County for more than 20 years.

It isn't new housing patterns or some huge statue that snagged Long's attention.

Instead, it was something small, a pair of white sneakers. Strings tied together, they'd been tossed up over a utility line, hanging down right there in the middle of U.S. 301 well south of Bowling Green.

That by itself, Long admitted, wouldn't amount to much.

But what piqued his attention was the fact that for more than 20 years, he's noticed shoes hanging from that same utility wire.

Not always the same shoes, mind you.

"Every now and then someone comes out and takes them down," said Long, " but soon enough, there's another pair up there."

Long said he's not sure exactly how long shoes have been hanging above the heads of U.S. 301 travelers just south of Penola, not far from Reedy Creek.

"But I remember going to Kings Dominion when it first opened, and there was a pair there then," he said. "That's more than 20 years ago, but there's been shoes up there ever since."

Curious, I drove down past Penola the other day to eyeball the shoes. And, yep, there they were, white sneaks hanging over a lone wire.

I stopped in a few local stores and a diner to see if anyone knew how the shoes got there
or why. No one knew.

If anyone out there knows about the shoes and how they
get there, give me a call, and I'll share the word.

Until then, a cautionary note about this practice: It isn't a cute habit to start. Not only can messing with power lines be deadly, but standing in the road long enough to toss two shoes connected by laces puts you squarely in the path of oncoming traffic.