We'll Have Fun, Fun, Fun...
7:51 PM 5/5/2009Whoops, I meant to post these pictures on April 19th...
This was one of those days I could ride twelve miles without a second thought because Jo lent me a bike. I was lazy about getting my bike fixed while I had hers. That was a pleasant time. A pastoral utopia...
Now my bike is fixed. Sort of. If we can ever get the cable to anchor properly on the rear shifter, I'll have more than two gears again. And the seat always leaves me sore. I get a great workout riding it a few blocks, but I'm not likely to take another all-day joy ride anytime soon.
You should also see the "Arboretum" set from the same day on my Photo Gallery Page - I promise to add a bunch more photo sets to that page soon.
The Subject Matter...
A few years ago, I rode the Red-line Metro several times a week. Basically, I watched 15-second slices of them constructing the Florida Avenue station. I tried to read, but more often I would rest and gaze out the window watching for trains. From Silver Spring to Union Station the Metro is above ground, parallel to the B&O. I would usually see a MARC train headed for West Virginia, but the freight trains were more interesting.
At the Florida Avenue Station, I noticed what looked like a bike path next to the tracks. There were bridges to take it over the cross streets. I remember thinking it must be a harbinger of uninterrupted trail, taking advantage of an existing right-of-way, like the Capital Crescent. Perhaps one day it would provide much bicycling enjoyment.
Recently, through my association with Jo, the radical bicyclist, I discovered that there were grandiose plans for such a continuous trail - car-free, fresh asphalt - probably stretching from Union Station out to the 'burbs. So I took a look...
Down there around First and L - by the bus stations - is a trail head: wooden steps from street level up to track level. Hand rail and enough ramp to roll your bike wheels. That neighborhood is in the process of getting every old burned-out empty lot replaced with a shiny new office block. Not all of those people are going to be crowding onto a subway train - there'll be too many of them. Some of them will ride a bike.
So I start rolling. How far will it go? How fast can I get there?
Not That Far...
At the north end of the Metro station, I notice there is some debris cluttering the path. A new hotel huddles up to the station, and there is a stairway to street level sheltered by this new building. So there's lots of access to this strip of pavement. It must have a great future, because in a few hundred feet, I realize it is currently the nicest driveway a colony of homeless men under a bridge have ever had. A shopping cart out in the sun was my first serious warning. I already knew about this particular camp - I've seen it from the subway train. Some of the blanket bundles probably contain a live human. I wasn't stopping to find out.
There is no more pavement beyond that. You can continue on a dirt track across the open field that once had yet more railroad sidings. I know the way. I might have continued on over Rhode Island Avenue and come out by Catholic U. Instead, I turned back to take photographs. Sometimes when a place betrays me, I take my revenge on it by taking its picture.
Too bad I didn't have a longer lens - I could have got one with the Capitol dome really looming over the shopping cart. The angles were there. Instead, I concentrated on bridge, fences, and overhead wires. I always liked that bit of iron suspended by the cables. You know, some of the cables are just structural - don't carry any electricity - I have no urge to prove it, though.
And this last picture of the tooth and dollar sign stencil?
Complete non-sequitir