It just occurred to me that what I thought I came here for wasnt really it. Yes, I came here to be with my wife. First priority, thats true. But a lot of the stuff I thought I was going to spend my time on, reflecting on previous experiences here, I really havent seen yet this go-round. Were still catching up from the move, and we dont have the money to roam around downtown, etc. Who cares? We will. What speaks to me are these people, and this landscape, and I dont have to throw a lot of money at anyone to absorb that. The best part of my day yesterday was about 10 minutes of my commute home on the bike, on the I-10 bridge over Pontchartrain. It was about 6:40 p.m. and the rush hour traffic had already passed. The bridge is 3 lanes wide in each direction, and arches twice over a 6-10 mile span of the lake. From the peaks of the arches, Ive learned to spot the Fort Pike bridge along the southeastern shoreline, which gives me a pretty good reference point and view of our place across the lake. To the west is the Route 11 two-lane bridge into Slidell, another railroad drawbridge that runs parrallel to it across the water, and a couple more bridges running parrallel further in the distance. And then there is the sunset in the water and the western sky. Its rained a lot lately, so the water is up in the small bays along the closest shorelines. The water was dotted with a couple of fishing boats and an occasional powerboat, plus one sailboat. The sky and the water on the western side of the bridge melted together in a powder blue, and the only thing that identified a boundary between the two was the ripples on the water from the wind. On the western horizon, there were stacks of cumulus clouds, five to six miles high, breaking up and dissipating in the setting sun, refracting pink and orange light that shimmered on the tip of every wave on the water. And for 10 miles or so, I got to pin my bike to the far right lane of the bridge so I could look right at it, like I was floating or flying in it. My bike has a 1,700 cc motor and a 6-speed overdrive transmission. The speedometer is on the gas tank, not on the handlebars, and its very easy to just get caught up in the ride, FEEL a comfortable pace, and not realize your speed. Last night I was soaking up this view, the wind, the roar of the engine, all that water and all that color and light. When I looked down, Id crossed most of that bridge at 105 mph. It was perfect. And I get to do this every day. Im toying with the idea of mounting a cheap camcorder to my handlebar to capture this. Til then, youll just have to take my word for it.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:45:26 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015