Finding the Northwest Passage

[pardes]

After a very hot and sticky 10 mile ride yesterday, I hit the wall, passed out and slept for 11 straight hours. Waking up at 3:30 PM in the afternoon on a Sunday was a little disconcerting since I had planned a major investigation of the environs of New Castle, Delaware with a lunch stop on the river's edge and time for a little novel reading and napping.

So much for that plan. Instead I decided it was time to finally find the Northwest Passage between my house and my favorite shopping area. I can take the long way around but after pondering Google Earth I was convinced there just HAD to be a shortcut that would make the ride free of cars and a cool quiet passage through an undeveloped wooded area.

But first there were errands to run which required a bus/bike combination. I waited on one side of the road for a southbound bus while a young man waited on the other side of the road for the northbound bus. Both buses were late and I noticed that he paced up and down while talking on a cell phone. His conversation could be heard over the numerous passing cars.

There was something very intense in his voice. It was emotional and it sounded if he was near tears. I postulated that he was having an argument with his girlfriend or arguing with his mother. He was a very young man but he already had that tone that men reserve for talking to women. At one point I heard him sob, "You've got to help me. Something terrible has happened."

The traffic was too ferocious to cross the four-lane road and offer my assistance. He was clearly very upset and it broke my heart. I tried to look away to give him some privacy though he was oblivious to my presence.

Finally he snapped the cell phone shut and walked several yards forward and kneeled down to the ground. It was then that I saw the problem. A mangled furry pile was lying by the roadside. It was impossible to tell if it was a dog or a cat.

With such tenderness the young man leaned down, picked the dead animal up and walked it to the edge of the woods to a shady area and laid it down on the ground. He took out his cell phone again, opened it, but then snapped it shut again.

He'd grown up a little in that moment. He'd faced something very sad, reached out for comfort without finding it, and instead drew on his inner strength and bent to the task at hand. I wonder if when he is an old man he will remember that moment. I doubt it. There will be so many more moments more poignant to deal with and grow with. He may not remember it; but I will.

I was no longer in the mood for errands and wanted to ride somewhere quiet and serene where I could just zone out on a Sunday afternoon in the last dregs of summer.

I found a buccolic spot that erased every feeling but wonder and appreciation of the stoic nature of trees. When things get bad, a tree can't just uproot and move. They have to bloom where planted and deal with what comes.

I always think of trees as being feminine. Perhaps it the sway of their limbs and the rustling of their leaves that reminds me of women. Perhaps it's the deep roots that grounds them. Perhaps it's the way they provide shade and comfort to anyone passing by.

Refreshed and recharged, I take a spin over the pedestrian/bike walkway that transverses a deep gorge between the University of Delaware new dormitories and the remainder of the campus.

It replaces a very steep path full of hairpin turns and steep ascents/descents that must have been a killer for bicycles.

I pedal through the campus on the Sunday before classes start. There are parents and kids everywhere unloading cars and new shiny bikes filling up the bike racks. There is also the evidence of bicycle theft in several places.
\

I stop for some lemonade and admire a building mural that invites you to climb the ladder.

.....as well as ponder some odd yard art......

But it's time to become Lewis and Clark and find the Northwest Passage. There is a section a mere 100 yards long through some single-tracked areas that would shorten my ride to my favorite bike store, camera store, and steak house. Surely it should be a simple matter of finding the path....

With very little effort I actually do find a single-track path at Point A and merrily roll along on it on a hybrid bike not designed for such shennigans. The path goes on and on and I ponder the fact that I don't have a spare tube even if I could remember how to change a flat tire.

The path goes goes around a bend and there in the distance I can see the other side that leads to the deserted Continental Drive no longer used by cars. There seems to be a little hill with a drop-off ahead but I figure that I can always walk it if need be. I think that only until I reach the drop off....

...and discover that it's a good 50 feet STRAIGHT DOWN with no slope. So, like Moses who was allowed to see the Promised Land but was not allowed to enter it, I turn around, take the long way around, and console myself with a filet mignon at Bugaboo Creek Steak House.

[crazycanuck]

Pardes, I know you've been told this many times but i'll repeat it..Your posts are soo cool! Thanks!

Were you a writer in your younger days or did you write for a living?

[pardes]

Pardes, I know you've been told this many times but i'll repeat it..Your posts are soo cool! Thanks!

Were you a writer in your younger days or did you write for a living?

Yes to both though I can't say I ever made a prosperous living at it. Being a chemist supports my addictions to writing, photograpahy, and now biking.

[jesvetmed]

Great story -- and ditto on your your writing.
BEAUTIFUL pictures. THANKS FOR SHARING!

[lph]

Great story, again. That poor young man, brought tears to my eyes He doesn't even know how his compassion is spread to a huge audience now.

[Becky]

What an great story! Thanks for the trip back to Newark I remember that hairpin path up at Pencader Campus! Fortunately, I only lived up there for 1 week each summer during marching band camp, so I didn't have to traverse it too often. I'm glad to hear that it's been replaced.

DH and I routinely ride to the shopping center that you mention. PM me if I can be of assistance in plotting some alternate routes.

[danadear]

Yes to both though I can't say I ever made a prosperous living at it. Being a chemist supports my addictions to writing, photograpahy, and now biking.

I knew it!

I love reading your posts...I've never thought of trees that way before..as women. You are so right.

[Red Rock]

Pardes-thankyou for the story of your trip. I agree with danadear on the trees. I had never thought of them that way before either. Definatley thinking outside the box there. I will have to remember that.

You have made me more aware of my surroundings when I am hiking or biking around my little community. My problem is that nothing really interesting seems to be going on. However, the last weekend a I saw a whole bunch of marathoners running to prepare for the big day around here the first weekend in October.

I love your posts.

Red Rock

[pardes]

Red Rock--thanks for the prasie from you and others.

I know it often seems like nothing is going on around you to photograph; however it's probably a matter of timing and exercising your power of observation. It requires quieting the inner chatter in your head which is one of the primary benefits for me. It's a shifting from an insane pace of living to the navel contemplation mode.

Seeing things this way short circuits getting frustrated while waiting for something that seems to be taking FAR TOO LONG like waiting to be seated in a restaurant.

My local favorite chinese restaurant would never be considered photogenic but rather than snarl and froth at the wait, I took out my camera and started examinng things in a very small glass case.

I got so caught up in doing closeups that I told them I was busy and to seat the people behind me first!

There is nothing very spectacular in taking photos of people unless you think outside the box and make it a metaphor. This is a photo of an instructor I had a couple of years ago for an advanced photography class on the finer points of using strobes and umbrellas and infrared triggered multiple flashes. He was stiff and reserved as an instructor but it was easy to see that there were blossoms of art and energy just below the surface.

Or you can go the traditional route of portraits but you still have to look for and find the spark within.

Or this. A quick catch of a quiet moment between father and son. The stillness of the little boy imitating the stillness of his father speaks volumes about their relationship.

If you think in the terms of society, all of this takes time, time to watch, time to pick the right moment and most people are time-wasters because they have become time-misers. Throw out all illusions that time is real and just point the camera and see what happens.

[fastdogs]

great story, great photos. I look forward to all your posts.
Are you sure you can't get down that embankment? there's a trail there- what have people been doing- jumping it? Is there water down there? I keep looking at your google map and thinking, there's GOT to be a way!!
vickie

[maillotpois]

Those photos are amazing. I bet you caught the ONE moment that little boy sat still!!

[pardes]

fastdogs how wonderful...another determined finder of paths! The two major paths really do have STRAIGHT DOWN drops far too ambitious for me or the hybrid bike. BUT there is a lesser path to the left of those two that I plan to investigate over the weekend.

Yes, the satellite photo makes it look SOOOOO easy but it was taken at least a year ago and things have grown up a lot. Also, the big complex to the left is MBNA that they have things fenced and locked up tighter than a hatband. Also, there are two gates on Continental Drive that will be problematic if I can't squeeze by on the left or the right....that is if I find the Northwest Passage down into the monster ravine and out the over side.

BTW, did you know that Lewis and Clark took a dog with them on their trip. Can you imagine the safety hazards for a dog on such a trip in those days when dogs were just dogs? The dog was kidnapped by the indians with plans to probably eat it but Lewis and Clark got it back and believe it or not, the dog survived the entire trip and came back with them. Amazing.

Maybe Magdalene is up for finding our Northwest Passage.

Are you kidding, Mom? I don't do dirt and I don't do singletracks.

[bikerchic]

LMAO @ Pardes!

I absolutely loved the read and I admit living in the Northwest I was sorta hoping for something more of a local adventure but got the drift and enjoyed your picturesque tale.

I often think of trees as being male, my house is surrounded by 40+ stately cedar trees and I think of them as guards to my house. Course I'm sure 50 plus years ago when they were planted that's what they were for to parcel off the property with surrounding farmland. They also remind me of the walking trees in LOR, scary!

Anyway I nearly lost it when I came to the picture of the darling wiener dog, totally did not expect that! LOL

[boy in a kilt]

I learned a very important lesson tonight about using google maps to plan routes.

The story is a bunch of my friends and I decided to attend a baseball game tonight. More as a social function than out of any real love for the game. Rather than drive the measly 12 miles downtown, I opted to ride my bike. No gas, no parking and I could get a nice ride in to boot.

I need to add at this point that I grew up in and started cycling in the Portland Metro area. I know the east side of the area quite well and have probably cycled nearly every road at least twice.

But, I don't live on the east side now. I live on the west side. There is an important piece of topography that had never really figured into my thinking before: the West Hills. From downtown to the top of Council Crest (highest point) is about 1000 feet of elevation.

So, I'm on a side of town I don't know really well. So, I spend some time gazing at Google Maps and figure out the shortest route.

About half way over the hills, I realize that 1) I'm fat and out of shape and 2) I don't have the gears to make it the rest of the way up. So, I start taking side roads until I find a way into downtown that doesn't require a belay.

I took a slightly different (and easier) way home. While I'm cooling down from the ride, I decide to have a look at the terrain profile on Google Maps.

Holy-frigging-monkeys. If I had chosen that route for a ruck march in OCS, my instructors would have smacked me upside the head and asked why I was doing that to my patrol.

So. The key piece of info here. If you are using Google maps to find a route and are of dubious climbing ability, take a second to hit "Terrain" and see what you are getting yourself into. Lots of lines close together is bad.

Oh, and we develop that tone of voice early on.

[malkin]

Yay! A Pardes thread!

I hope the bike remains tell a cautionary tale to the new students or at least to their parents.