DAY 282
01.11.08
TREE 112
Today at work I was at a house on Clifford Street. It was right across the street from on of Rachel’s old houses. As I dragged brush to the chipper and saw the house it brought back a lot of memories. Slip ‘N Slide in the front yard, running over in the middle of the night, playing in the hose after playing tennis… but the memories were more like flashes and I didn’t dwell in them.
When I got off work I drove to Tom Sawyer Park to climb the tree I was supposed to yesterday. But my mind was on the coming evening. I didn’t have plans but I wanted to go out. This job has helped to re-establish this idea of cutting loose on the weekend. I parked at the back parking lot by the BMX track and changed clothes.
Then I walked in a straight line to the tree. Once over the fence I waited for a break in the cars to cross the street. I didn’t take any time to size up the tree. I just went right into the climb following the same path as the first climb. I moved up through the many limbs that split just near the ground and onto dying limbs. I had to be careful because many of the branches had already cracked or fallen. Plus the bark was very soft where the limbs were thick. As I got higher the bark was harder but the limbs harder to trust. I followed almost exactly how I went the first time and quickly reached my white ribbon.
And like many of my reclimbs my first experience becomes very vivid in my mind. I remembered then that this was not my high spot before. I had climbed higher but didn’t tie another ribbon. So I continued higher till I looked out over the distant landscape and saw what I had seen three months earlier.
Only this time it wasn’t warm. It was grey and so much more could be seen through the skeletal frames of the distant trees. I looked down from my perch to the groundand saw the fire hydrant just below.
It surprised me since I don’t remember it from before. Then I realized I probably wouldn’t have been able to see it for all the leaves on this tree that have since fallen. I took pictures and wondered if all the cars coming and going could see me way up this tree.
Then as I began to climb down a group of cyclists followed by a line of cars went under me. With their heads down I knew they didn’t see me. I don’t know why, but their presence under me seemed important. I finished my climb down and was ready for my night to begin.
1-13-09: Don’t ask me why I thought the bikers were important. It was one of those feelings that didn’t make sense, but I really enjoyed their presence. Also, I don’t remember what I got into that night.
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Last Saturday night (1-10-09) I had plans to go to Julio’s and then to bowl at Lucky Strike in 4th Street Live. Since my roomie, Drew, had other plans I was going to bike for the night. On the way to Julio’s I stopped at the fence across the E Witherspoon Street from the Louisville Slugger Stadium.
I was again on the edge of the interstate looking to climb a tree. I was also very near the extreme park. A lot of my climbs I feel are going to be along the interstate because I live so near it. If I keep putting off climbing till late and I just feel like walking I will most likely continue to find trees along I-71 near Spaghetti Junction. Anyway, I locked my bike to the fence and spotted my tree.
Then I waited for no cars to roll under the fence where it had been bent and curled up. At the base of this hackberry tree I judged my climb.
Then I started to shimmy up the rough barked trunk. I went past a few dead limbs and broke them off as I went. I saw a clump of leaves high up in the tree and wondered if it was a squirrel’s nest. When I got closer to it I could have sworn I saw a squirrel jumping away from the tree. But when I really looked I saw no squirrel anywhere. I think I wanted to see it so bad my mind created it. When I could finally reach some branches and got to the leaf clump I knew it wasn’t a nest. It was just a branch that got stuck in the crook between two branches. I climbed slightly above that and had reached my highpoint. I could the usual suspects, the highway,
and skyline, but this time the buildings seemed so much larger and more spread out in a 3-d grid rather than the flat line of buildings I usually see from a farther distance.
I struggled to get really clear shots
and since I wanted to get to Julio’s to hang out I just put my camera away and climbed down. As I was sliding down the bottom part of the trunk I was also squashing some undergrowth. One in particular bent way down then snapped back up and scraped me across the eye. Luckily I closed my lid and didn’t damage my eyeball, but the skin stung. I rolled back under the fence and went on my way to the worst game of bowling in my life. A 75, and this after getting 175 about 6 months ago. There are just too many distractions at Lucky Strike.