DAY 335
03.04.08
TREE 164
March 4th 2008. The Primary Elections in Ohio, Texas, Vermont, and Rhode Island. Drew threw a little party and I was aiming to get there before 7pm when the first polls closed in Vermont. I left and stopped at the Liquor Barn to pick up some beer. The light was fading and I was racing downtown to the fire station on Preston.
My timing was perfect. No warm sunshine and no firemen outside washing their trucks. I was free to climb without fear. It was wet, cold, and people just wanted to get home.
I just wanted to climb. I parked around the corner about a quarter of a block away. Then I walked over to my tree. I saw the orange ribbon flapping in the wind and I got right to it. I grabbed two different limbs and felt the cool dampness on my hands. I swung my legs up and pulled myself up to my feet. Then I climbed fast. The beginning was easy with so many close branches. I headed towards my waiting ribbon and began to notice an odd thing. As I got higher the color of the bark got lighter. At the tips they looked almost white and at the base of the trunk black. In the center was a gradual gradation between the two that made the cause apparent: the moisture was drying in the wind.
I had never seen that before, or if I had, I never gave it any thought. When I reached my ribbon after passing the recently broken stub and dead limb still stuck in nearby limbs that I had broken on my previous climb, I got out my camera.
The lights of downtown were strong enough to shine
but I still had enough sun light to capture the beautiful contrast of the white tips and dark branches.
I ripped the ribbon down
and chose not to climb higher since the occasional wind gust was moving me pretty good. Then I scrambled down in a hurry. I wanted to get to the party, eat some chili, and celebrate some Obama victories. And I was pumped. I jumped to the ground and ran to my truck. The night was ON!
3-16-09: The reason I seemed excited about there being no sunshine and no trucks being washed was because the first time I attempted to reclimb this tree, that is what was going on. There were firemen outside very near by tree and there was just no way I could have climbed then.
Oh the Primaries. It’s amazing how much I disliked Clinton, and now I am fine with her. Cause she lost and my candidate won. Competitiveness is an interesting and powerful force.
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To my climb on March 4th 2009, which was a Wednesday. I went to my first parkour meet-up since coming back from NYC. Usually I leave climbing my tree till after when it’s late and I am already worn out. Which is exactly what happened that night. And since I took a whole month off of any parkour or bike riding I was particularly worn out. I wanted to climb a tree that was close and not too hard. So I reached back into my mind and searched for any trees I have saved for occasions just as these. What I found was a small but decent tree next to Vernon Lanes on Story Avenue. Perfect for it’s size and proximity to my house. I begrudgingly put on my coat and walked slowly down Washington Street, jogged down Adams to Story and went the couple blocks to my tree. The lot for the bowling alley was not empty but only had a few cars.
No one was outside smoking and there weren’t too many cars coming to take the I-64 west-bound on ramp. This was another tree with some hanging limbs and branches on the ground next to it. Another casualty of the ice. When the coast was clear I climbed the trunk the first branch. The bark was shaggy and flaked off as I moved through the tree. There were also many crusty small limbs that would break and fall as I climbed up higher.
When I reached my high spot I had a close view of the major limb that still dangled in the treetop.
I took out my camera and shot the views of downtown,
across the street,
the interstate,
the nearby parking lot,
and the bright moon in the sky.
This location was not void of activity as there were some cars every once in a while. I felt no worry that I would be spotted by them and I tried to capture their moving lights as they went past.
Then when I was finished I made my way back down making sure the lot next to me remained empty of movement before I moved. On the ground the feeling of accomplishment and the expenditure of energy in climbing did more to wake me up than to reinforce my previous sluggishness. Josh called just as I was shooting the tree from the ground and invited me to get a beer. With my new-found energy I agreed and we caught up at the Spring Street Bar and Grill.