DAY 349
03.18.08
TREE 180
The rain just won’t stop. I woke up, went down stairs and asked my mom if it was going to clear up today. She said it would in the afternoon, so I hung out for a while. Every so often I’d look out the window to see the rain coming down. It was getting to be late afternoon and it was still dark and wet. I had to go no matter what and I’d prefer to do it with as much light as I can get. I hopped in my truck and drove over to EP Tom Sawyer Park. As I headed there the rain picked up and really poured. Luckily, by the time I stepped out of my vehicle the rain had slowed to a very light sprinkle.
The rain gods must have heard my plea.
I walked over to the large tree right off the parking lot.
It is one of those trees with so many little twigs coming off the large limbs that poke and catch clothes. I walked out from the trunk and pulled down a very soaked and overhanging limb and lifted my legs off the ground. Then I went hand over hand backwards up the trunk. I hooked my heel around the limb and reached up for the next highest branch. The branches crowded and criss-crossed together, and once I got to my feet I had to weave through them. A few feet above there the trunk split into a few main leaders. I wound around one then climbed up the branch to where the soaking wet ribbon was tied and stuck to the bark.
As I was climbing to that point I realized I was beat-boxing. It’s a habit I often find myself doing when I climb trees. I think it’s because I always have a beat running in my head an when I’m on ground it comes out through my hands and feet as I beat and drum on things. But in trees my hands and feet are busy climbing so the beat comes out of my mouth.
At the top of this tree, or at least my high point at the ribbon,
I took pictures of the surroundings.
There wasn’t much exciting to find except the spotty green growth on the bark whose color was magnified by the wetness. Then I had an idea after I put my camera back in my pocket. I often spit to the ground to watch it fall. It’s a completely inaccurate test for height. I thought it might be interesting to capture it on a video so I took my camera back out and recorded a bunch of my saliva falling to the ground.
A few hit limbs and splattered. I hope it turned out.
Then, the rain started to fall lightly again. I decided it was time to climb back down. It went smoothly and then I dropped to the ground. I wiped off my incredibly dirty and wet hands on my pants and walked back to the car… still beat-boxing.
3-25-09: If you know me, or spent much time with me, you know that I drum on things a lot. Maybe you don’t notice, or perhaps you are one of the few people who hate it and have told me to stop. Or, even better, you are like me and constantly have a song or beat in your head you can’t control and it comes out physically or audibly.
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March 18th 2009. Wednesday nights are parkour nights. Instead of going to the Waterfront Park by Tumbleweed like we usually do, Captain Bruce suggested a meet up at the Falls of the Ohio. I had been there before a long time ago and remember the rocks are great for precision jumping and there are also some good trees. So when I went I took my camera a long.
We had a good amount of people come out. Even more impressive was the female representation. There were 5 women there and that is the most LPK has ever seen. Usually when a woman shows up I am afraid they will be scared away by all the guys. I hope they keep coming out and become regulars.
We jumped, crawled and climbed our way all along the rocks and drift wood. The sun set and the Louisville skyline was amazing.
When we all wanted to turn back around and head back to the front of the park I spotted a very large tree leaning over the churning water of the falls. I couldn’t resist and started to crawl up the trunk. When I got to a good stopping point I saw something strange in the darkness. It was a half-eaten fish.
Some animal or bird must have brought its dinner up for safe eating. I took a picture then continued up and out the tree. When I got to the top I saw a flash of lighting over the river off to the west.
I took shots as bestI could but I was unfortunately too far around the bend to see the skyline.
It was also too dark and windy to get very good shots.
I took a couple with flash and I scared a few of the traceurs who were waiting for me. They thought the lightning had gotten a lot closer. I felt bad by making them wait so I started back down. As I went I kept finding things I wanted to shoot.
In the process I realized there was a smaller tree underneath this one.
It was so close I could reach it and I knew I had to transfer. I stepped down onto the branch and took a few more shots as my fellow traceurs yelled at me to hurry up.
I slid down the smaller tree’s trunk and then ran through the dark, stopping once more to take one last shot of the whole tree.
I kind of wish it would have been light out. One, for the climb, but also for parkour. Some people had some minor falls and slips due to the darkness. But it is definitely a great spot we will be returning to.
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