Prytania St.

Had to Work Saturday , the weather threatened so I rode in Lafaniere Park .
Saturday night, 25 miles in 2 mile circles. Boring ,Boring, Boring, the music was great though.
Rested Saturday night, went to church Sunday morning and asked God to let me ride bike one more day then if he feels I need a lightening bolt, hit me . I saddled up after church, plenty fluids, 2 Gatorade's, Camelpak full of ice and Propel , a spare propel in my pocket, 5 nutrigrain bars, a poncho, some magic dust , and wing and a prayer cause it was hot.
I approached the Levee at Williams , could see heat rising off the top of the levee waiting for me to come swim in waves of steam . Once atop the levee heat rose up to caress me and let me feel mother nature's brutality . Once moving , moisture started to evaporate on me, it 's cooler, evaporation keeps you cool and biking clothes are designed to do that very well. Ten miles down the river my arms weren't feeling evaporative , they were hot, cooking , the sizzle was annoying.. Sucking on the camelpak mouthpiece like a baby that hadn't had tit in a while, had to ration , poured the extra Propel on the ice to have cool drink longer. The Sun kept my fat face squished, squirrelly, strange sight, scared most of the birds . Hitchcock would have been proud. Audubon Park was cool, Live Oak shade protected most of the trail , I stopped for a break, drank,drank, drank, watched kids playing on swings, picnickers laid in the shade cooking like chickens on a rotisserie, slow and tender, jumped on St Charles, hit a right at the first corner , decided to take Prytania for a change, smooth, plenty trees, history, big houses. On Royal all the buggy tour guides bring tourist to a Royal St house with the Corn stalk fence, there's also one on Prytania ,I think it's more intricate. Took some shots of the Norwegian Sailors Church an international landmark . Got a horse head hitchin post, don't look too old. then I was stunned , a picture popped up in front of me , it hit right between the eyes, a crepe myrtle with red bark, it was beautiful, I dismounted and appreciated it before I pictured it, it deserved it ,
I snapped it with reverence and prayed it lived a long life. real beauty in a man made jungle.
Margaret's Place is hidden on Camp near Prytania, she built many orphanages for many children, her story's on the placard. A real humanitarian in a time when we need humanitarians.
St Anna's Asylum is a favorite stop. it's now St.. Anna's residence, built in 1850, prior to the Civil War. In 1850 what did we know about mental illness, as time went on we may have known less. I stood in the street, looking at the top of the building where they painted over St. Anna's Asylum trying to erase the things that may have went on there. They called them patients, shackled in white gowns, stripped of dignity, sanity, choice , pride and pleasure.
How many, how many, how many had, simple maladies like depression, OCD, ADD, Turrets,
Bi polar disorder, nervousness, anxiety, how many were committed by husbands wanting to rid themselves of a current wife, for another, or families ridding themselves of children that just didn't seem right. What patients had too much passion for life, living out the box, crossing the grain, not following the main stream of sanity, that's what Jack Kerouac was saying in Coo Coos Nest. As I stood in the street my soul opened up and I could hear the cries of shock treatments,
the silence of laudanum,( tincture of opium with morphine), cocaine, the whimpers of life being trashed through ignorance. I think I live Kerouac's quote "My fault, my failure, is not in the passions I have, but in my lack of control of them.” I shed one final tear for my comrades and rode on vowing to live with passions uncontrolled and fearless of consequence for I am free to wallow in my own insanities and swim in the mainstream with my head up and my soul hidden from the witch hunters looking for lunatics. The mp 3 player continued on, each song taking me to another place and time, "Fire" by "Hendrix" came on , it sent me back to 16 years old, my friend and I stopped by the Continental Liquor Store picked up a bottle of white wine and finished it just as we reached the "Flower Pot" a new hippie hangout on St Ann and Rampart.
I had on my black long sleeve shirt with the paisley trim in the cuffs and collar, I folded them back to fit in a little, the fare was corn dogs, orange Julius, and wacko weed, the hippie chicks we came to see in their granny dresses were skankier and stinkier than they seemed from a distance. I landed in front of the bar which is now the bandstand, a young electric band was playing unfamiliar stuff, the singer announces he's going to play a song by a guitarist who's popular in England and coming to the states soon, he placed pick to string and played "Fire" by "Hendrix" I was mesmerized, spellbound, that day on I searched for and listened to Hendrix every chance, "Little Wing" was recorded by 147 other people in different styles.
His songs relate to the "Lunatic Passion" , songs like "Love or Confusion ", "Manic Depression is a Frustrating Mess", "3rd Stone from the Sun" ,"Purple Haze","I Don't live Today". So I cruise up Esplanade back to reality, passed by Mona Lisa road, the picture of the tall grass, Bayou St john bike path, see the movies, the Lakefront (empty) closed to cars, then back home. All is demure after St Anna's Asylum , we live within or without passion, I can visit the back side of my mind, how about you? Be careful some people don't come back..
gary



click on the pics to enlarge.

93 miles - another twilight zzoonnee !

Friday evening, perfect, no wind , still , quiet, sobering , atmosphere , traveled to the river for my usual Friday night run, Williams blvd to Audubon Park and back, 35 miles , get home about 10:30, do my 25 sit ups and try to find a way to get to sleep. Cruising south , no bugs, a few people to look at, the Harahanians were settling in for night, spread on sofas in front of TV watching some gruesome cop show full of autopsies and bloody murder scenes. I'd glance to the left occasionally and give them a nasty look. The rabbits were along the edge of the batture browsing on tender grass shoots without fear of being blown away by a 3 inch magnum #6 shot from a 12 gauge shotgun. Mr Cigar man was there on the River side of the levee smoking away,
he has 5 or 6 fat cigars sitting there with him, I don't know how many he'll smoke but he puffs away at them . His gray hair , white shirt , suspenders and dark trousers are a give away that
he probably has a stressful job and it's what he does for relaxation and his wife runs him out the house maybe with a 12 gauge 3 inch magnum. Someday I'll stop and talk to him and get his life story, it's probably more interesting to me than to him. He kinda looks like PaPa Hemingway.
In younger years I've always been my hero, but in my waning years I'm impressed by some livers and lovers of life that knew how to live it and love it , Hemingway, Thoreau, Alby Mangles, Truman Gandy ,Joseph Campbell, Lance Armstrong and Guru S. Malady. Google them or send me a personal message and I'll tell you who they are and why. I'm cruising about 16 miles an hour , feeling good , feeling right, haven't eaten any bugs yet. It's hot like an oven, I could smell the Easy Off Oven Cleaner it was so hot. Drinking Gatorade and Propel from my Camelpak I had packed with Ice. I approached the Huey P Long bridge and needed to pee, it was too far to Audubon Park so just as I passed the Huey P , I remembered the abandoned road to the blackberry patch in the batture , it's wasn't quite dark yet but it's a secluded place to take a pee. I made the turn, down the gravel road into the wooded part of the batture , I stopped about 15 feet from the river , dismounted and facing some high briar's began my business. Suddenly I heard a rustling to the right side about 8 feet away, didn't see anything , finished my business and before mounting bike I took good look into the briar's and saw 2 red glowing balls, Huh I thought someone left their light out here, then the smell hit me, it was like a sardine that had been left out in the sun and regurgitated by a sick wild cat. It stunk. Closer look saw the lights moving , oh ,oh , it's eyes, it stood up , it took me 1 second to realize I needed to get on my bike and head for the levee fast, I placed a mental picture of it in my mind for later examination . Lets see I took inventory as I dashed to the levee, big red eyes, fangs, stood on hind legs but running on 4 , may have had horns, matted gray hair, growling like a dog, looked kinda like a dog but bipedal, holy shit it's a Chupacabra, the dreaded Central American goat blood sucker, I'm still racing him to the levee in hopes he'll give up on the levee like a dog does, he grabs my back wheel and swings me and the bike left and right , he had trouble stopping the wheel so I kept going , I finally hit the levee, rear tire flat, but I'm still pumping toward the Huey P. about 50 yards later I dare to turn around and look and he's gone, given up , can't keep up with me. Workers were surveying the bridge at the levee, I stopped to catch my breath , once I did so I blurted out , " did yall see him" "who," one man says "that thing chasing me " I reply loudly, "you didn't see the red eyed, gray haired, horned, fanged, bipedal thing chasing me" "no we didn't see anything ", I was confused, so I checked my back tire. Four bite holes and flat, "looks like you had a flat" one man states. I had more than that , I recount the story to them , they chuckled and went back to work . On with it then, I removed the tire, patched the inside of the holes and put a new tube, I felt a bump in the tire and reached in to find a tooth, more like a fang than a tooth , I turned to show the workers my proof but they were gone.. I put it in my jersey pocket and went on my ride. I completed my 35 miles the weather was righteous my legs were good and still shaken by this Chupacapra thing, Should I tell the Police, or just check in to River Oaks. Well I have proof. Got home called Marie to the garage, " your not gonna believe what happened to me ", I was attacked by a chupacapra and got away and pulled one of his fangs out of my tire and have it and the tire for proof,"oh lets see" see says, I reach in my Jersey , no tooth, I take it off and check it carefully and race to my back tire, I spin it slowly , no holes, no scratches no teeth, no teeth marks, I face the camera and the director says "cut" , then I wonder why is a camera crew and a director in my garage, guess I'm just lucky or as Truman Gandy would say, mummm,neee,ff,rreeed,again.


Saturday.
A much saner day. Left the house about noon , blazing hot, have plenty iced Propel and hot Gatorade, good day for pictures, I head west to see the levee at Ormond Blvd, they paved about a mile of it past Ormond, brand new fresh tar, smooth, clean except where a dog lover had his dog shit on the track to make sure it's a nuisance for everybody else. Only a pet lover would take his animal out on to a 130 degree tar path and have him walk bare pawed on it . Bright. They should walk barefooted with the dog. See a rider coming , It's my friend Vlad. We stop and chat a few minutes then head together toward Audubon, Vlad has already been there so he'll join me to the Pump in Harahan and I'll continue on my journey. It's great to ride with Vlad he makes me ride faster and we converse on a level I don't get often to . We were discussing potential places to pee along the river. After that we solved the Palestinian , Israeli problem, we figured how to stop the BP oil flow, we cured Iran and North Korea's Nuclear aggression, chose the next Nobel Prize winner and guaranteed world peace eternally. Not to mention finding a place to pee.
I had already went through one small shower , it was cooling and a gift from heaven. Vald turned around and I headed to Audubon, on arrival I was hot and tired, hit the shelter and peed and took a break , filled my empty Gatorade bottle with water, jumped on St Charles and to the quarter we go . Not much traffic, I had my Kevlar vest on so I took Jackson Ave toward the river and pictured Fr Seelos Memorial and Church. A steeple like no other, zillions of bricks, and a tight neighborhood. From there I shot St Elizabeth's on Napoleon on this side of Magazine,
beautiful Angels , plenty detail , have a night pic and a day pic, I didn't know till then it was an Asylum, I tried to check in but they said it's a historic place and the real facility was somewhere else. There used to be plenty of Asylums in the uptown area, if you look carefully you can see the names on the tops of the building that are now condos. Since the advent of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro, Wellbruton, Luvox, and others, I don't remember all the names, I've tired them all , now insane people are free to roam around society on bicycles and have jobs and children and no one knows and better. Living through better chemistry, they preached it in the 60's ,
or was that Timothy Leary talking about LSD. Anyway, I ride on . Took more pictures of Our Lady of Good Counsel, plenty brick, molded statues, and in the courtyard a 4 foot statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it looks old and there's a plaque behind it , I couldn't help notice she was standing on the planet earth and standing on a serpent, don't see that much any more.
Turned the corner to St Mary street and caught the Half Moon Bar, a rough place in its prime along with Mary's Tavern, the Fun House, and saw some movies at the Happy Hour theatre,
what I was doing on Magazine street in the 60's ? hanging out . I made the next corner on my way to St Charles and I see a group of about 50 riders headed toward Magazine st. I catch up with the prettiest girl and ask her "where we're going", " to the Balcony "she replies. "ok", "I'm headed back to Metairie anyway but I wanted to go to the Quarter first. 'No" she says, its here on Magazine", sure enough they stacked up at the Balcony Bar and Grill on Magazine St. Some of them wore red shirts and others had funny costumes on . I didn't ask any questions , just took my pictures and moved on. Rode Camp St. to Canal St. Picked out a nice refrigerator box for my retirement while I was there. There was a open doorway that looked cozy and safe.
Didn't spend too much time in the Quarter, passed by the old Tempest Club on Bourbon, when I was a very young age I'd go to the movie downtown and take a walk to Bourbon St out of curiosity and I loved the music. the Tempest Club had a barker that stood at the door , he was classic, dark complected, pencil tin mustache, oil in his hair to make it look straight and a hidden Spanish accent. His blue velour jacket always needed his attention plucking off little pieces of lint and crap floating through the air, when he smiled at a lady his teeth put on a show.
He claimed his name was Joe, just Joe , and he'd bark,
NO COVER, NO MINIMUM, STEP RIGHT UP , SEE IT ALL , then he'd open the door and give a peek of the show inside, I'd be standing in the right position to catch a glimpse of usually not much. Joe saw me a few times there and on occasion he'd let me into the foyer of the joint to watch some of the show, the thing I remember most was the odor, the smell, its was ice cold air conditioning , something I didn't smell often, the beer ,booze,cigarette and cigar smoke all combine to make a smell that clings to you, permeates you, your reminded for several days that you were there. Ok, time to ride home , hit Canal Street, rode the street car tracks to Claiborne, the Canal St. All the sights were there to see, Easton, Sacred Heart, St Anthony, the Bus Barn,
the Cemeteries, Metairie Road to West Napoleon , I was hit by a shower, it was welcomed,
I was hot and tired need a cooling off , especially thinking about those wavy strippers at the Tempest. Felt refreshed and sane once home.
Until next adventure . click on the pic to enlarge.
gary

Riding the Storm Out

Last Fri night was a typical dark hot ride, the bugs were out and in attack mode , little red June bugs with the black dots slam into your lips, grab your lip skin with their little sharp feet and don't want to let go, If you smack them you might as well eat them , so you gently try to brush them off but they don't want to go , their enjoying the ride, If you look down you can see the wind flowing through their hair, and they have this big grin on their faces. Good ride a little warm, St Charles ave was exceptionally busy, plenty college students dating , lines at all the restaurants , the cooking was wanting me to get in line with them, smelled great,, all were in their "its hot " attire, never saw so many flip flops in my life. Did my 35 and got home about 10:00.
Saturday about 4pm the heat started to subside so I headed out. wanted to put in some miles so I headed up river, reaching St Rose I was ambushed by a bitter thunderstorm, I decided to ride it out and I did, cold giant drops of rain beating on my uncovered skin, rain water dripping into my eyes and burning till all I could see was a fuzzy outline of the track, not much of a chance of hitting someone, I was alone. reaching the end at Ormond Blvd, the rain stopped.
I turned around and a mile down the path the same storm had sat there waiting for my return.,
I once again trudged through it, squinting , and thinking , thinking , thinking.
I reached Williams to find clear weather and continued my ride to the quarter and up midcity back to home , made my 50 miles and managed to hobble out to dinner with Marie who patiently understands and tolerates my obsession. This weekend was a repeat of last weekend with harsher consequences, Friday night was hot, I got a late start, traffic was heavy, but I got my 37 miles in and got home about 10:30. Safe and sound. Saturday I left the house about 4pm, watched the radar before leaving, a storm was heading east and was just north of us, it was being followed by another smaller storm same direction, my plan was to ride behind the first storm and ahead of the second storm, yea right, I made it to Destrehan dry but windy, I could smell the rain in the air, I stopped at Ormond to break, I toured the sky to access the directions and make a plan to get past the weather. Lightening and dark clouds to the north of me, still a few miles off, nothing to the south, the east looked semi clear, all I have to do is outrun this storm toward New Orleans
stay ahead of it and it'll pass to the south behind me, Yea right. I made it a mile down the path when I was attacked by ground to sky lightening, gee there I am on an aluminum lightening rod 21 feet off the ground , the rain started to pelt me so I headed for River Road to lower my profile
well River road was in Street flooding stage and I was riding in 6 and 8 inches of water in traffic ,
I found a shelter at one of the plants and stopped for a while. Called home to remind Marie I was still alive. The rain slowed to a drizzle so I took a shot at it but stayed on river road , lightening was still popping but not as close as earlier, made it about 2 miles and here it comes again,
the drops were hurting they hit so hard, I pulled up to a convenience store and stopped long enough to put on a poncho for protection, I rode the river road all the way back to Williams Blvd.
finally a break in the rain, just a drizzle, I returned to the levee top and thought I'd finish my
ride, it rained, and rained and rained and rained, I reached the Huey P long Bridge and decided enough of the Levee and the river I'm hitting the street. Well to my astonishment that didn't impress or stop the rain, I wiggled my way back to the house one side street after another and the rain continued on and on and on. Only manged to get in 35 miles. Took off today to celebrate my grandson's birthday. I ride on Monday, and Wednesday nights right here in Lafenierre
Park , just 10 or 15 miles to keep me loose for the weekend. MS Tour is first weekend in October I shouldn't have any trouble if I keep the road I''m on now.
Lance is in 20th place but they haven't hit the mountains yet, the Alps belong to Lance.
He's still a hero win or loose.
later
gary

can't take pictures in the rain. I'll have to get a water camera