Spillway form the West side,
Last Friday night I was called to ride, not by a friend , or a rider, but by the night... Leaving around 7:00 put me on the river levee in time to enjoy that twilight when it's still daylight but night is crashing in, colors all change, smells change, sounds change, daytime life disappears , nighttime demons emerge. The street urchins prowling, gutters, dark doorways, crowed streets, back streets. I walk down Bourbon St .open door bombast me with cold air pouring out strip clubs, carrying stench of beer, stripper perfume and tons of testosterone to be hurled up for no reason in the end. I was thirteen when a barker at the 500 club, a dark man, pencil thin mustache, hair slicked back with pomade, a beautiful blue velour jacked , a silky yellow tie, would let me in the foyer so I could see what all the fuse was about, curvy chubby, women stripping in slow motion to a g -string and pasties.. I didn't get it , Later at 16 I'd not shave and sit at the bar at Pepe's with the topless barmaids, still wearing pasties. still didn't get it ..,,Stopped to break on Manson St off Decatur, leaning on a wall ,sweaty, spandex-ed, clipty clop, clipty clop, clipty clop, the sound of cheap heels approaches, blond wig, puffed glossed lips, black , blue and red eye makeup,, false lashes, a blue dress short at the bottom, low at the top, mistook me for a worker, " hows tricks", she softly whispers as she passed, being a social dog I reply, "slow tonight", she replies "yeah me too", I thought for a minute and realized , hey I know that guy....another story.. Crept around the quarter a while, headed to he lakefront ,I have a powerful headlight but when the moons reflecting off the lake vision is beautiful, breezy, and spoiled my mans light,, Got home about 11:30 45 miles. .
Popped up Saturday morning, want to put in long miles today, which way to go , which way to go , I then realized it's been a while since I'd sucked up some refinery made sulfur dioxide, sulfur oxides, it's been a while since I've sucked up some soy dust, it's been a while since I've grabbed extra electrons from the Nuclear plant, its been a while since I've passed Bayou Trapanier, the NORCO Sludge pond once a beautiful route from the Lake to the river. It's been awhile since I've seen the barrels of pollutants dumped in the swamp between the River and Airline highway, so hey lets go to Norco, Laplace , Reserve, cross the river at Lutcher and come back to Algiers and return to the quarter then home... Its gonna be hot, I pack 5 Gatorade's, 2 bananas, 4 boxes of raisins, first aid kit and all the other crap I bring like I'll be gone a week. . Heading out west I pass my friend Frank and Joe passing the other way...Its an easy ride but the heat is building, was in Destrehan in no time , pass the grain elevators, held my breathe ,then across refinery row,, wow ! it's unimaginable what a dangerous place a refinery is. Finally relief, the Spillway, down in the spillway the model airplane guys have their encampment, it seems like they spend most of their time working on and admiring planes rather than flying them, maybe that's the fun of it , what do I know about hobbies. I ride a bike, not a hobby, a passion, a obsession, a psychotic compulsion.. Sucked down my first banana, on my second Gatorade, It's hot.. Across the levee you must take the ride of death on river road past the Little Gypsy Power Plant , the old Bayou Steel then get back on the levee. Its' smooth, new and hot.. Another Gatorade down, hit a box of raisins, reach the DuPont plant, they manufacture many things there but it always smells like shoe polish,the liquid kind that runs down the side of your shoe and makes your socks black. I arrived at Laplace or Reserve , the hottest part of the day, started another Gatorade. As you can see by the pictures the ferry is out, thank God, I'd never had made my original plan, not before dark. I turn around, head back, its really hot now, I'm beginning to feel my tires sticking to the blacktop, I rev up my fluid intake, eat my other banana, I don't mind the heat , it's the effects of the heat that are a problem . Just before Muntz I start to feel a little woozy, delirious, a little further I note my thighs burning from pushing , but also clammy , dry, the edges of my vision gets fuzzy, need to take action, put a Valium under my tongue, didn't help but I cared less. I was down to my last Gatorade. coming through NORCO, I was sure I was having heat exhaustion. Looking down I noted that on the way out flames weren't coming off the tar like they are now, hum,,now I'm clammy , no longer sweating, low on fluids, what to do, I know , I took out my guitar and played a Leroy Van Dyke song,, that didn't help. the edges of my vision getting fuzzy , closing in to a small hole in the middle , I'm barley moving, I had enough vision to see the giant serpent rise up out of the flames right in front of me, opened his tremendous jaws, covered my head and sank his fangs in my shoulders, well to me I said," this is it", I'm going out in a horror,, suddenly the snake disappeared, I started feeling better, pace picked up , turned to the left down the levee, what do I see?, a convenience store, and oasis in the dessert. Straight down the levee , park , run inside, throw a 20.00 on the counter , run to the cooler grab a cold Gatorade, pump life back into my body, put 2 more in my shirt and a iced bottle of water. Thank the lady for saving my life, grab my change, get out the a/c , outside I pour half of the water on my head ,back and neck, what a rejuvenation . Back to the levee , flying toward Kenner, drinking and pouring water on my head. 50 miles 97 degrees, made it home , prepared to do my 30 sit ups, take off my jersey , wife Marie says ,, how'd you get those 2 holes in your upper back, I heard the Twilight Zone Theme song playing in my head..I guess now you have to wonder how much of this is true, don't ask me I was in flight to wonderland with Aunt Valium
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