Saturday, June 15, 2002

I rode home by a different route.  I crossed the Wabasha Street Bridge and took the path that runs along the West side of the river near Harriet Island.  Once past Plato Boulevard, the city kind of drops out of all human knowledge.  I got lost almost immediately.  I went by a sign that said "Use of Brickyard by Permit only" in hopes that it would somehow reconnect with the path I was looking for.  It never did and I entered into this vast post-industrial wooded area. After riding along a rocky path for a while, I reached some train tracks. I got off my bike to figure out where I was and a young man suddenly emerged from the trees. I pegged right away for a freak by the way he bore himself.  I remember these guys from high school. These stout fellows usually were seen off in the distance walking incredibly purposefully, with their hair bouncing up and down with their manic steps, nurturing their delusions of grandeur. They were often blessed with the huge adam's apple of a virile male.  This guy had the same adam's apple and the same walk.  I could tell he was walking through the woods pretending to be Aragorn. "I am the Dunedain" he was thinking to himself, "the last of the men of Westernesse".  I asked him if he new where the bike trail was and he walked by without responding just like I knew he would.  Just like those loners in high school would, on their way to their martial arts classes...."in the west, I am known as Strider..."  Then when I got back on the trail, I rode by the St. Paul Pool and Yacht club.  Then, just past the Yacht club, the second trail gets started.  Known as The Great Rivers Trail, it follows an old rail bed and brings you to a little town called Mendota.  There, you can get on the bike trail over the Mendota bridge and that takes you to Fort Snelling, that outpost of civilization that looks over the wilds of the Minnesota River Bottoms. 12:55:19 AM    comment []

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