In the last post I mentioned how Logan enjoys biking across Manalapan. Well today, he, along with Greg, Josh, and myself, took biking rides to a whole new level.
Usually, we bike for a purpose, with a destination in mind. And usually, we come up with pretty reasonable excuses, like a tasty place to eat, or something we need to get from Walmart to drive us the distance, make us sweat, and risk our lives dodging speeding cars, rabid animals, and inclement weather.
There was no such incentive this time. We left Greg and Logan's with no destination in mind. And as we flew past the street lights and mailboxes in the fading light of the dying August day, things were looking pretty good. We flew through Meadow Creek and crossed Woodward Road onto the narrow road I had taken in the post entitled "Scenic Bike Rides and Golf Course Ponds". The air was cool as the last bits of the Sun's rays began to dip beyond the backdrop of rolling farmland. We passed big cows and old farm houses. It was like being in another place, I swear. You'd never believe you were in Manalapan.
We detoured into a little baseball field park. Now, it's imperative that you understand that this was Josh's last real night of summer. With soccer and other activities keeping him occupied until school starts, his days of freedom had effectively come to an end. So on his last day, Josh was craving adventure. This led to a series of sporadic spurts of action, and when logan decided to use the porta potty by the snack building, Josh scaled the nearby building, and jumped ontop of Logan's little man fortress. It was hilarious to watch. But we soon grew tired of the park, and left to continue on the narrow rural road.
By the time we had reached the extent of where I had previously traveled, the Sun was completely gone, and we switched on our bike lights as we ventured on into unknown territory. The Western sky's glow slowly faded into a thin yellow/grey before disappearing completely and leaving us with a murky purple, star filled sky.
The landscape had changed from rolling pastures into huge fields of corn. I felt like I was in the movie Signs, and feelings of eerieness began creeping into my head as we continued into increasingly more rural settings. I kept expecting to see some rednecks with shotguns standing in the street, or someone playing a banjo on their porch. Luckily the only person we encountered was a man checking his mail.
We had traveled maybe 11 miles when we first saw lights in the distance. Someone screamed out "Civilization!" and we all cheered as we peddled towards the intersection. We were in a town called Concordia, and the lights we saw turned out to be a big Stop and Shop. We chained our bikes to the rack and bought some drinks and a few bananas and snacks before starting back. Thats when the real fun began.
The road had grown wider and slightly more trafficked the closer it came to the Stop and Shop plaza, and more cars began to pass us as we left to begin our journey home. As we cut through the pitch blackness of the once again rural road, one car full of unruly teenagers unloaded a few high volume f-bombs on us as they passed us by. A few of us retaliated, but we mostly thought nothing of the event. It was when they came around a second time, that we shut off our lights and quickened our pace. We were on edge and very scared as we frantically sped through the darkness. The first sighting of headlights behind us sent us flying into a stranger's driveway. We took shelter for a second or two until the motion activated flood lights flicked on and we scampered away and back onto the road. Thankfully, they didn't make a third pass at us. When we reached Iron Ore Road, we detoured left, towards our next destination, Manalapan English Town Middle School. Which brings us to the next title.
Climbing Onto the Roof of MEMs
I love roofs. Maybe you find it strange, or maybe you agree with me completely, theres something about being up above everything else, seeing beyond the trees, and looking down at the far away ground that I just find thrilling. Mountain Climbers probably feel the same about mountain climbing. But with no mountains in Manalapan, the next best thing we have would be our old middle school.
When MEMs came into view I made a promise with myself. I wouldnt leave till I found a way up. A moving truck stood alone in the empty parking lot. It was quiet. Everything looked so serene, and pangs of nostalgia hit when I saw my old school. Little had changed since the days we used to walk its hallways. We canvased the entire building for a way up. And as we came around the last corner back to the front, I found it.
A small blue drain pipe bolted to the side of the building provided an object to cling to as I shimmied up to the ledge beneath the second entrance's outdoor roof. You can see the pipe in middle of the picture before this one. It wasn't easy going, and I struggled to flop myself onto the little platform. I found a stable place to plant myself, and reached down to help Josh up. Greg and Logan elected to stay on the ground, which in reality was the much better decision, as the next few moves Josh and I would make would prove to be extremely life threatening, and pretty stupid on our part.
From here on things began to look a little too treacherous. The blue roof above the ledge hung out precariously about a foot beyond the ledge we were on, and climbing up from there would require superhuman upper body strength, and some serious guts. Stumped and a little disappointed, we sat down and momentarily gave up our dream. The ledge was pretty cool, and almost satisfying to top off our adventurous night. Josh wasn't as complacent as I was. His enthusiasm drove me to action, and I found a way up to the next level.
Between the building and roof structure above the ledge was a small gap. I grasped the top of the roof, and slowly pulled myself up onto the dangerously smooth blue metal roof. A nice 30 foot drop onto solid concrete awaited our slightest errors at the end of the extremely tapered roof. It was so slanted that standing, and walking up, was completely out of the question. I gripped the metal edge and snaked my way up a few inches at a time, my body pressed against the metal, until I reached the top.
There was no ledge here, and I was shaking as I straddled the top of the entrance roof. I stood up, using the brick building for balance, and peered over the edge onto the roof of MEMs. It was barely do-able. However, A gripping fear held me back. If we were somehow able to fling ourselves the next 4 or so feet from the tip of the entrance roof, over the ledge, and onto the roof of the building itself, getting down back onto the ledgeless entrance roof would mean certain death. With no place to land on the way back down it would be all too easy to slip, and slide down the metal to be crushed on the concrete, now some 4o feet below us.
I got down on my stomach and once again gripped the metal, ready to give up and shimmy down. I wanted out. I had had enough adventure. Greg and Logan wanted us to come down. I agreed with them. Right then, Josh made a very profound statement to as we both clung to the cold metal on our bellies. We were both shaking with fear when he reminded me it was his last night of freedom. He wanted to make it memorable. Going on the roof was something he had to do. After a brief moment of indecisiveness, I agreed to follow him if he made the climb first. We yelled our decision to Greg and Logan, who left for fear of being caught with us, and I watched in horror as Josh threw his arms over the building's ledge, and pulled him self over and onto the roof.
Still shaking, I stood up on the tip of the entrance roof and paused for a second as I weighed the risks one last time. "The hell with it." I thought. My feet left their footing as I dangled over the edge, before once again flopping over onto stable footing. I hugged the pebbles with my whole body as the fear drained out. It was replaced with an overwhelming sense of relief. I was alive.
We were brusied, still shaking, and without our shoes as we hugged each other, but we had done it. I felt like I had just slain a dragon. To be honest I had doubted that we would actually ever make it to the roof. But there we were. Damaged, but there.
We explored the vast expanses of the several roofs ontop of MEMs. Each level of roof was connected by ladder. It was like being on the moon, grey and desolate. We could make out the air conditioning vents strewn across the dimly moonlit landscape. A brilliant display of stars hung over us, as we made our way to the far side by the parking lot. Our mobility was severely cut down by the gravel, which was quite painful to walk on.
Although the roof itself was pretty awesome alone, it was the idea of being on the roof that was to most thrilling. We had found a place that no one else, but those who could do so legally, had explored. Of course, it goes with out saying that what we did was illegal. But perhaps thats why we did it. Theres a rush we all get from breaking the rules. And when you get away with doing so you can't help but come back for more.
When we reached the far edge we sat down to rest. We tried to snap some pictures with my camera phone (Joshes was with Greg) but were extremely unsatisfied with the results. Being a photographer is both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you have the ability to take awesome pictures, but when you're without your camera, you see alot of interesting pictures you could have taken, should you have brought your camera with you. And that feeling sucks. The inablity feeling.
I called a few friends to see if they could get me my camera. After a few tries with other people, I called Shari Hewes to ask for Rachel Berman's number, Shari's currently at college in Missouri. She texted me and I called Rachel, who was amazing enough to drive out to my house, pick up my camera (which my mom had left on the porch as per my request), and bring it to MEMs, where her friend [who's name is also] Rachel, climbed onto a shed and handed to me as I reached down to grab it. She also managed to throw us our shoes, which was a HUGE relief. We could run around and explore much faster.
Now armed with a camera, we set about documenting our adventure. We continued to Explore for about an hour before jumping onto the shed, and back down to earth. I felt accomplished. We had done the impossible. I still can't believe we actually got up there. But I'm glad we did. It was an experience I won't soon forget.
Music That I'm Listening to Right Now:
No comments:
Post a Comment