Thwarted!
sigh
Let this be a lesson to you. Time can run out on your plans. That bridge played a key role in my greatest act of civil disobedience. Well, my greatest act of intentional civil disobedience…that I’ll admit to.
Ah, the year was 1997, it was spring. Probably early to mid May since college never seemed to last longer than that. Graduation was in the air (cuz I was to graduate) and as your time in a place runs out, you attempt to do something really fucking stupid so you’ll remember that place forever and ever in your heart. It's completely natural.
Not being a native of Rhode Island, I always wondered about the Jamestown Bridge. I mean, I never got to drive on it as it was already put out of commission by the time I was going to school in RI. But every once and a while, whenever we could convince someone that it was a good idea to drive to Newport (trust me, it’s rarely ever a good idea to go to Newport, less so in late fall to winter) I would see that bridge just sitting out there silently as we zipped across its replacement. And I would think to myself, ‘That is the coolest fucking thing I have ever seen!’
And so a couple nights before graduation; access to a car was gotten, alcohol was purchased and in the dead of night we drove to the bridge. We parked on the Jamestown side, climbed an embankment, squeezed through a fence and there we were, on the bridge.
It was dark. I mean, like, really fucking dark. It’s not like they were still pumping the juice to the old bridge outside of the navigation lights for shipping and airplanes. It wouldn’t have matter if there did anyway since all of the street lights appear to be smashed from what we could tell in the moonlight.
The best thing about the bridge (as you can see here) is that it had this insanely steep approach once you were on it. The bridge just shot up to the middle like you were on a rocket during takeoff. Of course the best part was the middle of the bridge, which was comprised of a metal grate. Yeah, that's it, just a metal grate. I was the only one to make it to the middle as one friend lost their wits where the grating began and the other stayed with them to ensure they didn’t “freak out”. Odd times, good times. Wanted to do it again, looks like that ain’t happening….
Fuckers…
Let this be a lesson to you. Time can run out on your plans. That bridge played a key role in my greatest act of civil disobedience. Well, my greatest act of intentional civil disobedience…that I’ll admit to.
Ah, the year was 1997, it was spring. Probably early to mid May since college never seemed to last longer than that. Graduation was in the air (cuz I was to graduate) and as your time in a place runs out, you attempt to do something really fucking stupid so you’ll remember that place forever and ever in your heart. It's completely natural.
Not being a native of Rhode Island, I always wondered about the Jamestown Bridge. I mean, I never got to drive on it as it was already put out of commission by the time I was going to school in RI. But every once and a while, whenever we could convince someone that it was a good idea to drive to Newport (trust me, it’s rarely ever a good idea to go to Newport, less so in late fall to winter) I would see that bridge just sitting out there silently as we zipped across its replacement. And I would think to myself, ‘That is the coolest fucking thing I have ever seen!’
And so a couple nights before graduation; access to a car was gotten, alcohol was purchased and in the dead of night we drove to the bridge. We parked on the Jamestown side, climbed an embankment, squeezed through a fence and there we were, on the bridge.
It was dark. I mean, like, really fucking dark. It’s not like they were still pumping the juice to the old bridge outside of the navigation lights for shipping and airplanes. It wouldn’t have matter if there did anyway since all of the street lights appear to be smashed from what we could tell in the moonlight.
The best thing about the bridge (as you can see here) is that it had this insanely steep approach once you were on it. The bridge just shot up to the middle like you were on a rocket during takeoff. Of course the best part was the middle of the bridge, which was comprised of a metal grate. Yeah, that's it, just a metal grate. I was the only one to make it to the middle as one friend lost their wits where the grating began and the other stayed with them to ensure they didn’t “freak out”. Odd times, good times. Wanted to do it again, looks like that ain’t happening….
Fuckers…