Weird

Sometimes its just plain weird out there.  My routine up here has been to awaken at 3:00 am (same as in Kitschland),  head down to K-Burg for barge pics, back to Emerald City, shower, do my computer reading, and head over to Seaton to assist the Wombie in his water work.  

The trips to the river don't often vary except for the various critters I might see along the way in a very dark, often foggy, adventure.  Oh, yeah, that annoying little feature with my 21 year old pickup when the lights go out momentarily go out raises the blood pressure some, and the deer in the headlights thing can get your attention, too.  But generally traffic is non-existent, the river is without barge, and the creatures that ply the lands at this hour pretty much stay on the side of the road.  

Except for this particular trip.

It was a dark and stormy night.

As I entered town I saw a car a few block down and straight ahead but didn't think anything of it.  I turned right to head to the dyke and was not surprised to see no barges at all.  How can I perfect my ISO and shutter speed to get enough light into the camera and freeze a moving object in the dark without a barge?  Such are the calamities that sprinkle my existence.  





As I am sitting as the raindrop fall I notice lights in my rear view mirror.  And then, the blue and red LED's.  It's been a long time since I've been pulled over (a traffic ticket in 1978, no lie) and I wasn't sure of the protocol.  I opened my door as if to get out but thought better of it and stayed there with seat belt on and door wide open.  Old Lives Matter.

A young swarthy cop by the name of Mason or Munson approaches and asks how I am doing.  And like a first time offender wishing to expunge the guilt I sang like a canary.  With barely a breathe I confessed: "i'mfromFloridaandeverysooftenicomeupNorthtotakepicturesofbarges
andilikedoingitatnightandandihaven'tdoneanythingwrongiswearand
i'llneverdoanythingwrongeveragainifyoujustletmeoff"

OK, it wasn't quite like that.  But...close.

He looked me over and the truck a bit but he seemed more interested in the surroundings.  If you know the K-Burg dyke you know that you are right up against the river.  There is no beach.  There is some undergrowth ahead and river.  River on the left and front.  But this officer kept shining his light over ahead, toward a picnic table and swing.  After a short conversation he wished me a good night and off he went.  

As I am sitting there and filmed some of it for your pleasure, it started raining buckets. Absolute downpour.    





This is me sitting in the truck with the rain coming down.  If you look closely I have started filming what seems to be a flashlight that came up from the edge of the river and move to the right, over toward the swing and a bulletin board they have constructed.  It stops, then seems to head back from whence it came.

My first thought was the sheer improbability of a guy with a flashlight ascending from the depths of the river at 3:30 am during a torrential downpour.  The Creature From the Black Lagoon who needs a flashlight to see where it is going.


My second thought, being an old friendly and courteous Midwestern guy, was to offer him a place in my truck to dry out.  This idea drowned in the knowledge that things and society have changed since I was a kid.  Once again, Old Lives Matter.  

It was rather astounded as I sat there of the series of events this morning.  And then my third thought sprang from the depths a barren brain:  the cop was looking for someone.  He was the car I saw as I came into town.  He was patrolling the river front for someone and came over to check me out - perhaps I was his ride or accomplice.  Very likely he saw the lights turn off from my truck as I parked and he thought I'd left.  Then he saw the lights of the officer's car and when they, too, left he came up from hiding.  Once he saw that I was still sitting there he decided to return to his watery hiding spot.

No barge, no night sky, no pics to take.  I left and headed home eventually but it was a fun, freaky, weird night on the banks of the Mississippi in K-Burg at 3:30 that morning.  Wouldn't have missed it for the world.