Bicycles at Ray's Place

I was down in Monroe and took a couple photos of the bicycles in the front windows of Ray's Place on W Front Street, Monroe, MI 48161

Entering Mississippi on I-55

If you've been keeping track, back here, I was coming up to Huntingdon, Tennessee where I planned to turn south and make my way towards Mississippi but looking at the map, I still wanted to be further west. I got on Tennessee 22 at Huntingdon but then jumped onto I-40 to drive through Memphis so I could cross into Mississippi on I-55.

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The last time I was in Mississippi was 1993. I took a solo, 6-week motorcycle trip around the country (Detroit to Wyoming, down to Arizona, across to Mississippi, then back up to Detroit).

Before that was in 1977. My US Navy Seebee homeport was down in Gulfport. I had lived there, between deployments (Subic Bay in the Philippines, Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, and Diego Garcia, BIOT), for about 3 and a half years. I lived off base in an apartment building (no longer there) in Pass Christian and a year later in a trailer park off the bayou, northeast of the Seabee base.

On this trip I had been entering each state by getting on the Interstate then stopping at the first Welcome Center rest stop for a quick in-and-out: pick up a free state map and a booklet for discounted motels. After that, I would break off and get on a back road to do some exploring.

I had always thought of Mississippi, and especially the Gulf Coast, as a second home. And having the friendliest people in the world. While I lived there in the mid-1970s, it seemed the most natural thing in the world to be walking along and stop to talk with a perfect stranger. Like I might have known them my whole life. And talk of nothing really. Nice day today... that kinda thing.

So coming down I-55 from Memphis I hit the first Welcome Center in Mississippi to get a state map and motel booklet. But, like the sign says, it was like coming home.

This Welcome Center was not like in other states. It wasn't fluorescent bright and stark with a couple cold benches and pamphlet racks. The lights were lower. Part of the space was lit with a table lamp. I thought I had walked into a neighbor's living room. There were pamphlet racks of course but it was homey, more like the entrance lobby of a bed and breakfast.

Behind the counter stood a nice lady and an older gentleman. They were warm smiles and c'mon over for a cuppa hot coffee and a chat. So I did.

I told him I was taking the back roads (though I thought I might get to Jackson) but heading towards the Gulf Coast. We talked for a bit.  He recommended a couple of the motels and offered to call ahead for me. But I told him I really had no idea where I would end up that night and I was anxious to get back on the road. He gave me a state map, a Gulf Coast map and the motel booklet with the notes he had written and his recommendations. I waved goodbye to them both and was back out to the car to look at the map and figure out where I would turn off I-55.

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And there was another oddity along I-55. I wish I would have stopped to take a picture or written down exactly where I saw this as I drove.

Driving I-55 South, somewhere south of Jackson and looking to the right at an entrance ramp, there sits what might be a US Navy, Korean War era jet plane, on the other side of a fence in the thick woods.  Now I might be wrong that it's really Air Force and more 1960's but there it is, parked in a very wooded area with nothing else around.

As I drove further down I-55, I kept seeing that isolated jet plane in my head as a memory from years ago. I didn't think I ever traveled I-55 back in the 1970's but maybe I did once.

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Well, oh well. I did a quick google search on "I-55 Mississippi jet plane." Seems like I was wrong about the type of plane but not the bizarre nature of its isolation. Here's a picture of it and the story. And there's more talk about it HERE at the MS Gun Owners forum. It's at the entrance from Hazelhurst, MS.

Anyway, mystery solved.

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So, back to my trip...

It's early afternoon, Day 3 of my trip south, and I'm at the rest stop looking at the map. I decide to jump off I-55 at Batesville and MS 35 West. It seems like a good place to begin a back roads run to New Orleans. I figure to hit the Gulf Coast on my swing back north.

weird ugly grey alien tower thing

I've ridden past this ugly thing on the way back from work for the past few years and since I had my camera with me I figured I'd stop and take some pictures. From the road, it looks like some weird, grey, metal, alien tower.

On closer inspection, it's not metal (that surprised me!) but an intricate structure built with jigsawed, half-inch pieces of plywood. Here's some closer pics.

It stands on the short Redford Street, northwest of the corner of Grand River and Lahser in Detroit. It's directly behind Detroit Tire and Wheel which sits on Grand River. The Redford Theater is close on Lahser.

Inside is this small plaque which reads -

The Society to Promote Art and Recreation in

the Community &

The Black Rock Arts Foundation dedicate

The Detroit Dream Project to

Motor City Blight Busters

and the People of the City of Detroit

June 2008

You're thinking -- Yeah, ok... so it's some weird, ugly, grey, alien, tower thing that isn't metal and it's really kinda cool looking, blah, blah... big deal. I've seen this kind of stuff on the internet a million times already. Right?

Well, I'd agree, except that's not the whole story.

When I was looking over the pictures before I uploaded them to Flickr, I was foolin' around with Google Maps, and I went to Street View...

I found the "thing" (this view is looking south down Lahser, that's Redford St. that angles off on the right, and you can see the top of the "thing" on the far right)

So there's the "thing" on the right with Detroit Tire and Wheel on the left and I moved the mouse to look around behind this view...

and I see this guy! The same guy I've seen most every time I've ridden by to look at that ugly, grey, alien, tower thing. Even in Google Street View - there he is!

my bike

It's a 1993 FLSTC. I took the rear seat off when my ex got her own bike in the late 90's. I've always liked the clean look of the solo seat so I kept it off. I go bike camping every summer, usually at state parks in Michigan, and it's easier to strap on camping gear without the rear seat.