Alternative endings

I was trying to think of some of the most dangerous things my buddies and I did as a teen. My first thought was the time Billy and I caught a Metro bus to downtown Cincy to go to a club in Over The Rhine. The club was closed that day and we were too dumb to check the bus schedules and didn't realize that the next one wouldn't arrive until 7 am. We ended up sleeping down at Sawyer Point. That's probably not that dangerous unless you buy into urban stereotypes, which I don't.

Nope, my second thought was a lot more dangerous in hindsight. They were doing construction on that huge bridge on I-71 that crosses the Little Miami River just outside of Cincy near the rest stop. We used to go up to the rest stop in my beat up little '79 Chevette and strike up conversations with truckers and whatnot. We said we drove the Chevette all the way from Atlanta, that it had broke down, and that we were stranded. I have absolutely no idea why we said all that. Boredom leads to adventures and adventures need a backstory, I guess. Plus truckers often carry beer in the cab.

So anyway, one night we were up at the rest stop and we got the idea to walk down to the bridge. The bridge had an access catwalk built underneath, there were tons of constuction equipment around, and that was really all it took to turn the place into our personal playground. We all never really matured and when I say my teen years, I'm really talking about 17, 18, and even 19 years old. Late teens and playing in the underbelly of the tallest bridge in Ohio (239 feet) with BB guns because we were too cheap to get paint ball guns. Probably the most dangerous part was not on the catwalk, it was cralling out on the trestles with no support whatsoever. I mean, I've never really been afraid of heights, but that was just dumb. The catwalk was mostly safe enough.

One clear memory is looking out over the valley from the catwalk as dawn was creeping along the horizon, pushing the dark blues away with sweeping brushes of pinks and yellows and oranges. I don't know if anyone else shares that memory, but I always will.

Bit of trivia: The bridge is actually called the Jeremiah Morrow Bridge, something I didn't know until today. How cool is that?

Bit of scary trivia: I also didn't know until today that the bridge is approximately the same design and age as the I-35W Mississippi River bridge which collapsed earlier this month, killing thirteen people! Holy shit.