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lag bolts and hurricane clips
Sunday, November 30 2008
setting: Super 8 Motel, Raritan, New Jersey
Gretchen had taken the dogs for their last walk of the night last night, so it was my job to take them on their first walk this morning. There weren't a lot of options when it came to places to go, so again we went out across the deserted parking lot surrounding the shell of an abandoned McBurgerFriedDonuts. There was a little graffiti on the side of the building, but more interesting was the fact that someone had smashed the door knobs and locks off the doors. This made it easy to gain entrance. Inside, the building was a disaster, with every loose item either thrown on the floor or overturned. The drywall had numerous tears in it after crack heads had mined the wall for copper pipe. Drywall and rubber foam pipe insulation made up the bulk of the clutter. I also noticed that there was a hole in the ceiling leading up to daylight. I could tell that no one had been in the building for months, because it didn't smell of human excrement.
On the other side of the building I found the relics of makeshift camp once occupied by the homeless. It included a set of nests for sleeping, as well as a number of perfectly-good wooden chairs for sitting around solving crossword puzzles.
Back at the motel room, Gretchen eventually woke up and switched on the teevee, whereupon she quickly found something to watch: a movie called Roll Bounce, an African American coming of age movie centered around kids who like to rollerskate. The movie was set in the late 1970s and looked as if it had been produced then, though there were subtle indications that it hadn't been: the afros and eye makeup weren't as wild as they would have been in that period. Also, the sound production seemed geared toward modern sensibilities. Gretchen was actually pretty sure it had been produced in the 70s, but I was right; it had been made in 2005. Gretchen would have watched the whole thing, though the final skate dance showdown still hadn't concluded at 11:00 am, by which point we were supposed to have checked out. Not wanting to be the annoying person who lingers at a motel after checkout time, I raised a fuss and suggested Gretchen get it from Netflix, and she grudgingly agreed.
Aside form a little accident-related traffic south of Newburgh, our drive home was relatively easy. I felt sorry for the poor folks heading south down the Thruway; they had slow going for well over fifty miles.
Abandoned fast food restaurant in Raritan, NJ.
Sally explores some old nests once occupied by homeless humans. Location: 40.574461 N, 74.630792 W.
Graffiti on the abandoned fast food restaurant. 4:20 dude!
What tunnels? It was fairly dark in this building too.
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