Skeletal Dérive

Ben's prompt:

1. A lot of you know that I’m really into urban exploration. So I thought it’d be fun if everybody did a little and wrote about it. The label might make it sound a little intimidating, but you can check out the wikipedia entry on it (which gives a pretty good overview) to see that it’s a pretty flexible label and of course doesn’t necessitate any sneaky behavior or even getting your hands (or pants) dirty. What I’m interested in is the root of urban exploration, which is the desire to see everyday urban buildings, sights, etc. in a new light, specifically as a wilderness. So I guess what I’d suggest for this prompt is to just go out walking and try to find something that appears interesting to you, much like you’d do on a hike or a backpack, just in the city instead (or in the case of Pullman or wherever you are, in town) and then write a bit about it – whether that’s fiction or nonfiction it’s up to you.

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Even though my walking is limited right now while my foot continues to heal, I'm more interested in the urban exploration prompt than coming up with a CD list. In fact, last night David and I went on a mini-exploration here in Tumwater that gives me a little something to write about.

David was on his way home from dropping a state car off at the motor pool, and an elderly lady became interested in his turquoise and silver Navajo watchband. They talked for quite awhile, and when the woman set her bus pass on the seat between them and said, "I'm finished riding the bus for the day. Use this if you can." Never one to turn down a free ticket, David brought it home and suggested we "go out on the town."

We decided to take the bus to Brewery City for pizza and beer. This would involved only a couple blocks of walking, which I could manage. The problem was that even though David brought the transit schedule with him, he didn't think to look at it before we got on the 12 route. Then he remembered we should have been on route 13, so the quest for an alternative was on. We decided on a Chinese restaurant he'd never been to. Along the way he pointed at a patch of forest.

"A Walmart store is going in there," he said.

"That's a shame," I said. "All that beautiful forest will be gone."

I thought about DeBord's Theory of the Dérive and Lefebvre's discussion of appropriated and dominated space. While our excursion did not follow the tenets of the dérive, I observed the visual interest that the mixture of forest and architecture adds to urban landscape, texture, color, density, concealment. The community's forested patch is about to be appropriated, adding to the imbalance between domination and appropriation. The forest in the area is dwindling, becoming an anomaly in the urban scape that it formerly dominated. The memory of natural wilderness resides between streets and homes and businesses and continues to be pared down in exchange for urban wilderness. Does it matter to anyone that another Walmart is already within reach a few miles north on I-5?

We got off the bus and walked through what seemed a residential district. Tucked off the side of the street about half a block in was a house with neon Pabst and Coors signs in the upstairs windows. After we passed the bushes, we could see that it was an Irish pub, totally unexpected as it lay offset from the rest of the commercial zone. The pub pulled at us, reminiscent of our time in the UK, but we decided to continue to our destination and visit the pub some other night. We're glad we did because the Chinese restaurant is being sold. The real disappointment is that the recipes won't be sold along with the restaurant, so the excellent food won't be available much longer.

From the windows of the restaurant, we observed a couple of interesting sights. Across the street was a totem marking the site of the first permanent non-native settlement in Washington. I tried to remember who these Europeans were, probably Hudson's Bay Company or Nor'westers. Later I discovered that my assumption was wrong and that I knew but hadn't recalled the facts:

The first permanent non-Native American settlers settled in Thurston County in 1845. Part of an overland train from Missouri, the Michael Simmons/George Bush Party determined to go northward from their wintering-over place on the Columbia River at Washougal that year. They were spurred to go north because the Oregon Provisional Government had passed laws excluding Negroes—whether they were slave, free, or of mixed race—from settling in Oregon. The punishment for men if they did not leave the Oregon Country within two years was whipping. George Bush, prominent member of the party was a man of mixed race as were his children. The party selected a site at the falls of the Deschutes near Puget Sound at New Market (what is now Tumwater), thus creating the first permanent American settlement on Puget Sound and in Thurston County in 1845. Seven others and their families who were with the party settled within a radius of six miles on the prairies around Tumwater. During 1846-47 they set up a gristmill and sawmill at the site utilizing the water power of the falls at Tumwater. (Thurston County Comprehensive Plan, Appendix A: Thurston County History)

Of more interest to David than the totem was the brand new Harley Sportster that a patron parked next to us. While I talked, David was distracted but I didn't know why. Finally he told me he just had to go do something. He walked over to the table where the Harley owner sat and struck up a conversation about the bike. I'm always amazed at how easily David can talk to strangers and after I stopped cringing, I smiled at his boyish exuberance.

As we left the restaurant, David consulted the transit schedule and found that the next one would arrive at about 7:40, about 10 minutes later. After deciding that the stop he thought would be nearby was too far for me to walk, we headed to Tumwater Square. David pointed to a bench on the corner usually occupied by a panhandler. Across from us was a Safeway store and another bus shelter, this one with a man sitting on the hill above. Thinking that the bus was late, something that rarely happens, David checked his schedule while I looked at the one posted in the shelter. Turns out that he had looked at the a.m. schedule rather than p.m. The evening was pleasant, though, and the wait brief.

For me the wilderness of the west side is real. What I really need to do is wander, get lost, and find my way home.