A familiar journey

In the mean time, I am still going ahead with my plans to walk the length of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge this fall. Doing so isn’t cheap, but neither was walking the New River Gorge Bridge. Such experiences are pretty rare to come by, and in the scheme of things even a seemingly high price can be very much worth it. When I was a child I got to see the great pyramids of Giza and go inside of one of them. An expensive trip for sure (paid for by a family member), but something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I told my husband of my plans to traverse the great steel beast of the Chesapeake Bay, and he gave me a most puzzled look. I pretty much knew he would not understand. He didn’t understand my desire to walk across that monster. He said he didn’t even like driving over it, much less walking on it! Of course, he couldn’t see why on earth I wanted to pay a visit to see West Virginia’s metal monster either. He warned me that “It’s in hillbilly West Virginia”. And he had no desire to take that walk either. I was on my own for that one, and will also be on my own as well for my trip across the Bay Bridge. I am of course not including the hundreds of people who will also walk – and run – the route with me. But in so far as what will be going thru my mind at the time, those thoughts will be my very own to deal with. Of course, the Bay Bridge isn’t foreign to me at all, but I’ve only seen it from the vantage point of being in a moving vehicle. It will likely be very different to see it going at a fast walking pace instead of whizzing by at 45 or 50 miles an hour. Not only that, I will be walking across its road deck. Kind of like the difference between going on a foot safari on the plains in Africa verses traveling around in a vehicle to observe wildlife. I have done the latter, but never the former. No doubt there’s a huge difference in the experience one would have. Not to mention the former would surely be a bit more dangerous. While I don’t find the Bay Bridge to be dangerous (though it does lack some modern safety features for drivers), it will surely be more thrilling to go on foot to explore it.

I am also planning a trip to the New Jersey shore later this summer, which will of course mean I will be re-visiting one of the aforementioned metal monsters, depending on which way I choose to go. It will either be the Bay Bridge, or the Delaware Memorial Bridge. Probably will be the latter, as I doubt my husband will want to take the time to take a ferry from Delaware to New Jersey to get to Cape May. Which is fine with me, as I’ve not crossed that big green monster in many a year. However, in one of my recent armchair searches, I’ve discovered that in Delaware lurks another weird looking bridge that is a kin to the horror of Tampa Bay. Just as Dr. Evil had Mini-Me, the sinister Sunshine Skyway Bridge has a smaller creepy copy not too far from the Delaware Memorial Bridge. This beast is called the William V Roth Bridge, and while less impressive, size-wise, it bears an uncanny and chilling resemblance to the Skyway. Even down to the yellow color they painted the cables. That similarity was intentional. I have no idea why, but that’s the way it was built. It is also cut from the same blood soaked cloth as the Skyway, so to speak, with regards to its design. Apparently Dr. Frankenstein also created this lesser monster that inhabits the northern part of Delaware. It is also interesting to note that the designing firm in question is now temporarily blacklisted with regards to government funded jobs due to past projects with shoddy and even deadly design flaws. Frankenstein Incorporated has indeed concocted at least a few monsters, but thankfully for the near future will be unable to draw up anymore. So luckily those of us in the Baltimore area won’t have to worry about having another creepy Skyway clone spanning the harbor in a few years!