urban camping

ira is my neighbor.

he's cute. and my age. and funny- in a really subtle, hipster/too-cool-for-school way.

he works at the bluebird and ogden as a barback by night, and at an office for a construction firm by day.

he's surprisingly got his stuff together, and is smarter than the average bear.

ira and i rode our bikes last night in the hot summer evening, with no lights on. the power was out and we wanted to explore, so we jumped on our bikes and away we went. we cruised down to colorado blvd, about four blocks away, to see the exploded power substation that had caused an apocalypse-like crisis a few hours ago, and was still smoking (later i heard the flames were up to 75 ft high). we rode through a busy intersection, the only lights from the headlights on the traffic jammed cars, the flashing police cars and firetrucks, and the flares on the road blocking the whole block off. the lights illuminated the heavy smoke in the air that we couldn't see otherwise in the dark, and it was like a fourth of july party.

ira and i rode down 13th ave about a mile- destination: Liks Ice Cream. my thought was since the power was out all over the city, the local ice cream store would be possibly giving away free ice cream as it melted... i mean, the power had been out for almost two hours at this point and i was idealizing the thought of a night bike ride to get free ice cream. what a fun story it would be!

about a mile into the ride, ira got a flat tire, and we started walking. it's also important to note that at this point, it was 9:30ish at night, meaning that the night was pitch black, and no street or house lights were lighting our way. our only light was from occasional passing cars, and flashlights and candles for other people outside, enjoying a night picnic or neighborly chat. it was endearing to see everyone out and about on the streets, talking and laughing and sharing this common chaos together.

we got to liks and alas... closed to due to power outage! no free ice cream! rather than being dejected, ira and i took full advantage of the night's weirdness and walked two blocks up to colfax, a street notorious for late night hookers and drug addicts. who would pass up the opportunity to walk down colfax on a night with no power? if any shenanigans were to be had, they would be here. for sure.

colfax with no power was eerily strange and normal at the same time. we passed one liquor store that was pitch black but had an open door- looked like people were still shopping inside. as we walked a few blocks, there were a few buildings on the northside that had power- one being a 7-11. we crossed the street and ira ran into get an ice cream treat. i stood outside to guard the bikes, watching a man on drugs walk in, followed by a man with spider webs and eyeballs tattooed on his head. men were walking out with batteries, ice and food, and the gas pumps were jammed full. i realized i had made a poor choice to sit outside in a spaghetti strap tank top on colfax on a crazy night to watch two bikes: one with a lock and one with a flat tire.

ira came out. he even brought me a jumbo cherry-flavored otter pop, and told me he felt like a jerk for going inside and not insisting i come with him.

we walked the bikes and our ice cream treats back down to our houses, the two miles on colfax getting darker as we neared our houses. apparently the power had not come back on this side of colorado blvd.

as we rode into our alley and parked our bikes, it remained dark. ira came in and we lit some candles and found a flashlight. we poured bowls of apple jacks (or really, 'apple dapples', the generic version) and ate cereal by candle light.

finally, at 11:30 or so, we decided the power was still not coming on and we would have to face the inevitable: going to sleep in the 100 degree weather with no fans. i said goodbye to ira and got prepared to suffocate of heat and dog snuggles all night.

ten minutes later the power came back on. i turned on my fan and slept soundly the whole night.