Roosevelt city park

I went for a bicycle ride this afternoon. The wind was from the south, and it being a relatively warm day at 30 F, I went on a different route.

A south wind meant I took a more southerly and easterly route. As I am staying in the NW part of town that meant riding into the valley and downtown before taking a east/NE route to make a loop back home.

As I was on bicycle I could take the street that now runs through the local college I once attended for a year. Oops... now called a university. Up and over the wide sidewalk that now cuts the street in two. I saw one of those "No" signs. As I quickly rode past I saw 'no skateboards' and other words I didn't have time to read. Probably 'no bicycles'. They and skateboards are usually prohibited hand in hand.

At the river I rode up and over the old wooden walking bridge that crossed the river and train tracks. Ah.. memories. For my high school photography class I took a photo of this bridge during the last flood back in the 70s. My memory of the photo is of the northern end of the bridge just being under water. I see the city has maintained the bridge as all the planking is good, with a number of newer wood pieces. Over the main train tracks the bridge now had a chain link barrier to prevent kids from tossing things on the trains that passed underneath.

As I was now on the edge of 'downtown' I rode up Main Street. Time has not been kind to this street and its businesses since the large shopping mall opened in 1980. A few business remained from back then. B&B Drug for example. Otherwise the businesses are local independent businesses that just need a building with cheap rent and a hope they will succeed. I see the old J.C. Penny store is now a karate school. Time marches on.

East of downtown, past the old and large and once beautiful houses of Eastwood Park, is the Roosevelt city park. It is winter and everything is closed. The zoo also. Even with a bicycle the gates kept me away from the buildings and cages. No matter, from what I could see the animals were held elsewhere warmer.

I thought the bears might be seen, but wait, it is winter and hibernation season. I see the city built a new and much larger area for the bears. Come to think of it the old area was rather small. I loved watching the bears when I was kid - even if their area often had a strong smell.

The swimming pool naturally was closed. I see they now have a large water slide to go with the pool. The playground equipment is all new, although there is much less to play on than when I was a kid. And the equipment is plastic and educates in addition to entertaining the kids. Gone are the swings, slides, teeter-totters of my youth. I guess they are now considered dangerous. How did we survive as kids?!

The mini-carnival area (Lunder's KiddyLand) is now gone, replaced by a concrete skateboard park. Funny... the skateboard area has a "no bicycles" sign. *sigh* We get no respect. The mini-carnival used to be a miniature Ferris wheel, a small train, a merry-go-round, and a few other rides I forget.

On display were a caboose from both the Soo Line and BN railroads (before it became BNSF). The cabooses need paint - especially the light green BN caboose. Its sides are starting to rust. Wooden steps were at each end of both cabooses. I looked inside and they were empty. Hmm... must be a work-in-progress.

Nearby was a sundial. That's new. Or I should saw "newer" as I haven't been here in many many years. It is part sculpture and only tells the time from mid morning till 5 pm. Okay...

The statue of a young Roughrider Teddy Roosevelt on horse back still stands in the park. His face under his hat, and under the horse's belly, are still a darker green. Other parts exposed to the rain and elements are a lighter green. Time and the elements are aging even Teddy.

I rode across a small bridge over a loop in the river to another part of the park. Here I noticed all the damage to the trees from the early October blizzard.

Leaving the park I rode to the county road east of town. The livestock auction was in full swing. I could hear the auctioner and I was across the train tracks. Funny... it's not Friday. Lots of pickups and long stock trailers were in the parking lot, so I rode in to the auction building. I asked and found this was a special bred cow sale. Yes, Fridays are their main sale day.

"How many head do you usually have?", I asked.

"The same as today, 1500 to two thousand."

No wonder they were still at it near 5 pm. Growing up I never realized this part of North Dakota had so many cattle. Where I now live used to be cattle country but the local auction ring closed the end of 2004. Only sold 3400 cattle all year versus 30,000 20 years ago. The sales I attended this past fall in Missoula didn't have near 1500 head. Wonder if the time of the year makes a difference in the amount of livestock being sold?

A BNSF freight train thundered by as I left the auction. I made it past the next county road intersection without having to share the road with the cars held up on the other side of the long freight.

The county road NE of town is not a "bypass" route. It was merely a paved road well out of town. The airport lay between it and the town. Not much was out here, and not much has changed. A house and buildings on the east side were now just a few derelict buildings. The house and buildings of my memory at the bottom of a small coulee must have been a trailer and buildings. All that is left are weathered buildings on the verge of collapse and a small abandoned mobile home. The buildings in their state of leaning are picturesque and I made mental note to come back on a day the sun is shining to take photos of them. Also gone is the mean dog that used to chase me as I rode my bicycle here. I would pedal fast as I went down one side of the coulee to get speed for the climb up the other side. I needed speed to outrace the dog when he chased me up the hill.

Today I had a strong south wind at my back, and even though age and a heavier bicycle has slowed me down, I imagine I could have outraced that dog again today.