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UER Forum > Archived US: South > Busted in the Crawdad Drain! (Viewed 791 times)
RobertB 


Location: Skeeterville, TX
Gender: Male


Maybe I shouldn't be using my real name...

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Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
< on 5/29/2008 11:52 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
I posted my last story five months late. This time, my feet are still wet, my socks and pants are hanging over the bathtub, and I need to be getting ready for work -- but this report is too cool to wait.

I got busted!

I figured 4am would be a good time to check out a drain. During the day is good, but getting there can be difficult. People will wonder what you're up to. Evening is cool, depending on the place, but 10pm to 2am is when a lot of baddies are hanging out doing their thing, and I'd really rather not meet up with someone who *is* up to no good. But 4am? The bars have been closed for hours and the regular working folks won't be up for another couple of hours... it seems like the ideal time. Except that I hate mornings... but this morning, I managed to drag my butt out of bed, hop on my bike, and go check out a drain.

It was my second visit to this drain -- I didn't have a camera (except my phone) the first time. So I went back with a camera and flash.

It's a rather unusual drain, because the outlet is marshy and still. There are two six-foot-plus and an overflow six feet above the ground, implying that the drain was built for massive flows. But there's just a trickle, just enough to keep the creek flowing.

I took a look at the far pipe the first time. The water on that side was still and deep, and full of fish... and at least one water moccasin. Not a big one, probably less than four feet, but he had a large, triangular head. He swam away, up the drain, as I backed away. Neither of us was interested in saying hi.

You can imagine I kept a close eye on the water in front of my from then on.

Walking up the drain, I noticed that there was an unusual amount of glass. Not bits of glass, but half bottles with the pointy ends sticking up. And there was a lot of loose sediment, right in the middle of the channel. The most unusual thing were the cans on top of the sediment. Many of them -- maybe more than half -- were pop top cans. You know, the old style, where you pull the ring and a piece of the can comes off completely, instead of being pushed into the can and retained. Those haven't been around since the late '70s or early '80s -- it was sad, really, because my dad had made an awesome chain of pull tabs that hung from the rearview mirror. My kids won't get to see that. But the memory lives on, in the drain.

Think about it, though. For cans that old to still be there -- on TOP of the dirt -- it means that there hasn't been a serious flood in that drain system since 1980. They built huge capacity, but upstream is still largely fields and undeveloped land. Grass soaks up water, it doesn't shed it into the storm drain. So the massive volume of water never materialized.

What's cool, though, is that the drain is full of crawdads! I hunted crawdads as a kid all the time (it's what we did before video games, you couch potato brats). But I always had to look under rocks. With no sunlight to reveal their location, the crawdads in this drain just sit right out in the open, waiting for scraps or the occasional small fish to come within reach. Crawdads are fun to keep as aquarium pets -- they're constantly remodeling the bottom of the tank, so don't plant anything, and they will eat any fish they can reach. But when we have a place for a tank, I know where to get more crawdads. Note to our Louisiana readers: they're not eatin' size. sorry.

The first time through, I explored the whole complex. The entrance is in an industrial area, and the two pipes and overflow go under a freeway. I was ready to be disappointed at the end, because after a curve I could already see light. But it wasn't just a simple tunnel under the freeway... it was actually a huge vault. My pipe came straight in, the other one curved around and came in from the right side, and the left side, to my happy surprise, was two more huge pipes! The wall in front had two windows that led to the outside. At some point after its original construction, they had largely blocked them off, and the entrance there was covered in (horizontal) chain link fencing. This was the only area with any graffiti at all, apparently from before they put in the chain link.

The pipes upstream were like the ones coming in from the freeway. One was mostly blocked and full of stagnant water. But the other was flowing, just enough to feed the stream. Along it was more deep sediment, broken bottles, and 1970's vintage aluminum cans. I even found a couple of Dr Pepper "Return For Deposit" bottles -- not in Spanish, so they were definitely 1970s. Interestingly, I didn't find any "tin cans" -- the really old ones from the early '70s with a seam. So that pretty much dates the last flood, and probably the construction of the drain, to the late '70s.

The air was very still. The humidity was so high that my flashlight only penetrated a little ways into the fog. Eerie and cool, though I kept checking the air for hints of H2S. I noticed that the air smelled a little stale closer to the surface of the water, so I didn't crawl around. Still lots of crawdads!

At the end, the two big pipes opened up into another large vault. This one, though, had no access to the outside. It had two small pipes on one wall, and two small pipes on the other. There was a manhole, with surprisingly sturdy footrests leading up to it, but thumping on it sounded like it was buried -- only accessed during construction. One of the pipes seemed to have a tiny bit of airflow, but not much. I paced out the dimensions of the room, and it was huge -- 30 x 30 feet. I turned off my light and sat on a rock in the darkness for quite a while, and as far as I could tell you could have used it as a photographic darkroom -- not a photon of light to be seen.

Bad news for the plants. A small mound of dirt had sprouted some hopeful plants. They're doomed, I fear... stretching up and up and up towards a sun that will never see them.

But I didn't have my camera. It was a spur of the moment exploration, riding my bike and wondering if there was something in the cattails by the freeway. So I went back this morning.

I took some pictures of the glass, and a crawdad. I got some shots to stitch into a panorama of the first vault, and a shot through the chain link fence of the sign for an abandoned mobile home sales lot.

And I heard a "beep" echo down the tunnel.

A police radio beep.

Crap.

What to do? I already knew that there was no way out -- that going further into the tunnel would just lead to that big, dark room. But I wasn't tagging, and I don't have a record -- yet, I reminded myself -- and I had the best evidence of all of my non-destructive intent. I had my camera around my neck.

"Anyone in there?" someone hollered. No point trying to hide. "Yeah," I hollered back.

I took some more pictures. Several pictures of the tunnel leading out, actually. Not because it was so scenic, but because my flash might be visible to whoever was waiting on the other end. I kept whoever was out there apprised of my progress, because there's nothing good that can happen from taking a cop by surprise! Nobody replied to me, but as I approached the end, I could hear them talking. "... and I called his dad and said, 'You need to come pick up your son.'" was the end of one conversation. I realized that, with my rather high-pitched voice, the cops probably figured I was just another tagger.

I took another picture of the cattails at the entrance, and hollered "I'm comin' out!" "Get your ass up here!" was the reply. I complied. As I climbed the steep bank, and saw the blue pants and dark shoes, someone said, "Hey, he's OLD!" I've never been happier about my bald spot. F*** Rogaine!

Sure enough, there were four cops and three police cars waiting. They asked the questions you'd expect -- what were you doing in there? Taking pictures. Wanna see? It's pretty cool. "No, I've chased enough people down there, I don't need to see it again." They ran my ID -- which I made sure to bring, just in case -- and it came up clean.

They asked why I'd come down there at 4am, and I noted the reasons. I thought of another one that I didn't mention... 4am is a good time for cops, too. The drunks are asleep and/or in jail, the burglars have wrapped up their work (hopefully in jail with the drunks), the abusive husbands and runaway teenagers have been referred to the appropriate service agencies. There's nothing much going on, and a call from a watchful guard at an industrial site doesn't mean that they're getting called away from something urgent.

"You know, we have to come and check out suspicious activity."

"Yep," I nodded, "and I appreciate it."

They gave me my license and that was it. I didn't even get warned not to go exploring drains any more! Maybe they figure I'm an asset to them -- if there is some bad guy hiding in a drain, I'll be outta there and on the phone to 911 as soon as I have signal. Or more likely, if there's a tagger wanting to make his mark, he'll beat feet as soon as he hears *me* coming.

But I did have one request that they couldn't fulfill. I asked if I could take a picture of the police cars lined up on the frontage road to investigate little ol' me. "Nuh-uh," one of them said. "You're not gonna put *that* picture on your MySpace." "That's fine," I said. "They can believe me or not, it's their choice."

Pix or it didn't happen? I guess you'll have to decide for yourself.

J'ai toujours fait une prière à Dieu, qui est fort courte.
La voici: "Mon Dieu, rendez nos ennemis bien ridicules!"
Dieu m'a exaucé.
metawaffle 

King of Puns


Location: Brisbane!
Gender: Male


Purveyor of Fine Lampshades

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 1 on 5/29/2008 12:30 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Nice write-up! I presume you'll post the pics you *do* have when you get a chance?

http://www.longexposure.net
heinous 


Location: St Catharines
Gender: Male




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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 2 on 5/29/2008 1:28 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
great story....and yes pics would be greatly appreciated.

sUrD 


Location: anywhere the internet takes me
Gender: Male


Hello wasteland!

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 3 on 5/29/2008 1:49 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
mmmmmmm.... crawdads, I'm not from Louisiana but i love to eat crawdads. You'll have to post a few pics, drain sounds awesome.

...the wings on my shoes shrank now the moths won't eat my kidneys, when i shake my state capital it only yields 3 fairy napkins, but how do i know my banana slippers are like water boats because when the moon winks it burns my hamster punches, and that's how you get to llama school rowing your canoe backwards up main street when the front bumper falls off, do mermaids get to drink orange juice?
RobertB 


Location: Skeeterville, TX
Gender: Male


Maybe I shouldn't be using my real name...

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 4 on 5/30/2008 5:11 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Sorry I haven't had time for pix... here's the ones from the first, less eventful trip, taken with my camera phone.

Here's the lush swamp at the entrance of the drain. Wish I'd been able to get a picture of that water moccasin.

101786.jpg (65 kb, 640x512)
click to view



And here are the doomed plants, striving to reach the sun from a mound of dirt in the dark vault at the end. I hope I didn't get their hopes up too much with my flashlight.

101787.jpg (35 kb, 576x432)
click to view



I probably won't be able to post more until next week, since the pictures I took on the "fun" day are mostly panorama pieces that I need to piece together in Autostitch (and I don't have a Windows box at home).

J'ai toujours fait une prière à Dieu, qui est fort courte.
La voici: "Mon Dieu, rendez nos ennemis bien ridicules!"
Dieu m'a exaucé.
ChaseofSpades 


Location: Grand Nothing, Texas
Gender: Male


Adrenaline Junkie

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 5 on 6/13/2008 7:56 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
bad ass man. i remember the days of crawfish crawdad mudbug catching. damn the video games for ruining the fun we used to have!

is this anywhere near dallas?

And then, it asks the question: in a cold, uncaring, ruthless world of corporate slavery and assembly-line experiences . . . how is it possible to still live a life with strength, and passion, and with a soul that is still truly alive?
RobertB 


Location: Skeeterville, TX
Gender: Male


Maybe I shouldn't be using my real name...

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 6 on 6/13/2008 9:48 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Posted by ChaseofSpades
bad ass man. i remember the days of crawfish crawdad mudbug catching. damn the video games for ruining the fun we used to have!

is this anywhere near dallas?


It's a suburb, and that's probably all I should say at the moment.

I need to add my drains to the location DB. I'll have to think more about how to set the member-only option. As noted in the story, you MAY not get in quite as much trouble for prowling through a city-owned storm drain as you would for exploring on private property. And some drains are already so covered in graffiti that it won't matter what the taggers see. But this one is somewhat hidden, so I'll probably set it as members-only. Any thoughts on the issue?

J'ai toujours fait une prière à Dieu, qui est fort courte.
La voici: "Mon Dieu, rendez nos ennemis bien ridicules!"
Dieu m'a exaucé.
pezking4 


Location: Raleigh, NC
Gender: Male




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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 7 on 6/13/2008 10:03 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Excellent story, made me really feel like I was there too. Post 'em up when you get new pictures.

I become capability. I become the horror. What we know we can become only in our heart of darkness. It's my gift. It's my curse.
ChaseofSpades 


Location: Grand Nothing, Texas
Gender: Male


Adrenaline Junkie

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 8 on 6/15/2008 7:12 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
cool.

i've never been "draining" but i'd love to give it a try.

And then, it asks the question: in a cold, uncaring, ruthless world of corporate slavery and assembly-line experiences . . . how is it possible to still live a life with strength, and passion, and with a soul that is still truly alive?
dsankt 


Location: live and in the fresh




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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 9 on 6/15/2008 8:39 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Entertaining, even without pictures.

sleepycity.net: watch out for the third rail baby, that shit is high voltage. urbex and urban exploration photography
MHInc 

This member has been banned. See the banlist for more information.


Location: Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
Gender: Male




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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 10 on 6/15/2008 8:49 AM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
Nice writeup! I enjoyed reading it! Thanks for sharing, and glad you didn't get into any trouble.
The 2 times I have been "busted", not draining mind you, in buildings, on private property, the cops have been younger than me. Rookies. Around here, they don't seem to have too much to bark at as long as you don't have a crowbar or paint.
I am actually a little surprised that in TX you didn't get a more stern response from the cops at 4am! But glad you didn't...Cheers


[last edit 6/15/2008 8:51 AM by MHInc - edited 1 times]

MH Inc. Photography Canada
http://www.mhinccanada.com
\/adder 


Location: DunkarooLand
Gender: Male


I'm the worst of the best but I'm in this race.

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Re: Busted in the Crawdad Drain!
<Reply # 11 on 6/15/2008 4:15 PM >
Posted on Forum: UER Forum
 
One of these things is always good to have if your busted OUTSIDE a drain...


"What are you doing down there?"
"Meh, fishing for suckers. "(theres always suckers...)

if it needs to go any further...
"Why, you can't eat them; or at least they don't taste very good"
"fertilizer, for my garden" (they are very nitrogenous)

At least in my state, Connecticut, you can cut into/through private property if you walk through streams and rivers (with waders/etc), and not get in trouble... The river is owned and maintained by the DEP after all. It's funny because the landowner can't do anything about you wading through a stream; and the Game Warden can't cut through private property without permission from the landowner. As long as you have a fishing license the Game Warden can't really do much.

"No risk, no reward, no fun."
"Go all the way or walk away"
escensi omnis...
UER Forum > Archived US: South > Busted in the Crawdad Drain! (Viewed 791 times)



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