March 11, 2007
Portfolio: Camp Roberts, California, Part IV
I was driving back to the barracks when I glanced up and did a double take; there were two enormous birds perched atop a power pole. I climbed out of my gas-guzzling SUV (bite me, Al Gore!) to take a closer look.
Gazing down at me were a pair of vultures, aka California Condors, Hekyll and Jekyll. They were so big that I felt a little nervous turning my back on them to get my camera.
I got a little too close and they took off, great sweeping flaps of their giant wings carrying them to more private environs.
A short time later, a magnificent hawk flew by, a twitching mouse hanging from its talons, but I was too slow grabbing for the camera.
The post has numerous areas that have been bulldozed, leaving empty fields bordered and bisected by roads that once ran alongside barracks, but traces of the old buildings remain, occasional pieces of machinery resting amongst the oaks, antique plumbing erupting from the ground.
This fire hydrant has been standing guard since the earliest days of the war, it's housing cast in the still-peaceful days of early 1941. Having outlasted the Krauts and the Japs, it fell victim to the increasing cost of maintaining the buildings it was meant to protect. It seems almost forlorn, moss growing on its edges, slowly corroding, fading from its once-vibrant red into a dull ochre.
Posted by Mike Lief at March 11, 2007 11:18 PM
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