You Aren't In Kansas Anymore; You Are In Tucson

Here's a story from last weekend. An Arizona dust devil picked up a jumping castle and hurled it across the street with two kids inside. I love those jumping castles (here is a picture of me in one), but they are helpless against whirlwinds!

This happened at 11th & Speedway in Tucson. That is only a few blocks east of the Speedway/I-10 underpass. I know that underpass only too well. It makes me cringe every time I think of it.

Once, racing downhill while returning from a bicycle trip to Gates' Pass in the Tucson Mountains to the west, I charged down the pedestrian walkway in the underpass at high speed. I realized at the very last possible instant, when I approached a protective guardrail separating the elevated walkway from the road proper while traveling 25 mph, that the walkway was really too narrow for a bicycle traveling at high speed. Too late!

I had the choice of pitching over the guardrail and falling into traffic, or hitting the wall. I chose as wisely as I could under the circumstances. I left this huge arc of a smear against the dirty concrete wall of the underpass that survived for years. Indeed, the smear might still be visible today. It is testament to bad things happening to clueless people threading narrow spaces at high speed. Whenever I see "Jackass"-style videos featuring incredibly-stupid people doing incredibly-stupid things that result in bodily harm, my Speedway smear comes to mind.

The jump castle problem is sad: it's more bad luck than bad judgment. Still, I wonder, is that neighborhood jinxed?