It's been quite a while since I visited the West Bottoms, one of the oldest parts of Kansas City. It's dripping with both character and blight at the same time, and is a genuinely fascinating place to be. It's directly west of what is now "downtown" Kansas City, MO.
One of my favorite places in the Bottoms, not because of history or anything like that, is Surplus Exchange. They sell old used furniture, computer hardware, electronics and other fun stuff. I haven't been here in about a year. I took Broadway to Woodswether Road, which is a relatively un-used path to the West Bottoms from my office.
Next, I was hungry for a burger, and Jeff told me about Jerry's Woodswether Cafe on 9th street. I saw it while putzing around in the Bottoms and swung by for a burger.
I made the mistake of ordering a double cheeseburger. I figured it would be like a Wendy's Double. which is in and of itself a pretty filling sandwich. When the waiter asked "Really? A double?" I should have queried why exactly this was such a big deal. No. I was just hungry. I got food alright. This burger was MASSIVE! Forget "I can has cheezburger?" This was "I can has a whole cow plz?"
I rode through the 'Bottoms to the lower level of the 12th Street Bridge, and slogged To Beardsley to get out of the bottoms and back to work.
The ride home was insanely windy. A few miles into my ride, Karen caught up with me from behind and I suppose we shared the misery of riding both into the wind and into the blinding sun, glaring off the roadway. It was too windy to even think of talking, so we just settled into some good solid pace work against the wind, and I kept my eyes open for cars coming up from behind that might not see me because of the road glare.
Random Tunage:
Orbital - Planet Of The Shapes
Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
What follows are more pictures I took over lunch. The big spiral on the side of the building is the only way out of The Edge Of Hell. Enjoy.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Fun in the West Bottoms - Windy ride home
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5 comments:
Oh how I have spent many, many, many nights hanging out under that 12th St bridge with all the other haunted house crazies. It (was) a culture unto itself. It seems that Catacombs Extreme Scream (combined Catacombs and Fear (which itself was Darkside which was Devil's Darkside)) was about the only house that had a long term and active group of employees who stayed around the Bottoms after work. I know of at least a decade of partying that I was somewhat a part of. There are some other "shadowy" sub-cultures in the West Bottoms as well. It's an oft ignored cultural hub of the city. Where are all of K.C.s nationally famous haunted houses located? ;)
BTW: You could probably stop on the top end of Woodswether and get some nice shots of the Mighty Mo' sometime too, and not have to slog back up one of the bridges.
Man! After a burger like that I'd be greazin' my chain with vomit! I wouldn't make it back to work.. I'd pass out face down on the table for a sugar induced coma/nap..
Those are the places I like to ride. (Downtown). The burger must have made riding difficult. Kind of like riding a fully loaded touring bike I imagine.
Oh, but that's where you guys were wrong. The burger was deeeee-lish! Not greasy or runny like Fuddruckers' Burgers. You also have to remember that I'm a recent graduate from the Clydesdale club, and I weigh something near 50 pounds less than I did not much more than a year ago.
I don't ride this much to lose weight. I ride this much so that I can eat a pound of meat, 4 slices of cheese, an oversized bun and a hefty portion of fries for lunch... and two orders of BK cini-minis on the way to work for breakfast!
It was only about a 5 mile round trip, about 2 of which happened after the burger incident. I made it back to work just fine, and I'd seemingly digested a good portion of it before my 14 mile ride towards home. My king-size lunch caused me no problems.
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