Sometimes all I need is a short ride to clear the brain and lift the spirits. That’s surely no mystery. The mystery comes at the end of this post. Keep on scrolling down, my friends!
I walk in the door, drop the purse, lunch bag, and lap top. Grab the helmet, wallet, and camera, and hit the road.
I typically choose back roads for the scenery, the farms and barns, and the old houses. Yesterday I also added a 20 minute run along a highway. Ahhhh …. the famed wind in the face therapy.
So where’s the mystery?
I stopped to photograph this decrepit home at the intersection of two country roads.
As I wandered around the house, I specifically thought of Mike from Mike’s Look at Life. How would he portray this house?
Mike has a skill with B&W that I do not have and he might have presented the image differently. But I share it this way for a reason. Look what is revealed when I put the image back into color.
A bright shiny door knob and a new propane tank. Hmmm … what do you think goes on in this old place?
(Be sure to check out Mike’s blog … for the photography AND for the comment section!)
Life on the Bike and other Fab Things 
Nice find, Looks like a right creepy place. Great spot for a Meth Lab?
That seems to be the popular assumption! I decided that I shouldn’t make it well known (locally) that I’d been messing around back there 🙂
LOL, Good idea, just in case 🙂
@Ed, lol…
Yep!
Interesting old place – lived in places like that when I was younger 🙂
BUT, I seriously love your bike, OMG, superb colour…! (said the little ‘very’ green man)
Thanks for the bike comment!! The color is called Candy Orange … to me it’s more red, and I love it, too!
Let our imaginations think of the best.
Super comment, Bruce!!
Great old “meth lab” and I am honored to be mentioned in your post. Gorgeous bike.
So glad you like the bike, Mike! Someday … we ride together!!
That would be a thrill for me.
Great shots Laurie and I love that color red on the bike. I would have to agree with Ed and Mike about the “meth lab”. By the way does anyone have a box of Sudafed they could spare ? 🙂
Ha! It drives me crazy that I have to sign my life away (slight exaggeration) to get some Sudafed!!
So glad you like the bike!
Before I read your words, I did spot both items. Definitely food for thought. Around/near our location is such a place……..not dilapidated and very much being lived in but under the watchful eye of local/county officials!!!! Your photos certainly capture the mystery/eeriness of the structure!!!!
(Nice shot of the bike, may I add!!!!!!) Hugs………………….
You have a great eye! Right on, Doreen (for both the house and for liking my bike!)
After seeing those two new parts of that very old house, I decided that I should not make it known locally that I’d been there 🙂
Ok……….We’ll all keep it a secret……just between friends!!! Seriously, though, such places exist in too great a number (if it, indeed, is clandestine!) and presents a huge threat to us all. As long as law enforcement is aware (speaking of my situation) I will have to rest with that!
Wonderful looking new bike 🙂
Thank you, Seonaid. I think it’s a beauty, too!
Don’t it just make you wonder all what happened inside this house?
Oh definitely!! Hope Mommy to be is doing well (and Grandma, too)
I am hoping that the old house is being restored and loved – sigh! Even an eternal optimist is sometimes stopped in her tracks by a giant propane tank …… but maybe it is being utilised to heat and restore………? [Hopeful still…]
Love, love, love that shiny red bike. But I think I’ve said that before ……
Your eternal optimism is one of the reasons that we all love you!
😀
It’s the ladders that have me curious? That black and white is way creepy… well done!
Must feel good to be back on the bike?
It does feel good … I’m taking it easy but loving being back.
And the ladder is what first caught my eye. Interesting!
I had Edmooney’s answer before I looked at his answer. Meth lab. LOL!
That does seem to be the most common assumption! I mean why would someone put a brand new doorknob and lock on a house that is falling apart, right?
I agree with the above: Meth lab. Be careful taking those beautiful & interesting photos.Thanks for sharing a link to Mike’s blog ~ he’s got some wonderful B&W photos!
Glad you enjoyed Mike’s blog … and the comment section is entertaining, too!
Wind in the Face therapy, huh? You are going to get me back on a Harley yet, LB. Love your new wheels. And thanks a million to turning me (us) on to Mikes Look at Life, it’s terrific.
Mike’s blog is great, isn’t it? And yes! Whenever I get up to your area, you’ll have to ride with me, and I’ll run with you (oh now THAT is funny!). I’m a pretty fast power walker … but running? not so much 🙂
My roots are exposed: I just thought it was good that whoever lives there can afford a new propane tank. I grew up in rural Idaho in a place where poverty was the norm. Some homes were no nicer than this and certainly smaller. Broken window panes in the front that are not covered make me wonder whether someone is actually living there, however. I agree: still a mystery.
Here in Appalachia, many still live in the 20th century in terms of poverty so we, too, are used to this. Unfortunately, we have a HUGE meth problem and addiction to ocycontin is beyond the scope of comprehension. Poverty is just one of many reasons for this. It’s a sad, sad, thing that it comes to many of our minds to think meth as that’s we hear daily.
My first thought was meth lab, too. Gotta be. My other thought – how do you handle that big bike? It’s a massive machine. And a real beauty!
The bike really is a big machine … but thankfully, it’s got a low center of gravity and that makes it work for someone as short as me. I too, think it’s a beauty!
“And all i need is a short ride and a star to steer her by..”
Fascinating find…and yes, a bit creepy. I was thinking that in California, property is rarely abandoned, yet you seem to come across amazing places like this all the time. In a few more years when the boys are launched, I look forward to seeing more of this vast country. Great post, Laurie.
And yes, what a shiny new bike.
The shot of your new bike had me thinking that you must have just spit and polished it, because even the tires are clean. Would a wicker basket with a kitty wearing it’s very own helmet be out of the question? snicker.
I must be the only dunce in the group or just have ‘kitty brain’ because I scoured your black and white photo, roof top to porch to yard and back again for signs of life, ie. a cat, a cold bottle of Coke, a hammer on the roof. When I couldn’t spot a thing, I scrolled down to your coloured picture and thought how suddenly, in colour, the place looked cheerier. I was also amazed that this back road is paved because ours sure aren’t. Then I started reading your comments and when, “ohhhhh, K’ LOL.
I guess you might be onto something, but don’t they usually put tinfoil on the windows too? (I saw that on the news) I’m going to hang on to the thought the someone, down on their luck, is making due and putting a roof over their head cause no one else was using it. xoK
Sing it loud…… “Somewhere over the rainbow”….everyone join in now 😀 LOL…yours truly, the eternal optimist. BTW, I dig Mike’s blog too.