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I started my journey, as all journeys start, by putting on my shoes. But, in keeping with the spirit of the reverse polarity, I chose the shoes that seemed least suited for the task at hand. Instead of wearing my comfy walking shoes, I chose the sandals.

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and instead of shorts, I wore dress slacks.

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I was getting pretty hungry so, I looked in my fridge for food. I grabbed the least appealing thing - raw mustard greens. Granted they are tasty and nutritious, they were definitley not the most appealing of my lunch choices.

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hmm, at least I'm fed

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I was about to set out on my adventure when my laundry buzzed. Taking this as a sign along the path of the reverse polarity derive, I turned to deal with my laundry instead of going outside.

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Finally, my laundry was dealt with. As I was leaving my dorm, I passed a group of girls who were engaging in what appeared to be a festive 4th of July cookout. They all smiled at me and said hi. This situation was much too attractive to be appropriate for this anti-derive. I had to leave them. Just as I had disentangled myself from them, thunder cracked and I turned to see stormclouds moving in from the north. Seeing the prospect of getting caught in a storm as quite unappealing, I headed northward.

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A Parking Lot! how drearily uninteresting. I seemed to be well on course. As I made my way across the parking lot, the stormclouds grew closer and the first raindrops started to hit me.

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I was drawn, or rather was repelled, by this transformer station. The rain was picking up and the sky was getting darker.

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When I got closer, I discovered that it was really beginning to smell. The pungent, stagnant odor of decay wafted up and bid me investigate. I clambered through this gap in the fence.

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The noisome odor was coming from this drainage ditch or watever. (At this point, had I really been dedicated to the task I would have crawled into the pipe, because that is the last place I would ever want to go.)

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The water was smelly, brown and full of trash.

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GROSS.

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I left, and continued walking with no immediate goal. I simply oriented myself so that I was walking into the wind, therefore walking so that the rain was slanting into my face. As I neared this empty park I heard dogs barking from a few blocks away. I'm not really a huge fan of dogs, especially when they live in sketchy neighborhoods and are barking at me - so I cautiously walked towards the source of the barking.

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I found myself in a 'less than desirable' neighborhood. Luckily the dogs were behind fences, but people were watching me awkwardly, so I didn't really feel comfortable taking photos.

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I came out to a bigger street and saw this sketchy gas station. I went in to get a drink and some candy. I honestly didn't really feel safe taking my digital camera out and letting everyone in the store see it. A lot of people there were refilling their already depleted 4th of July liquor supply, and I thought it best just to keep a low profile and move myself along.

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Being the patriotic day that it is, and being in the reverse polarity mood that I was, I bought a non-acoholic, mexican malt beverage and some gross candy peanuts.

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When I left the store it was raining pretty hard and the ground that I was drawn towards (or repelled from) was pretty soggy. Too bad I was wearing sandals.

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I found the neighborhood tire pile! horray...

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This street seemed run-down and lonely.

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As I walked along this street, I began to pick up another yucky scent. I must be going in the right direction.

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Yay! I found a sewage treatment plant.

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The pumps made the most annoying high pitched squealing, and the smell was definitely unpleasant.

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and it was still raining

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I guess they have to clean the water somewhere - and this dérive lead me to that somewhere. pee-yew.

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I turned away from the treatment plant and saw this pipe going uphill. Interesting, but not something to be avoided by any means.

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Then I saw something, or someone, that should be avoided - a security guard. My normal reaction would have been to go the other way, but in this case I walked slowly towards the guard. I let her pass by before continuing up the way she had come down.

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up the hill, still raining

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"mmm... i guess i'd better get past this sign before someone stops me"

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I crested the hill, or what I actually discovered was a levee, and found that I had indeed reached the mississippi river.

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The water was actually pretty high, since it'd been raining for the past couple days. I realized, at this point, that I was becoming pretty interested in my surroundings, so I decided it was time to leave. Although, I did have a fleeting fear of aligators. Are there aligators in the mississippi? I don't know, but I thought it best not to find out.

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the big pipe from the other side of the levee the real question is, are they pumping water out of the river or into it?

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wetlands, our nations treasures

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I turned my back to the mississippi, and, seeing the road I had taken to get there, still found it lonely and uninteresting, so I went back the way I came. I followed it until I came to this sign, which really just encouraged me to continue on my path.

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When I got to the closed portion of the road, I realized it intersected with a bus route, and thougt it might be good to completely change locals.

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I wanted to go this way, South, to go back past campus and let the bus take me somewhere I'd never been.

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But then I saw a Northbound bus coming right at me. Since it was heading the exact opposite direction I had decided I wanted to go, I figured it was a sign that I should go along and head north instead.

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Sure enough I was actually already standing at a bus stop. What I didn't at first realize was that that bus stop was also the location of an ant mound.

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and I was wearing sandals. As soon as I got on the bus and sat down they attacked. They seemed to syncronize their bites and deliver one multiple point wound at once, at various places on my foot. It was extremely unpleasant. The discomfort of the ant bites told me that this bus was the right place to be, and I should stay on for a while.

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I finally got off downtown somewhere. I made sure to pick a particularly uninteresting part of downtown.

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I headed east, for no particular reason. It was still raining.

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A police car crossed my path. Instead of avoiding authority figures, I headed towards the cop to see where this check-point would lead me.

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It lead me to a wonderful piece of modern architecture set within an historical district of downtown. I would have loved to linger and explore this museum of glass, so I went the opposite direction...

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...leading me straight to six cop cars. At this point something unpleasant drifted to my ears. It was the sound of badly performed cheezy patriotic songs, wafting through the drizzle. I pressed onward to discover the source of this discomfort.

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and... back to the river. I found a bunch of people waiting around in the rain for fireworks that would start in a few hours. Most of the people looked less than happy to be there, except for the children. It was a warm rain, and many of the kids were running around in bathing suits.

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But everyone else was totally anti-rain.

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And there was a band...trying but failing to energize the crowd. It was not a particularly uplifting performance.

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I turned to the police again to find something good to eat.

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pulled pork sandwich? meh. could have been worse.

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This sign in the convention center reeled me right in. It was a sign for some sort of fishing convention. It seemed quite boring. I had to check it out.

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Indeed it was much more boring than I had anticipated. It seems I arrived late and everyone was gone.

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Well, almost everyone. There were still a few boats.

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boats...

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and a hummer? I'm glad I didn't actually attend the full convention.

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Then I went to find an ATM so I could get some cash to buy some boiled peanuts.

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I took a small break from reverse polarity dérive to actually enjoy the peanuts.

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Then I got back to going places that were unappealing. I entered this strange dark passage.

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It was really very dark. I was wondering what this place was possible for. I found the answer (or at least an answer)near the other end of the tunnel

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HAY!! This dark tunnel was used for storing hay. Or it was the scene of an underground hay deal that I had unwittingly interrupted.

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When I left the hay tunnel I was drawn in the direction of these comletely gray, dead bushes, then out to the street beyond.

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Now, having just filled my pocket with cash (so I could buy the peanuts) I decided that following a sign to a casino would be an unwise decision. So I turned left there.

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But instead of finding a casino I found another power tranformer station, which was ugly. It was still raining.

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AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! I was heading right for Death! I was most certainly right on track for this reverse-polarity dérive. Maybe Death would show me where the casino was.

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And so, right on Death's corner, I saw this sign. hmmmmm... riverboat casino...riverboat catfish... casino town... CATFISH TOWN??? I wanted to see Catfish Town so bad. I wondered what the mayor of Catfish Town would be like...

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So i followed the sign but found nothing. No Catfish Mayors, no riverboat casinos, not even any regular casinos. Lame.

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I followed the freeway for a while.

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Then, as soon as it stopped raining I was on the road that lead back home. I walked back instead of taking the bus, and so ended my reverse polarity dérive.