For Sparky and myself, curiosity drives passion which in turn fuels our life's engine. Our passion was capturing the story of both unbuilding the Grace (1929 - 2007) and Pearman (1966 - 2007) Bridges and discovering the unbuilders. It takes a lot of passion to track a project from July 2005 until April 2007 - rain, shine, hurricanes or moving to Singapore. We discovered the joy of discovery learning. Ken Canty opened the front door for us - then Steve Testa, Ponch Billingsley and Mickey Rogers opened many side doors. Below are the highlights of what we discovered, who we met and what we learned.
And a reminder from T.S. Eliot (East Coker from the Four Quartets)
Home is where one starts from. As we grow older The world becomes stranger, the pattern more complicated Of dead and living. Not the intense moment Isolated, with no before and after, But a lifetime burning in every moment And not the lifetime of one man only But of old stones that cannot be deciphered.
The worksite: 10:47 from Sparky's window
and from the side - Chris stabilizing the road frame and Manny running the elevator
Manny's elevator and a man basket - getting folk in place
Starting to cut through the base to separate the roadway frame
Nugget and Stan
A better view of the support cables to Chris' 7550 and Manny's elevator
with Carlos
The mobility of the 7550 really makes a difference as seen here
A last minute check by Carlos to make sure the cuts are complete
Then Chris starts the platex procedure: left and separate (left side)
and right site
and on the way
and rotate the roadway frame
and on the way down
while Nugget and Stan lower themselves
From below
under Carlos' watchful eyes
and Chris' watchful eyes
down
with Lewis helping with the rotation
Lewis and his blue shirts!
a gentle push
and down
Lewis removing the lift cables
and a smile from Chris
Now, part 2 for Chris - lowering the left Grace pier
and now its Manny's turn. as the last section is lowered under his watchful eyes
The beginning
Freeing the base
Rotating
and on the way down
Near the end
and the end of the day
and a happy team
More later
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
C. Frank Starmer