I Keep the Snowmobiles Parked Out Back

April 18, 2011

Some mornings, I head to work via the alleys behind my apartment. Usually if I need to take out the trash, I’ll go down the back stairs and walk along the alley that kicks out further up the street, near New Wave Coffee.

The alley by us converges with another alley (that runs parallel to Milwaukee Avenue). The space between the two alleys is a fenced off area, in the shape of a triangle. I’m not entirely sure who owns this, or what it’s used for. I’ve seen a few odds and ends there, but never any people around.

Last week though, I happened to notice something I hadn’t seen before: some snowmobiles.

There are two of them, and they look pretty identical. But they’re situated in a rather haphazard way. It doesn’t look like someone parked them… it looks like someone simply ran out of gas and left them where they stopped.

What’s stranger still is that there’s no snow on the ground, and the terrain seems anything but suitable for these vehicles. Perhaps they were here all through the winter, and I just never noticed. With all the rocks and bricks strewn about, I wonder how safe it would be to ride back here, even if there was a crapton of snow.

A close-up of the snowmobile. I have to say – they do look pretty damn sweet. I’m really curious who owns these and what the backstory is. Partly because I’d like to know, and partly because I want to know who to talk to, when next winter rolls around.