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I biked all the way to the sellwood bridge today. I came back on the west side of the river, taking small hiking trails, and stopping frequently to snap pictures.

As I got closer to the Ross Island Bridge, the construction forced me to take beat up roads where the old trolley-car tracks still stick up out of the asphault in some places. Upon approaching the Marquam, aka I-5 bridge, I noticed that the sun was in just the right place, hanging over the west hills, where the hallway of pillars beneath the bridge were perfectly illuminated. I stopped and snapped some pictures.

Almost immediatley, a guy in a hardhat came over and asked forcefully if I was a photographer. I said "well, yeah, amateur that is. I'm working on a portfolio."

Without listening to what I said, he cut me off with "You know what I think when I see people taking pictures of bridges? You know, with all the stuff going on these days." He gave me an accusational look.

"Oh! I hadn't even thought about that. No, I just like to take pictures of bridges. See where the I-5 and I-405 converge, and there's the slight curves on either side, and it's illuminated so nicely right now."

Again, he didn't listen. "You see, these guys came by here the other day, they were in a brand new Mercedes SUV, tinted all black, and they were taking pictures." I sensed that he was exagerating, or just making the whole thing up. I was waiting for him to tell me that one of them had a gold tooth, dark sunglasses, and walked with a cane. "And you know where they were from?" he asked.

"I'm guessing you don't mean Ohio."

He was not amussed. "No, they were from over there. Yeah, the ones we're fighting." At this point I'm just looking for an exit point, but he continued. "Yep, we talked to the FBI, and they're looking into it. Soft-targets and all." He made sure to throw in as many buzzwords as could, then trailed off into a vague accusation that I myself am part of it. "So, they'll find out about this. I'm going to make a call. No sir, don't like people taking pictures of these bridges."

I got on my bike and exitted north to Waterfront Park. Some people are dumb.