They paved paradise and put up a parking lot

In the genesis of this blog a character called the Solitary Man appeared frequently. He seemed to live among the trees on an island between the incoming and outgoing lanes of the only highway north out of Anchorage. He often walked the bicycle path between town and his oasis, wearing a flop hat and a backpack, his long beard visible as he trudged along. The silhouette he presented was of what might have been a typical grizzled Alaska man. It was kind of fun to imagine his life. Homeless, I assumed, but he knew people. The only time I ever saw him close up he was talking with another fellow in the parking lot of the movie theater. I encountered him often during the years I commuted to a job in Anchorage.

It's been since January that I made the trip into the city. Today as I approached it the island remained but all the trees had been cut down. Pilings had already been set in the stream bed for a new bridge on the north end of the island and access ramps had been bulldozed through its soil and awaiting concrete, all part of a fancy new interchange for leaving and entering the highway to drive into a town called Eagle River. There can be no doubt the Solitary Man doesn't live there any more, not even in the fantasy I created for him. One can only wonder where he is now, his camp more than likely bulldozed and maybe his few belongings along with it. I hope he escaped with his stuff at least. There are plenty of woods in the area where he could live but there is one difficulty with those. There are grizzly bears all up and down that river and in the woods nearby. 

Living between the lanes of a busy highway he was pretty safe from the bears, but not so if he moves into the neighboring woods. That also left him somewhat safe from vandals or the kind of bullies who prey on the homeless.

Progress took another victim and the only hope is he somehow came out of it all right and has a comfortable place to pitch his tent. One of those things I will probably never know, but I will remember him every time I have to use that fancy new roadwork in order to drive onto or off of the highway that connects me with Anchorage and takes me right over his old campsite in the process