**Edit ~Jan. 17th '07**
Rachel's passing involved no foul-play. She passed from Hypothermia, after falling through the ice into the Mississippi River. Tragic, of course & no doubt... but at least some solace can be found from no felonious involvement.
Amy, Chloe and me went to her memorial today. It was beautiful, heartbreaking and stunningly tender. Much love in that room, much.
After... the three of us went to the location of her passing and placed dried flowers, a candle and a drawing & note from Chloe. We cried. We said, "Goodbye" to a beautiful girl we didn't know-who is gone far too soon, who...
we would have dearly loved to know.
Goodbye, Rachel. Be well... and keep ridin', Always
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After a light snow Friday night and on into a sunny Saturday morning, I read on a local bikey forum, that one of our own had gone missing.
Rachel Dow.
She was last seen late Thursday evening, and after friends/co-workers had become alarmed to her absence by Friday, folks started trying their best to retrace her route and whereabouts.
After a few phone calls early on Saturday morning I headed down the West River Parkway. I had been informed that she was still missing but that her bike had been found... right by the Mississippi River. Not good.
Pulling up to that spot: seeing 3 Minneapolis police cars, a sheriff's SUV and a small group of cyclers... and Rachel's blue Bianchi leaning against a sign with yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape encircling it, my heart sank.
It looked wrong, obscene, unfair, ominous, sad and final.
As the crowd grew with fellow 2-wheelers, more police, more sheriff folks... and then finally a motorboat, a heavy feeling descended that fate had already been decided. The sunshine seemed less bright, the cold was more invasive. The contradictions of a beautiful day.
An hour or so later the Medical Examiner's Suburban arrived-after the boat was launched into the river with divers.
Rachel, I did not know you... but we did say "Hi" to one another a few days before this happened. And for that I am glad. We smiled at one another too. And for that I am -also- glad, no... beyond glad. But also...
because of that exchange, I am also tremendously sad right now sitting here typing this. I am sad when anyone departs our world, but those I know, even through the smallest of exchanges, well... it's very difficult to articulate it.
I feel the loneliness for those that truly knew you... and it broke my heart to see your bike sitting there, without you on it/or beside it. It was all wrong.
And that's the image I cannot get off my brain...
along with your face.
There's a dirt floor underneath here
To receive us when changes fail
May this shovel loose your trouble
Let them fall away
Well the mist shall be your blanket
While the moss shall ease your head
As the future is soon forgotten
As the dirt shall be your bed
There's a dirt floor underneath here
To receive us when changes fail
May this shovel loose your trouble...
Let them fall away.
Dirt Floor
~Chris Whitley
Rest In Peace, Rachel.
Not the first. Not the last. I get angry when I think I have to worry about whether and where I should ride because of my gender.
Posted by: Susan | January 14, 2008 at 08:47 AM
Scott,
it was comforting to see you, and to be amongst so many friends, on such a tragic day. The memorial is this Thursday, from 3-5pm at the Soo-Vac Gallery, 27th & Lyndale.
-Hurl
Posted by: Hurltron 5000 | January 14, 2008 at 01:08 PM