All Stories
Lama, Alpaca and Vicuna
Yawn............
I'm feelin' tired......... Yawn....
Co-Pilots Log
Co-Pilots Log: Day 4-Aztec, New Mexico; I’m sitting in the Encore Motel. I am amazed and astounded that A). We made it this far, B). We made it this far without killing each other, and C). The van made it this far. We are almost at the halfway point, and it has been a beautiful/magical/awe-inspiring/insane/nerve-racking hell of a ride. Me and the captain have argued, bickered and fucked like rabbits in a tent. The first day started out in good spirits. The Murder Van was loaded to the gills; the change jar we’d been saving forever was cashed in (netting $69). We were leaving St. Louis with the wind at our backs, singing Lucero and laughing all the way to Kansas City. That’s when the first flecks of shit hit the fan. We fought in the parking lot of the world famous
Arthur Bryant’s BBQ Joint
, over whether or not to go to see Rancid. Not that I don’t like Rancid, it’s just I had imagined a more touristy-site-seeing-off-the-beaten-path exploration of America. Selfish of me I know. Long story short-we went. Long story short we almost lost the side mirror in the process. I actually ended up having fun against my will. We got to hang out with our old pal Steve from Atlanta and party with Murphy’s Law after the show. I even rode a mechanical Bull for the first and hopefully last time in my life. It was all good, as the kids say, until we drunkenly got lost in Kansas City and almost split up. Day two we made up and drove forever across Kansas to an empty camp site in a place called Pawnee. Where a kindly fat policeman (probably nine years younger than me), informed us that tornados occasionally take people from this particular camp site. That was conveniently located between a juvenile’s correctional institution and a mental institution. We set up our cheap $20 tent rather easily, considering neither of us had even been in a tent in years. We got it up fine and wound up the battery-less lantern and were good to go. A almost full pint of warm moonshine courtesy of Twan back in ST. Louis, and some much needed outdoor sex, just before the rains came. It poured like hell for about ten minutes before I felt the lightening that accompanied it would kill us. So we hoped back into old Murder Van, and somehow the captain managed to fall asleep, while I sat up for hours trying to capture the perfect lightning bolt on film. It was a fun game but all I really got was a dead battery in my digital and 400 pics of blackness. So I had to erase all of them and I was left with about four or five shitty pics of half-glowing clouds. In the morning we made the seemingly endless drive across the rest of Kansas to Dodge City. Home of the TV show Gunsmoke. Yeah I know most of you don’t even remember Miss Kitty and Festus, but those of us over the age of 29 might remember their dads watching it on Sunday mornings before the football games came on and we went in our rooms to play with our G.I. Joes.
You know for the most part Kansas wasn’t all bad. It wasn’t all flat (though most of it was), there were some really amazing scenes and you could imagine how it must have looked back in the 1800s when it was still pristine and wild. There was tons of dilapidated mess. We stopped in Topeka before we reached Pawnee and saw the home of “Brown v/s the Board of Education”. We saw tons of windmills just before that too. They were these huge alien looking structures that stretched out for miles on these rolling hills. They looked so unnatural, yet so amazing. It was hard to even conceive of man being able to construct them. It made me think about a old sci-fi story where aliens were secretly using humans as crops or cattle or something and that they were farming us and the earth with these huge windmills it seemed true. We saw some more on the endless back roads to Dodge City. We pulled over and read some visitor info about them and they were only built in like 2006 so that made them seem even more alien. I couldn’t imagine living with them every day it would creep me out. That among other things is why I’m sure Kansas has a huge Crystal Meth problem. I mean weird alien windmills and the saddest most dilapidate farm communities that you could ever imagine. I felt like we were getting a private glimpse into the real heart of America. We were avoiding for the most part the main highways and instead sticking strictly to the two lane back roads only traveled by people who either grew up in the area or were there enough to never follow the speed limit. We cruised along in our loaded down van soaking up the scenery, like a couple of city-slicker tourist. Cars driving by men old enough to fart dust zoomed past us. Each tiny town or town-ship was marked by huge Silos where the communities name was written on the side and the word co-op was stuffed in somewhere. It was sad to see whole groups of people placed their lives in crops that from the looks of things are kept alive by these giant trolling spiders that spray God knows what onto the food that we eat. Trees bent to the ground marking the paths of countless tornados. It was enough to end the fighting between me and the Captain for awhile. The sheer appalling nature of it all, the flat land desolation and endless space between homes. The thought of the one kid out there who wants to be a punk, or gay, or see someone who’s a different color than himself and how that would probably never happen here. These are the people we call the heart of this country. By the time we got to Dodge City though everything was closed down. It was only 1 in the afternoon, but I think we missed the big stuff by about 30 years. They had a Rodeo they were very proud of but it didn’t start until the following night and we simply couldn’t hang around until then. Though we did see a ton of “cowboys”, unloading their gear, which, of course, made the Captains Brokeback fetish tingle. Ate some decent Mexican food, and laughed at the sad attempts of the town folk to hold onto a glory they shared by having a TV show set in their town during the 1860’s that aired during the 1960’s. It was weird thought that their Mexican population went home for siesta at 2 though.
Just outside Dodge, we found a little laundry mat to wash our filthy clothes at. The kindly old lady who owned the place along with her mildly retarded husband decided to tell us all about how the Mexicans came in and stole all the jobs after the paper plant burned down. Now everyone works for Tyson and they pay well, but the Mexicans just showed up out of nowhere and now they make all the money. There was no wonder there was a for sale sign in the window of her laundry mat. Being situated across from a huge trailer park and surrounded by a Mexican restaurant and a Asian candy store, I ‘m sure here racism didn’t net to many customers. From there we made our way into Colorado which at first appeared no different than Kansas. The monotony drove us back into fighting mode and in a little town called Lamar we had our biggest fight of the whole trip and I almost found myself stuck alone in the town bearing my middle name. Tempers cooled and we made it to La Junta where we stayed in a cheap motel and made peace. We met a gangster ass (eastern) Indian dude who once lived in Atlanta. He tried to sell me a restaurant, which I and the Captain took as a great sign. The rest of the drive through Colorado was amazing. After a few more hundred miles of farm land that was apparently being defended against sale to the Army. Hand painted signs reading “Not for Sale to the Army”, dotted the landscape. We watched as the mountains on the horizon got right in our face and we drove through the cracks in between. This was where you want to live when you’re old and gray. This was where you wished you where. The sheer size and scope of everything was bigger than the now tiny Appalachian Mountains I had known my whole life. This was the real mountains. It reminded me of the ten thousand piece puzzles I used to put together on the floor with my mom. I snapped away frenzied and awed. It was everything I had imagined and more. The air smelt cleaner the sky looked bluer and everything popped with life. The Captain tried to convince me the mountains looked purple but I couldn’t see it. They were to me the truest green I had ever seen. Well Forest Green anyway I know my colors. The mountains were purity and almost turned me into a fucking hippie. Only the last vestiges of my punk rockiness held on. When we finally descended the first set of mountains, and some snowboarding hippie kid tried talking to me all I could do was mock him and his “killer snow” lingo. I’m sure he only spoke because obviously I was the only non-white face for days. The beauty of what we just went through was somewhat lost on the Captain. She had to focus on the steep winding roads why I snapped picture after picture out the passenger window. Some of the most amazing shots I have ever taken. Mostly with her camera though. We made it out of all that and found ourselves in New Mexico a little later than we’d like and now she’s passed out and I’m far too drunk to write anymore down.
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Remember the camera challenge
Ok, so remembering the camera means knowing what it looks like camera C530 and maybe which side you will see camera 3 camera 2 and if that is not enough I think one more should do it. camera 4 . You are lucky, I took 35 pictures before it was over. Thanks for watching.
Reflections
Welcome to land of the Navajo
Unfortuntaley there's not a lot to Canyon de Chelley except the designated overlooks they provide for you. Because it is Navajo land, there aren't many hiking trails that you can take and the only way to get to the canyon floor is with a navajo guide. So sorry if these seem touristy, that's all they give you there. But I thought a few were worth sharing.
Some Canyon Overlooks: 1 2 3 4
Tomorrow some more canyon overlooks... only I think they're just a bit different. And I want to thank everyone who's been leaving such nice comments on all my other posts. Keep 'em coming, any kind of comment is welcome!
going to town
Is more involved than you'd imagine. to one who isn't used to a 20 mile one-way trip, it can be a loooong drive. But, once in town, there's things to see and of course, photograph.
At the drive-thru, this is what is in my mirror
There's the old judith theater in the middle of main street.
And on the way out of town, there's texaco painted on brick.
I'm not sure if I'd ever get used to being in the boonies, but small town America can be very nice. Next time I make the journey, I'll be sure to get the rolling hills of MT recorded. There's plenty of them!
Challenge: Take the Camera!
Haven't much felt like doing that lately, so thought this would be a good opportunity to change that.
My husband called last night and wanted the boys and I to meet him for dinner and then he was going to take the older boys over to S & K to get them new suits. On the way there, we stopped to pick up John's friend Michael. Michael's brother was walking there dog, a beautiful Siberian Husky. After about knocking me over, (the dog, not John's friend), he sat for a picture. Meet Chase . I then retired to the back of the van for our drive across town.
We had to drive through downtown, where they are building a new baseball stadium.
I took this in the split second before John SPEEDED away from the light. This next pic is not something I normally would take, but that was the challenge: walk light.
Once we got to S & K's, the salesperson was overwhelmed by 3 customers (my guys) coming in 45 minutes before the store closed, and an overbearing mom (that would be me), so I dispensed with the camera, the boys don't like me taking their pics anyway, and I didn't want to distract them from the task at hand.
Joe, however, proved to be a good subject, here he is tipping his hat . The hat rack inself make an interesting picture.
Those were the best of the evening, but here are two bonus shots from the last couple of days:
Bonus one: be still my (tomato) heart
Bonus two: squirrel by Joe.
It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood...
Before & After
The before and after of a photograph undergoing digital manipulation.
I first flipped this photo horizontally, then went to work.
Using mostly photoshop brushes and light effects.
I was inspired for this by Robert Frost, and my favorite poem by him titled:
Come In
As I came to the edge of the woods,
Thrush music -- hark!
Now if it was dusk outside,
Inside it was dark.
Too dark in the woods for a bird
By sleight of wing
To better its perch for the night,
Though it still could sing.
The last of the light of the sun
That had died in the west
Still lived for one song more
In a thrush's breast.
Far in the pillared dark
Thrush music went --
Almost like a call to come in
To the dark and lament.
But no, I was out for stars;
I would not come in.
I meant not even if asked;
And I hadn't been.
~ Robert Frost
My Statue&A few favorite things
A few of my favorite things around the house. headdress One of my favorite statues that I have sitting in my foyer. lil blue house I brought this with me from the U.S ornamental mental From last Christmas arrangement in flowers. antique wedding vase just a few thing i hold dear to me.
Look Around
First I just want to say thank you for the fantastic challenge you presented this week. It was very inspiring to me.
I find that when you are in one place for a long time one often forgets the true beauty in the things surrounding them. With that in mind, I went for a walk as I often do, but this time I took my camera. However, before I could even get off the front lawn, I found this little guy. While he seemed quite content with the weather, I found a few other subjects already surrenduring to what lies ahead. Some were quite graceful, and others had already given up. There were also a few however who refused to let go of the warm glow of the sun and held on with a thistle like grasp I found many that had taken the day off of work to hang around , bask in the sunshine, and even one who took the day off to go swimming.
Just as a note, I have walked & driven this path many times before, but never have I enjoyed the journey quite as much as I did today. It was actually quite relaxing.
When falling.....
........ into a Whirlpool , You might need a helping hand getting out...
Sach's Bridge Revisited
I haven't been to this bridge for almost a year and it just gets better and better. This bridge was used by Confederate soldiers on the way to the big brawl at Gettysburg. I met a woman there who claimed to be a "Spirit Reader".......says she sees the past and the future and she sees dead Civil War soldiers lying all around the bridge. I missed that part, all I saw was some damn nice scenery.
Cruising around Lockhart
Old feed store warehouse turned into Cemetery_rd_house.
This house has been vacant and boarded up since I was a kid Live_Oak_house__12_m even then it was too far gone to save belongs to the city now Live_Oak_house
Coming out of the city park looking south Livengood gin
A couple blocks off of the square we find Big Dog Neon
This is also remained the same since I was a kid, mowed and weeded around,the neighbors yard Behind Dad's shop
For 20 years the city historical society along with the black community have been trying to determine if this is an actual "Roosevelt School" or not; but finally 5 years ago they raised enough money to partially restore the Old Black School
Bisti continued
A few more in b&w from bisti and the reason I say it looks like the moon:
The Rock Formations!
Well..... That's all from bisti for now. I'll make sure to post my film shots as soon as I get them developed, printed and scanned in, but until then you guys will be entertained tomorrow with Arizona and Canyon de Chelley!
Don't usually take camera along ...
... when weeding the flower garden but the Challenge made it seem like a good idea. The Brown-eye Susan flowers had guests: Unknown Bug , Katydid , Butterfly1 . There was a Bee on Cone Flower , a Grasshopper nymph chewing on the Hollyhock leaves, and White-lined Sphinx Moth defending a grape leaf. The moth was very funny because when disturbed it vibrated its wings. I guess it was trying to frighten me away. Finally there was the fledgling wren who launched himself shortly after this photo Fledgling Wren and crashed into the flowers and hid.
while visiting my sis-in-law,
I brought my camera! Apparently I'm the cat person in both my famlies. everyone else has dogs. Ok, to be fair, they have cats too, but she seems to like her canines better. here's cj trying to get a few minutes of peace.
I suppose up here in MT, baby bucks eating apples in your front yard is normal. Since this is only my 3rd visit here, the jury's still out.
Then there are the farm pets. Ty likes bird watching so those pesky birds don't steal his food. And the barn_cat , Patches, who is very useful at keeping tiny critters away.
Ahhh, country life!
