Bishop

Bishop
Sept. 2010




Made it to Bishop in record time only to find the entire valley choked with smoke. Fires in Yosemite. Strong eastern winds. The smoke would clear by early evening most days and come flooding back in the late morning. I climbed as much as I could as early as I could before retreating for the day. When I got tired of the smokey routine I hiked up white mountain to escape into fresher air. After six days I gave up and went north.

Smoke.

Claire de Lune.

Peak, White Mountain.

Sunrise

Sunrise
somewhere in the Mojave Desert, Calif.

Sept. 2010

Temperatures though the deserts of southern Utah, Arizona, and California were well over 100 degrees, sometimes pushing beyond 110 on the highway. It had been four days of ridiculous heat. The dog and I were over it.

Even though I had already been on the road since 5am I decided to drive straight through the night. I thought once the sun set it would cool off. Besides its barely 10 hours from the Grand Canyon to Ventura. Boy was I wrong. Once the sun set the humidity climbed as did the mercury. Then the thunderstorms started. The whole car shook with every thunder clap. My hair was tingling and standing on end from the static electricity. Then the rain came. It rained so hard it was like a cow peeing on a flat rock.

With white knuckles are clenched teeth we pushed on through the blackness. When morning came we were greeted with an amazing sunrise.

Billboard.

No Smoking

No Smoking
Motel 6
between Little Rock & Memphis
August 2010




I found this going through odds & ends of the road trip. It made me chuckle then, makes me chuckle now. If you get yourself a no smoking room wouldn't it be easier/ make more sense to either A) remove all the ashtrays in the no smoking rooms all together and B) put up a simple sign that reiterates the desired no smoking policy? Nope, guess not. Instead in the ever-seeing wisdom of corporate America, they decided to print no smoking stickers and affix them to the bottoms of the ashtrays in each room. Really? Really?

Isn't it feasible that an offending smoker could turn the ashtray over and use it as such only to argue later on that he/she found the ashtray in its rightful position and thus missed the no smoking sign? Okay... try as I might, I can't make this shyte up.

Convenience.

Historic 66

Historic 66
somewhere outside Bullhead City
Route 66, AZ
Sept. 2010

Not quite the middle of no where, but close enough you could toss a stick at it. Its God's country. No one else wants it.

Biker.

Historic.

Hippies.

Volvoline.

Cola.

National.

Hackberry

Hackberry Garage
somewhere on the 66
Hackberry, AZ
Sept. 2010




- "How many people live in Hackberry anyhow?"
- "Well sir, none that matter..."

Welcome.

Horns.

Orland.

Diamond.

Fan.

Tuff.

Buick.

South Rim

South Rim
Grand Canyon, AZ
Sept. 2010

Watchtower.

Bloom.

Black's

Black's Tours
Jeep Tours & Trail Rides
between Rain God Mesa & Thunderbird Mesa
Monument Valley, AZ

Sept. 2010

Alfalfa.

Brush.

Buckle.

Peek-a-boo.

Bridle.