OMG UPDATE!

It's been a while since my last post and I've been busy. Even taking a photograph or two every now and then. The problem is that I tend to run the same areas of the country and there's very little to take pictures of on the Interstate. Usually I don't have time to stop and get the picture right, so I won't take it.



I dragged Mystee to a small local playground in a park near where she lives and snapped some shots of her. I wonder if she even remembers these...



Swans are beautiful. Swans are Majestic. Swans don't like it when Canadian Geese swim in the same pond that the swans are in.



The city of DeKalb, Illinois (and I'm using the term City very loosely here, it's 1/3rd the size of Dayton with nothing around it) is home to Northern Illinois University, which is home to the Huskies. As a result, it's one of those towns with painted animals all over the place. In this case, Huskies. Most of them are closer to downtown where I don't go, but this one's out in the boonies where I can stop and snap a shot.

Its name is, no joke, Paw McCartney.



Well, I'll be heading to FWA this coming weekend, sure to be lots of photographic potential there. Who knows? I might even catch up.

Verbrigghe Potato Farm

Early this morning I picked up a load of potatoes from the potato factory known as Verbrigghe Potato "Farm". They mass produce potatoes for consumption by normal, every day folks like you and me. First, though, I wandered around and took a few shots of things I found interesting.





And now, on to the factory!


For the record, it's pronounced "Ver-breeze".


Here's the finished product coming down the belt. They said that they couldn't show me where the potatoes were actually produced. Something about it being Underground. Given the small amount of buildings I saw there, I would say there's probably a secret entrance somewhere to their Underground production facility. I was unable to find it though.


One of the work stations for the potato sorters.

Nothing like a good barbeque and some beer!

We'll start with the BBQ. Or the CarBQ. Or, in this case, TruckBQ.



Snapped with, of all things, my cell phone. This guy was just west of the southernmost Oasis on the 294 loop around Chicago. Given his position, I'd say it was probably a fire caused by his Bunk Heater, or something in the cab while the driver was asleep. I just hope he got out in time.

Next, on to the Beer. Specifically, Shiner beer from Shiner, TX.



A shot taken from my dock door in Spaetel Brewery, home of Shiner Beer, in Shiner, TX. I picked up a Shiner Blonde pint glass and will be drinking Shiner Blonde out of it when I get home. Sadly, I'm going to have to wait 'til I get home to buy it, because I can't carry beer in the passenger compartment of the truck. Which means that the Gates of Heaven, below, were closed to me.



And of course you can't have Heaven without a Hell. I'm not sure what this thing does, but given the name on the side it can't be that good.

Playing Catch-Up, Again

After spending a couple of lazy days at home, I've got a lot of catching up to do. We'll start on the day I got home, February 27th.

I started off in Kentucky, digging my truck out of the snow and wound up getting unloaded in a familiar WalMart. I actually took this picture back then, too, but the differences between the shadows and highlights weren't as striking and there wasn't any snow falling at that time.



Upon arrival back to the Dayton yard (I had to drive through snow the whole way home making the normally 45 minute drive take almost 2 hours) I found that my little SnowKat which had been sitting since December had accumulated a little dust during its peaceful rest.



The next evening I grabbed a good friend of mine Anima and I dragged him out in the cold of Downtown Dayton's Riverwalk to do some random photography, just to see what there was to shoot.








The next night (friday night, for the record)I cooked a special Valentine's Day dinner for Mystee because I wasn't home for the actual date of V-Day. But first, she got acquainted with her soon-to-be-meal.



Finally, on Saturday we took a trip down to the Dayton Art Institute, spending more time in the Asian section than anything else. I'm going to have to drag a couple models there in Victorian garb and see if I can do a photoshoot. Maybe make arrangements for a Fursuit shoot with tripod and everything.

Kentucky Down Under

Down in Horse Cave, Kentucky (yes that's actually the name of the town) there's a Love's Travel stop. Behind the Love's, tucked away in the woods is a little hole-in-the-wall place that's essentially a small cave system and a wild animal exhibit. The animals aren't there right now, probably vacationing somewhere more tropical, because the kangaroos can't take the cold.



I'm currently in Florence, KY, home of the "Florence Y'all" water tower. I was going to utilize the bathroom in the TA, but when I hit the exit ramp my Air Pressure Warning Light came on, meaning that I was losing air pressure. I made it to the TA, swamped with snow, and picked a parking spot before calling the company to let them know I had the air leak. (I'd located the leak by the hissing sound and a little exploratory work.) Well, I went inside and got put in the queue for a maintenance bay, then went to watch TV for a bit because it was either that or wander around and wait for my name to be called.

After about 20 minutes, they called me and I was given my bay, though I thought I would have a bit of a problem getting out, since the snow was bad. Boy was I right.



While I was inside, someone had tried to get into the spot beside me and wound up almost sliding into my trailer. To make it worse, when I tried to get out, my tractor almost jacked into the poor Schneider driver beside me.



The guy on my driver side was eventually pulled out by a buddy of his. Me and Schneider are going to stay all cozy tonight and I'll probably call to get pulled out tomorrow morning.

Itty Bitty Church

Somewhere in Gainesville, GA, there's a tiny little church. This church looked like it was about the same size as a one bedroom apartment and it had a tent out back almost as big as the church itself.

As you can see from the pictures, this was taken the day after Atlanta and the surrounding area got buried in the snow. I'd wanted to take pictures of this church last time I passed it several weeks ago, but this time I was afforded the opportunity by a passing train blocking my ability to continue down the road. Lucky me!

Arkansas Snow

Snow capped mountains in Arkansas? Say it ain't so!

Yes, this little hill, and all the other ones that tall, is covered in trees that are simply loaded with snow. It's not as warm as it looks down here, either. It's supposed to be down into the 20s tonight.

Texas's Favorite!

If there's one thing that you can count on Texans liking, it's Texas.

Big Cabin Truck Stop

One of the many truck stops along old Route 66, Big Cabin is, like much of Oklahoma, Indian land. What this means, in practical terms, is that it's home to smoke shops with cheap cigarettes (and clove 'cigars'!) and probably a casino or two. It's loaded with tourist trappy stuff, some of it in inappropriate places like the above signs plastered all over the walls of the laundry room.

The Big Cabin Indian, below, can be seen clearly from the Tollway, and he stands across from the base of the exit ramp, at the entrance to the Big Cabin Travel Plaza. Oddly enough, the large metal plaque telling all about the indian (which I foolishly didn't get a picture of) is several hundred yards away, by the smoke shop. Why this is I can only speculate, but I would assume it's because the Indian was probably moved at some point.

Light through the grey

Bad Bastian! Bad! You should be updating your DAILY photoblog on a DAILY basis!

Honestly, between my work schedule and the fact that I've been humping it around Atlanta, there's not been much to take pictures of, nor time to do so.

Sadly, while the maximum effective range of an M16 is 800 meters on an area target, the maximum range of an excuse on any target is 0 meters.

Got some pipe to lay...

This driver looked like he was ready to lay some serious pipe!

Also: Metropolis, IL. The police cars and even the uniforms have Superman on them.

Seriously.

Mule Antiques Trading Post

Just one of the thousands of little kitschy places along Route 66 where it happens to cross over a major Interstate Highway.

I'd like to drive Route 66 once, preferably in something smaller than a tractor trailer. I had this weird idea of taking fursuiters with me in a big ol' van and calling the trip "Suit 66". Not sure how the logistics of it would work out, but it's just a thought.

Given the All Clear

So this is what the road looked like for New Mexico to consider it open. It really wasn't bad. Certainly much better than driving through Oklahoma where I had to get past an accident scene involving at LEAST 5 tractor trailers in ditches, 2 or 3 of which were jacknifed, and the others were pointed the wrong way down the Interstate. Sadly, none of those pictures turned out. I probably should have parked and taken them from the street rather than taking them from the vibrating seat of a truck in park.

Playing Catch-Up in the Snow

Some days my job is pretty easy. In fact, I'd say that most days my job is pretty easy. Today was supposed to be easy. Point my truck East on I-40, drive until I hit Oklahoma City, turn left on I-44 and drive to Missouri. Sadly, not every day turns out how it's supposed to.



I didn't post a picture yesterday bringing my Pictures Owed count up to three. This is two extras, bringing me back down to one behind. If tomorrow's anything like today, I'll have that taken care of tomorrow, and then some.

Ridgecrest, California

It's not often I get to take a picture of most of a town along with the majestic view of the mountains behind the town, but this is Ridgecrest, CA. (Pop. 25,638; Elevation 2289 feet)

This was taken on the way back from Trona, CA, (Pop. 1,885; Elevation 1675) a town that's home to one of only two High School football fields in the country made of dirt instead of grass and very close to being Troma.

Two random fursuiters that wound up coming up to the room and drinking some alcohol with us. To give you an idea of the variety involved in the convention, one of these two is in his forties, the other is German. I don't think they even knew each other before the con, they were just hanging out in suit and talking. They didn't even take their heads off to drink, just shoved the bottle into the muzzle, and tilted the head back.

Those of you who are observant may notice a two day gap in posting of pictures. Namely Saturday and Sunday. I spent most of the con in Suit, and thus have no pictures from that time. Cons are apparently more difficult to shoot when I'm actually doing stuff not photography-wise.

A Night At The Park

I don't think that this picture really needs any commentary. I mean, I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Don't you?

This is the view out the window of our hotel room. Off in the distance are some mountains, and between here and there are nothing but a city full of lights.

The ride up here from Los Angeles was interesting. Torrential downpours, hydroplaning all over the road, people driving slow, and of course mud-slides. There was even a rest area with a river running under our rental. It was only an inch or two, but with a little more rain it could have been a real threat.

Balloon Twist

Just a quick shot taken at night with a small flashlight to light the windcatcher. It gives it a touch of the effect that I get when I take pictures of people dancing in glowsticks in dark rooms.

Under the Boardwalk...

We'll be having some fun! And watching the waves crashing against the pier.

Most of the time the sun and the clouds are just hanging out up in the sky, but on occasion they do things that make it hard to keep the eyes on the road. Sadly, it's hardly safe to pull over, so all I can do is slow down a bit more and let traffic flow over to the left, which they're usually doing anyway since the speed limit is 12MPH faster than my truck will go, and I usually go less than that anyway.

Tight Pass

If you ever get the chance to drive from Denver to Vail, or heck Denver to Las Vegas, I'd highly suggest it. There's tons of spots to stop along the way and look around or take pictures, and some of the most beautiful scenery in the country. I also recommend Western Montana/Northern Idaho or US2 across upper New England in the fall, but those are completely different.

If you look at the other lane in this picture, where the tanker truck is, this is just after coming out of a tunnel where the mountains are so close together they had to stack the roads on top of each other before boring a pair of holes. The highways are stacked like that for about 5 miles or so. Also, there's a rest area at the west end of it that trucks can't fit into. It really is a neat drive.

If you do decide to take the trip, make sure you've got a vehicle with a good transmission as some of the roads can be a bit steep. Also, I'd like to take this trip in a van with someone I'm close to because there's this Rest Area that's got a Gazebo on top of a hill, you can see for miles around, and in the colder weather it would be great for public sex. Not that *I* would ever do such a thing or anything...

Maybe on the way back from Route 66...

Under the Interstate in Denver, Colorado

Not every bridge has a troll beneath it. Some of them have roads and columns.

Nebraska Sunset

This was just to the left of the direction I was heading. Makes it a little difficult to drive, but not impossible. The salt on my windshield didn't help any.

Can Can Cows.

This is... ummm... yeah. It's... Well, see for yourself. This is in Belmont, WI, but I've seen others around the state. People from Wisconsin are weird.

Huddled for Warmth

Were this in the middle of the summer, or even just a time when there was no snow on the ground, these trucks would be parked in a (more or less) straight line. For some odd reason, snow makes truckers lose their ability to park in a line with each other. Also, during the summer it's better to be parked out on your own or on the end of the line, in the winter it's better to be in the middle. That way you're less affected by the wind and it's easier to keep the truck warm.