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.