Blog installment 2: February 22, 2009
So those of you who saw the first installment may be wondering what I am up to here with this little picture show thing I have started. Well, here’s the poop:
I cover a very large area of North America as my sales territory for Wilson Tool; Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Eastern Idaho and Alberta, Canada. Most of my travel is by car, believe it or not, I prefer to drive through the west. While I am traveling, listening to books on CD (the modern spawn of Books on Tape) (one day I am sure that there will be books on microchips or nano-chips) I see some of the most beautiful sights the world has to offer. I do not usually have the time to stop and check them out. I am either heading somewhere fast, or just want to get home to my wife and children. So, with the inspiration of a good 500 piece puzzle scene, I shoot pictures. Driving pictures; bugs on the windshield, dirt on the side window, spoo on the rearview mirror pictures.
As I noted above; puzzle scenery pictures. Let me elaborate. Mom, Rob (my older brother) and I did our share of puzzles in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. This was an activity, wait, strike that, this was a competition to successfully insert the last piece of a landscape into place. Thievery, feints and true acts of heroism were not beyond us. From this, I gained a love of panoramas. I love being anywhere and finding the beauty of the scene. Whether it is a 5 AM drive south on Interstate 25 and shoving my head out the window to catch the last glimpses of the Milky way for the day or cruising through Wyoming on Interstate 80, dodging the semi-trucks (that are 3-1 more populous than cars on this stretch of highway), and looking at the sage studded countryside.
Staci, for our 20th anniversary, got a nice string of gleaming white pearls to hang around her neck. I got a new camera!!! (I had already damaged 2 and was hoping this one would be titanium clad.) One of these point and click things that she had to show me how to use properly (I think the properly thing is still beyond me). So I decided to stick it in my car. I could use it to shoot broken tools, customer parts that needed analysis from the home office or for the odd thing that I might bump into (like the car in front of me){been there done that, story for another day, with pictures}. Well, the idea of having this camera in my car with me bubbled, boiled, and fermented until it became my blog brainchild. Why not point the car, point the camera and shoot? Why not capture the things I see on my business treks just the way that I see them. From the cockpit of my ’06 Pontiac Grand Prix (Okay, a little deviation from the course here. I gotta brag about these Pontiacs. It is my American duty here to send some props to GM. Dammit, they did something right here {at least for a while}!!! My ’97 Grand Prix hit 237K miles before I traded it in for an ’01 model. The ’01 got 311K miles on here before I jumped into my ’06 supercharged cockpit. This one is sitting at over 165K miles. Problems, few, pleasures, many…. So here is the deal; GM can make great, dependable autos, you can put the miles on them, and they will show you the world!!!). So, drive, point and shoot. That is what I am up to here. Well, except for one more thing. While I am scootin’ down the highway, listening to books on CD and shooting pictures, my male ability to multi-task goes into overdrive; I have running through my mind some curious thoughts and anecdotes. Yup, Mike is thinking, driving, listening, looking and shootin’ all at once. Wow, I impress myself.
So I gotta share these impressions (see you thought that I was bragging about my abilities, “impress myself” was not a phrase of conceit, it is a result,. I planted something in my mind that I would like to take the time to share. And share I will. I hope as we journey through these “blogs” you will enjoy what I enjoy, see the beauty in what I have seen, and relish them as you would a good Chicago dog (West Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO), Vienna dog, nuclear green relish, mustard, peppers, poppy seed bun and sauerkraut. Yum!!! Oh, and yeah, their fries are good too!
Blog #2: Vail Pass, Fall 2008. Aspen viewing at its best.
So those of you who saw the first installment may be wondering what I am up to here with this little picture show thing I have started. Well, here’s the poop:
I cover a very large area of North America as my sales territory for Wilson Tool; Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, Eastern Idaho and Alberta, Canada. Most of my travel is by car, believe it or not, I prefer to drive through the west. While I am traveling, listening to books on CD (the modern spawn of Books on Tape) (one day I am sure that there will be books on microchips or nano-chips) I see some of the most beautiful sights the world has to offer. I do not usually have the time to stop and check them out. I am either heading somewhere fast, or just want to get home to my wife and children. So, with the inspiration of a good 500 piece puzzle scene, I shoot pictures. Driving pictures; bugs on the windshield, dirt on the side window, spoo on the rearview mirror pictures.
As I noted above; puzzle scenery pictures. Let me elaborate. Mom, Rob (my older brother) and I did our share of puzzles in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s. This was an activity, wait, strike that, this was a competition to successfully insert the last piece of a landscape into place. Thievery, feints and true acts of heroism were not beyond us. From this, I gained a love of panoramas. I love being anywhere and finding the beauty of the scene. Whether it is a 5 AM drive south on Interstate 25 and shoving my head out the window to catch the last glimpses of the Milky way for the day or cruising through Wyoming on Interstate 80, dodging the semi-trucks (that are 3-1 more populous than cars on this stretch of highway), and looking at the sage studded countryside.
Staci, for our 20th anniversary, got a nice string of gleaming white pearls to hang around her neck. I got a new camera!!! (I had already damaged 2 and was hoping this one would be titanium clad.) One of these point and click things that she had to show me how to use properly (I think the properly thing is still beyond me). So I decided to stick it in my car. I could use it to shoot broken tools, customer parts that needed analysis from the home office or for the odd thing that I might bump into (like the car in front of me){been there done that, story for another day, with pictures}. Well, the idea of having this camera in my car with me bubbled, boiled, and fermented until it became my blog brainchild. Why not point the car, point the camera and shoot? Why not capture the things I see on my business treks just the way that I see them. From the cockpit of my ’06 Pontiac Grand Prix (Okay, a little deviation from the course here. I gotta brag about these Pontiacs. It is my American duty here to send some props to GM. Dammit, they did something right here {at least for a while}!!! My ’97 Grand Prix hit 237K miles before I traded it in for an ’01 model. The ’01 got 311K miles on here before I jumped into my ’06 supercharged cockpit. This one is sitting at over 165K miles. Problems, few, pleasures, many…. So here is the deal; GM can make great, dependable autos, you can put the miles on them, and they will show you the world!!!). So, drive, point and shoot. That is what I am up to here. Well, except for one more thing. While I am scootin’ down the highway, listening to books on CD and shooting pictures, my male ability to multi-task goes into overdrive; I have running through my mind some curious thoughts and anecdotes. Yup, Mike is thinking, driving, listening, looking and shootin’ all at once. Wow, I impress myself.
So I gotta share these impressions (see you thought that I was bragging about my abilities, “impress myself” was not a phrase of conceit, it is a result,. I planted something in my mind that I would like to take the time to share. And share I will. I hope as we journey through these “blogs” you will enjoy what I enjoy, see the beauty in what I have seen, and relish them as you would a good Chicago dog (West Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO), Vienna dog, nuclear green relish, mustard, peppers, poppy seed bun and sauerkraut. Yum!!! Oh, and yeah, their fries are good too!
Blog #2: Vail Pass, Fall 2008. Aspen viewing at its best.
Allright, then. Thanks to that transplant Coloradan, died in California, literally, John Denver, we all have heard about the golden colored Aspen trees in the fall. I love them, the view is always, yes always (I planed on and have used absolutes here) phenomenal!!! Music breaks in here, phe-nom-i-nal do dooo ti do do, phe-nom-i-nal do to di do…. Don’t mind the bugs on the windshield, just some late Fall car protein. They should be combustible, could kick up the gas mileage! Anyway…enjoy!
Uh, yup. I was having a Coke that day. And if you notice, in the cup holder near the Coke, or at least higher up in the reflection, a Starbucks cup appears. There’s nothing like a Green Tea Latte for the road trip. Now, issue here, when you order a Green Tea Latte, make sure that the barista stirs deep. Otherwise, you get a melon shot covered cream overlaid wad of dry green tea powder in the bottom of your cup. And…if you try to ingest that powder wad, it may start out good, but the dryness in your throat then needs to be quenched. And…Coke and green tea do not mix well. Believe me, I have been shooting down I-70 into Vail, going down Vail Pass and have had this happen. So be friendly with your barista when you have purchased Coke and a Green Tea Latte, and say, “Stir deep my friend, I want to enjoy the Aspens without a massive green tea and Coke bomb going off in my throat.” I am sure he/she will understand and dig deep with the stirring spoon.
Okay made it through Vail Pass and am heading towards Gypsum. Neat little town, and yes students in the back of the room, they do make wall boarding here! Note the three white stripes (no Karl the band still has only 2 members). I am sporting my Adidas soccer shirt on this trip. Looks like the Coke and green tea are gone. The drive is great!
This fall was rather warm and the Aspen Trees changed over a little late. The bugs got the memo as well and sacrificed themselves for this shot just to add that road warrior flavor to my Fall scenery.
I actually took a ton more pictures on this trip. I enjoyed them, good times, good times. Until next time. Drive with a smile, keep all ten fingers on the wheel (unless one needs to be flexed and exercised) and enjoy this beautiful country we live in.
Oz
