Riding the Rails

Jerimiah and I left promptly at noon, stocked with food, beverages, camera gear, iPods, and a fool tank of gas. Our game plan changed from heading West on 70, because the snow was too much for the big pass and my front wheel drive.
Decided to head due South on I-25, and then head west on 160 directly to Durango.
Things were slow going coming down the mountain to the Front Range, but, once we reached I-25, the roads were dry and I was ready to exceed all posted speed limits.
Just shy of 4 hours, we exited to 160W, and that was a road I had never been on before.
To the right and left of us, the skies looked angry, but straight ahead seemed to be OK. Just about the time that we were boasting how we had diverted all nasty weather, a sign came up over the horizon that stated Wolf Pass was hazardous, and chains were required for all commercial vehicles.
What did this mean for us? Onward we went.
Jerimiah thought it best for me to drive the pass, being that it was my car and all. I was getting nervous. Was there a shit ton of snow up there? How was my Element going to handle in a shit ton of snow? It's dark.
We changed seats at the last stop before the pass, and ahead of us was a semi that just put his chains on. 10 miles to the summit of the pass. Onward we went.
The snow falling became thicker and heavier. It was difficult to see more than 30ft or so ahead of the vehicle. Not knowing the road gave concern to just driving into a snow wall going around a turn.
Carefully I followed the tracks of a vehicle somewhere ahead of us. Top speed: 30mph.
The falling snow and darkness was the crux of the ride. The road itself was well plowed, and not slick. Slow and easy was the name of the game.
Without incident, we made the pass, and made it to dryer roads.

Later on, we came across this flashing sign:



How the hell... really? It's flashing now, but there's no wildlife. ?? Onward we went.
Finally made it to Durango, and to the home of my friend Shaheen and her husband Kyle. They were kind enough to let us crash at their place. Shaheen made an awesome Enchilada meal, and fun was had by all. We ended up asking them about this sign, and apparently it's a big joke in the region. It's suppose to flash when animals are present, but it just doesn't work right.

The next morning, Jerimiah and I rounded up our things, and indulged in some tasty breakfast at Oscar's Cafe', and then went to the train station to get out tickets to ride.

We were instructed to board at Rockwood, so that's where we went. On the way there, we drove passed a flipped car. Ice? Didn't seem to be any.
After finding our turn off, we made it to the parking area. We were in the middle of nowhere. Snow all around, and one lone man standing by the tracks with several grocery bags and a couple cases of water.
Ended up making small talk with the guy, and while Jerimiah was getting information from him, I started taking some photos.
As we waited for the train to arrive, Miah set up his camera rig so we could get some of his blog info down. Some other folks arrived for the train, and not much longer later, the train finally came into view. We boarded and our scouting trip finally began.

We boarded, and wandered around the train a bit before we found a car that was empty, and started shooting for reference to see if this location would work out for Miah's film short.
The scenery was pretty, but, we weren't there for the views.
When we got to the turn around point, the train came to a stop, and we had a 45 min lay over at a pavilion with a fire, and some snackipoos that were put on for a group of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. They were kind enough to share hotdogs, cookies, and water with us.

This gave me a chance to get up close with the train.

Back on the train for the return trip, got in a few more shots

Miah get's some digital film testing in.

After Jerimiah gets to looking at his footage and some or test photos, he'll decide on how to proceed with the project.

We did some more shooting at the train station back in Durango. Started the trip back to Estes about 3pm. Made the Wolf Pass again, and this time it was much easier, in the daylight and all. Stopped for a decent meal in Walsenburg. Got back to Estes about 12:30am.
Mingus was very happy to see me.

8:32am and The Weather Underground says "Snow in the morning". Looking out the window, I'd say they are correct. Our departure time is High Noon, and the route has already changed. Intentions were to go West on 70, but there is a big ol' radar blob that tells us we should head straight South and hang a right.
The iPod, the Phone, the computer, and the camera batteries are charged. Everything is packed, and ready.
Thanks to my good friend, Shaheen and her husband, we've got a free place to crash. (I love my spread out friends who make it easy for a gal to travel and crash!)

The goal: Get to Durango before 9pm. Tomorrow morning, we'll scout various vantage points along the route of the Durango/Silverton train line for photos ops for after our train ride, which will be the focal point of the trip. Scouting this location for Jerimiah's film short, "The Woman in the Steam". The train ride is 3 hours long, and will take us thru some awesome canyon land.

We are hoping to garner enough information to determine if we can 1.) Actually film in a rail car while the train is in operation. 2.) Can we do it at night. 3.) Find out how much this operations will cost in the end. This all comes down to if the project can move forward or not at this time.

I'm a producer. Doesn't pay.. but, it's something to work on, and so far, Jerimiah has been pleased with my contributions.
Aside from that, I'm just stoked to get some time under my wheels and have the chance to be a passenger on a trip for a change.

Time to make some sammiches.

More road trips scheduled!

Tomorrow, I've got an 8 hour drive to Durango.  I've been asked to a producer for a film short with Under Oath Productions!  http://www.uopfilm.com/ The movie involves filming on a moving train, so the Director/Screen writer, Jerimiah Whitlock and I are going to Durango to scout out the Durango/Silverton Railway.  http://www.durangotrain.com/  Should be a very cool excursion.  1800s train, canyon ride, winter time... 


The next trip is scheduled for April 5th.  Heading down to Austin, Texas to hang with friends, and warm up my body core.  I haven't seen 80+ temps since July, and I'm about due.  The lizard in me needs a heat rock. 

And finally, May 19th, I'm being flown to Florida to be the wedding photographer for my good friend's wedding on N. Captiva Island on the Gulf side.  It also involves a trip to the Salvador Dali museum in St. Pete. 

So, of course this means there will be some photos coming up very soon, and hopefully some good tales from the road.
The big difference on these trips are, my dog Mingus will not be coming along, and instead, my co-pilot on all 3 trips will be a human.. Jerimiah Whitlock.  A real navigator!  Someone to drive some! 
Someone to help document the road.. as it's very hard to snap shots and log while driving. 

More to come!!

The Manor

Before getting back to Colorado, I had to secure living quarters.  Last year I stayed at a hotel with winter long term rates.

I was just fine, but having to dress and walk Mingus (my dog) across a parking lot at 5am so He can do his business was not fun at all.
I cooked off a hot plate, and had to do my dishes in the bathroom sink.
 The plus side: No lease, no deposit, no utilities in my name, Wifi, cable, and someone came to plow the driveway.

 Well, this year, I had another option.  I am now staying in an old Bed and Breakfast that a friend owns.  Same sort of set up at the hotel except I have a HUGE room, jacuzzi tub, fireplace, full kitchen, and 5,000 sqft to roam around in.  Oh, and a fenced yard for Mingus.  No more standing in the cold at 3am to let him pee.  JOY!

Snopocolypse: The never ending road trip

(due to the length of this trip, and weather.. no photos were taken on this journey)

I left Ohio on Saturday morning instead of Friday because of weather.   And on Saturday, the weather was fine for travel snowing on and off here and there with slick conditions now and then... until I got to S. Bend Indiana. 

I could see the cloud in the distance.  It was big.  It was dark, and not at all attractive.  Sleet started to fall, then snow.. then lots of snow.

It snowed so hard and fast, that within 10 miles I went from 70mph to 10mph.  It was bad enough where I considered getting off the highway, because, if I had to drive thru more of this... it would wear me out fast.  Grabbing the phone, I called my Austin brother Ted, who is online all the time.  He'd be the one to give me a fast forcast of what was to be expected ahead.
His report was, "If you can get about 20 miles further west, you'll be out of it, and nothing but blue skies until Lincoln."  Sounded good to me.  I pressed on at a turtles pace for about the distance Ted reported, and the sky cleared, and the snow faded.  Back to 75mph.

I made it to my hotel in Lincoln an hour later than planned.  16 hours on the road non-stop save for gas fillups.  I hadn't pulled a trip like that in years.
The hotel was fine, as they ever are.

Sunday Morning:
Off we go!  Back on 80 west.  This day was to be 8 hours of driving.  Roads are good, until I got about 60 miles west.  Then things got icey.  The passing lane was snow covered, but fine, and the "slow lane" had ice in the usual tire path.  If you drove slightly off the normal path to the left or right just a bit.. it was good, but hit that path and WHOOOOAAAHHH!  Slicky slick stuff to be sure.

But then the snow started 2 hours into the ride.  And it kept snowing.  And it had been snowing in that region for some time.  Probably for 3 or 4 hours.. and it was powdery stuff.  The stuff that gets clouded up behind semi trucks when they pass each other.  I learned quite quickly that I needed to drop back, or hang back when trucks got into that snowy passing line, as they were causing white outs.
I avoided this for about an hour,  and then got caught between two semis in the passing lane, and a Semi then tried to pass the 3 of us.  Oh god.  This is bad.
We are all doing about 55mph.  I'm "In the Rocking Chair" as they say.  Sandwiched.
As the Semi passes us, I can see the cloud of snow billow up and envelope the truck behind me.. his trailer disappearing, his cab, and finally his grill and lights vanished.
Then I could see the cloud of snow engulf me, coming over the windshield and obscuring my vision totally.  I could not see the truck in front of me.

I could not see beyond the windows of my Element.  I don't know how long this went on, but I want to guess I was driving The Force alone for at least 30 seconds maintaining my speed.

Will the guy behind me rear end me if I slow down?
Will the guy in front of me slow down?
Am I driving straight?  (bzzz bzzz bzzzzbzzzzzzzz) The sound of the grooved right shoulder told me I was vearing right, but I need that buzz.  I could feel I adjusted to the left too much, and readjusted.. (bzzzbzzzz).. ok, I'm still on the road...

FINALLY the cloud faded, and I could see.  I went about a mile more to the next exit and left the highway with a line of trucks doing the same.
You know roads are bad when the truckers leave it.

First hotel I saw, I took.  While checking in, a trucker got behind me and announced there was an accident on 80W between this exit and the next mile.  20 vehicle.  10 Trucks.
I don't know if I would have been in that mess if I stayed on the road, but I would have been stuck on the road for 6 hours had I not exited.  They closed the highway in both directions, East bound for 4 hours, and west bound for 6.

So glad I got off the road.

The next day, the road was "better" but icy the whole way to Colorado until just outside of Wyoming.  I made it back alive.

Someone said to me something like, "I guess driving cross country in the winter isn't such a good idea".

After 25 years of pulling off cross country road trips, this is the first time I've actually had to leave the road because of weather.
I don't have a problem with that.  :)

South Bend Indiana had 36 inches of snow THAT DAY,
And the area I got off the highway ended up with 12 inches.

This and that

 My stay here in Ohio is coming to an end.  This time next week, I'll be back into mountain life at 8,000ft above sea level. 
  This winter is going to be a bit different than last winter.  This winter, I'm staying in a large Bed & Breakfast that is owned by a friend, Mingus (my dog) will have a fenced area.
   Another difference, I have a means to make money that doesn't mean getting a job.   With a combo of selling my photography, selling off some camping gear, selling my '66 Vespa, and selling a good amount of Beer Signs/Lights/Mirrors (given to me by Dad), I should be able to stay afloat. 
  There are a few leads on shops in Estes that might carry my cards.  I'm bring back with me a new card rack in case this happens.  Always good to have a fixture to lend a shop.
  And yet another difference is that this winter, I have a good friend to hang out with who's not only into photography, and watching movies, but, is a film maker, as well as having the same level of humor as myself.  Jerimiah, the cat in the Day of the Dead Images from November..  He's my bud.  We've got some ideas on photo shoots, plans for a long distance 50cc scooter ride (possibly to Vegas from Estes), and a wild dream about riding scooters across Vietnam like the guys on the UK Top Gear did. 
  Finally, the last difference is I have some new guy to meet when I get back.  I had all but blown off the guy a few months back, and strangely, thru The Residents facebook page, I accidentally contacted him again.  I say accidentally, because the person I contacted had a profile photo of something other than his/her actual self.  Found out a few days later that it was him.  Ah... the universe working in strange ways.
 

  I'm leaving early in the morning in a few days.  Staying in Lincoln.  To Estes the next day.  We'll see what happens along the way.



 

More Cemeteries of Ohio

  When I'm on a roll.. why stop?  I've expanded the cemetery shoots.  It's a tour now, and it's nice to be studying the differences between them.

  Couple days ago, it was the Massillon Cemetery in Massillon, Ohio.

The property is small in comparison to the McKinnley Cemetery, but, it's in wonderful condition.

Talked a bit to the grounds keeper's daughter who told us they lived on site for 5 years.  Not the home is beyond compare, which is a shame because it's a Gothic Dream.

Drove around the property some getting an idea of what I wanted to capture, and swung around to the front area again, but this time came from a different access,  and saw something I did not expect...

 

What I didn't expect was her.  She's hanging onto the cross, and the cross reads "To they Cross, Simply I Cling".  What got me about this memorial, is about 10 years ago, I was shooting in cemeteries down in New Orleans, and I spent a great deal of time photographing this gal:

Same monument.   Same saying.  Now, my New Olreans gal is close to lifesize.  I had to climb up onto the monument to get this angle, and the gal from Ohio I stood right next to at ground level.  

The elements may have worn down the Ohio gal some, or perhaps its older.. but she seems more worn down than my New Orleans gal.  And I had been thinking about the NO Gal a lot lately.  How did she look after the floods?  Been thinking I need to get back down there and do another cemetery tour..  and then I stumble upon the Ohio gal!   Exciting find for this Massillon, Ohio cemetery!

Yesterday the sun was out, so I had to go outside.  I almost went to the same place again to do a reshoot, until I decided to get online and do a "Gothic Cemetery" search of Ohio.  I knew there are some in Cleveland, but didn't want to drive that far.  What I came upon was the Glendale Cemetery in Akron, Ohio.  About 20 min from the homestead, and off I went.

When I pulled into this property, it was obvious that this was a wealthy persons cemetery.  There were about a dozen serious Mausoleums right off the bat.  

I saw examples of decorations I had never seen before, as well as styles of mausoleums I have not seen before.  It was a very well kept cemetery.. even nicer than the Massillon Cememetery.. but this one was much bigger.  Probably half the size of the Canton Cemetery.

 

Some of the design work on the doors of the Mausoleums were much more ornate than any I have seen before.

 

I don't know who's going to answer the door once you use this knocker,  and I don't think I want to stick around to find out.

And with that my tour of Ohio Gothic Cemeteries is over for this winter.  Maybe next year I'll hit up the ones in Cleveland that everyone keeps telling me to go to.

If you know of a cemetery that has examples of Gothic monuments, contact me about the locations, and I'll hit them up while on the road.  

If you want to see more images from my cemetery tour, check out my Facebook Page, The Photo Vagabond.  I'll have everything up on TPV website in a week or so.  Just faster to put things up on Facebook.  :)