Wednesday, April 22, 2009

About Taking A Road Trip

When you're on a road trip, it's exciting to get in the car at home and back out of the driveway. You wave 'bye and say, 'I love you' and 'We'll call every day' and you settle in to your car seat and check the map and say, 'We'll have to make xxx miles every day and maybe we can drive a few extra miles today and get there early.'
I tried to document the trip by taking photos through the windows of the car as we whizzed along Route 66. I practiced different settings with the new camera.
Day 1: Crossing the California desert.
The Colorado River is the border between California and Arizona.
Day 2: New Mexico's red rocks and plateaus.

Details of a large decorative sidewalk art piece in Gallup.

Birds at a rest stop.

A typical Oklahoma farm.


Taking advantage of the wind sweepin' across the plain.

By the third day of driving driving driving, I was thinking, 'If it's Wednesday, it must be Missouri - or Illinois - or Indiana.'

I practiced using the night settings to try to capture the Gateway Arch in St. Louis (not very successfully).

Evidence of spring in eastern Indiana.


On the fourth day, for some reason (travel fatigue? Who ever heard of a blogger tired of documenting everything?) I quit taking photos. The picture above is the last one I took. I didn't realize it until I got home and uploaded all the photos from the camera. Weird.

Did you know that you can call someone (Mike, MamaMia, The Professor) and say, 'Where is the closest Starbuck's? We're at Exit XY just before Tulsa (or Columbus) and need a pickmeup cuppa'? Well, you can do that. And you can find motels that way, too. And Fast Food. And other amenities for your road trip that aren't marked on your AAA map. Just so you know, for your next road trip...

Back home now, I wonder to myself, 'Did I really take a trip last week? Did I really travel 2300 miles by car and more than that by plane?' It's such a blur I can scarcely remember it.

Our hot weather finally broke today and the marine layer has moved in and cooled Ventura County considerably. Maybe tomorrow afternoon it will be cool enough to plant my seeds.

As I commented at the end of my last post, I have been working on a couple of projects that are keeping me rather busy. One, for school, I finished today. Another one, I will share next week. Here's a hint: Knit, purl. Knit, purl.

16 comments:

ellen b. said...

You know you've had it as a blogger when you forget to take photos. That's when you are really tired girl!! Glad you are home now recuperating...

Brenda said...

I want to know more about who you call to find the closest Starbucks????

Nice pictures, I sometimes get tired of taking pictures too and just enjoy the moment.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Hooray for the cooler weather! It makes me happy.

Those birds with the red heads are very strange looking....I wonder what they are?

That was such a fast trip to go so far; it's no wonder you are wondering if it really happened!

I found that poem by googling for seashell poems but had to go though about about 5 pages of links before I came across it. There evidently aren't many seashell poems or quotes out there!

Unknown said...

Wow..that's a lot of mileage and coverage there, congrats. As usual, the pictures are great. Whenever I travel and coming back, somehow I need another few days to recover..dont know why..must be the few basket loads of clothes i need to fold.

Tracy said...

Yes, sometimes is ok to stop taking photos and just savor the moment right in front of you as it is...Not everything has to be "blogworthy" ;o) But loved seeing these images and hearing more about your trip. And can't wait to see what all the knitting and purling is about! Happy Days ((HUGS))

Anonymous said...

Boy you sure did do some traveling. And the pictures are great. I can't believe so many miles...get rested up. :)

Anonymous said...

You do have some very beautiful photos here. I like them all and was fascinated with the birds. Those look like extra sleek "Brown Headed Cowbirds" but larger. Do you know what they really are?

Anonymous said...

Welcome home for some R+R. You covered so many miles I'm not suprised that you got photo fatigue. Just taking pics coming back from the Lakes made me frustrated as I would take a shot only to find that a post had got in the way at a crucial time. It was more relaxing to just sit back in the end deleting the blurry pics from the camera memory. :-)

Flower said...

The photos from the car are good! I especially like the last one...looks like a Fall scene!

Robin said...

I love road trips too - and yours sounds like it was great!
You have great pictures - it's funny that you stopped taking them LOL! You must have just been content soaking in all the scenery.
I'm looking forward to hearing what you are working on.

Knitting Linguist said...

I had to laugh -- photo fatigue! I get that on trips, too. Isn't the internet/cell phone combo fabulous, though? It's great for finding out about traffic problems so you can plot quicker ways through L.A., too.. :)

Jientje said...

Yeah, I can't imagine getting photo fatigue, unless my camera gets battery fatigue!! You had a great trip, I'm happy for you! Welcome back!

Ally Jay said...

That's it the end of blogdom if you don't take photos, or maybe it's the next era. At least you enjoyed your trip.

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Driving so long can be fatiguing...glad you're home safe and sound!

I love to fly over all the states you visited. I'll be doing that next week as I'm off to see my little guy :-)

Marg said...

I'm so glad you are home safe and sound again.

Projects?
Oh yea!
Please ask the Professor to get you a GPS. You will appreciate it and find your Starbucks so quickly.

Brook said...

If you were on Interstate 70, you probably drove right past my house about 30 minutes before you got the arch. :)