Road Trip

 

Those words mean different things to different people I suppose.  For some there is a bit of excitement attached, a spot of adventure, for others annoyance. For me, there is always a sense of purpose behind them, and usually an air of hurriedness - as opposed to a vacation, the purpose of which is to relax. On a road trip you are on a mission.

Usually this means minimal stops along the way.  Fortunately for me, Mommo's bladder is no stronger than mine so we are in agreement about relaxing the standard for potty stops.  Thinking about the timetable, I almost packed the camera away for the road trip out here.  I mean, what's there to see on the interstate, really. Endless roads? Traffic? There's just not much to shoot sitting in the passenger seat of a moving vehicle ... or is there?  About that time it struck me as a challenge to find things that scream road trip ... things that aren't your typical passenger seat shots. So the camera went in the front seat with me.

The weather wasn't very co-operative, although it could have been worse.  For most of the trip we had grey skies and drizzle.  I think we were in Georgia before I saw my first likely subject.  I looked up at a gas stop and saw a tractor-trailer in front of me.  It wasn't the truck, but it's cargo that caught my attention.  This shot may have no artistic merit, but I want you to look at the size of those tires!  There is no top on that trailer and you can plainly see only 3 tires can fit in that whole trailer!  I thought that was worth documenting.

Of course, the artist in me wasn't going to be denied. In this one you don't get the sense of scale, but the textures and geometric shapes intrigued me.

And knowing how I am about Abstracts, it shouldn't surprise you that the tires weren't the only cargo that I found interesting.

 

Having Sister Crow as a totem animal, naturally anything bright and shiny will catch my eye.  When the sun finally showed her face this stainless trailer was brilliant.

This Water Tower in Shreeveport reminded me of a Star Wars type alien critter.

And I'm told this is called a Mix Master

Although I much prefer living in the country, Urban landscapes do appeal to my photographer's eye.

And finally we arrive in Texas and stop at a truck stop/tourist trap.  I believe this horny horned toad is the mascot of one of the colleges.

Form, and elegant lines always seem to catch my attention, and this marble sink in the facilities was no exception.

 For all the elegance of the restroom, the place had fun and fanciful Old West feel to it.  This was the same place that I found the Christmas "Boots" in. 

Check out the star on the chair.  It's a Lone Star.  I expect you'll be seeing it a lot; they slap it on just about everything out here ;) including the furniture.

I hope I was able, with this set of pictures, to share the feel of the open road with you and a bit of the adventure of exploring exotic new places ;)  Traveling can be fun, if you don't forget to enjoy the process instead of seeing it as downtime that is necessary to do (or get to) the things you really WANT to do (or places you want to be).

Sorry about my lack of response so far.  Seems I've been have some connectivity problems, but I believe we have those worked out now.  Hopefully I really AM back now ;)