OUT THE WINDOW

September 30, 2004 - Today was a long day of driving and sightseeing along Rt. 6 through the top end of Pennsylvania. The day was perfect for the drive, with some clouds to keep the sun from taking away the color that was just starting to show in the trees. I left at around six in the morning so I could take some little side trips off the main road. One of the places that I went to was a railroad bridge that at one time was the longest and tallest bridge of its type. As I drove out to see it I expected to see this neat old bridge spanning a deep valley, but when I got there, what I found was a bridge that had been knocked off its footings by a micro tornado with winds of up to 110 miles an hour. This happened just a few years ago in 2002, or 2001. It was pretty impressive, because this bridge was over a 1,200 hundred feet long and almost 300 feet high. The next area that I went to was a valley area in Pennsylvania that is called the Grand Canyon of Pennsylvania. There are some nice vistas of the valley down below, as well as some great back roads weaving through all the different types of trees, and some small streams with shale formations that create some waterfalls along these streams.


September 29, 2004 - I left Toledo this morning and headed up 90 along the shore of Lake Erie. Lots of little towns and houses along the shore compared to Lake Superior, where there was only a dirt road for most of the southern shore. I ended up in the town of Erie, PA. where I took this shot of the lighthouse which is in a state park. Next I headed down to Rt. 6, which is a little 2 lane county road, and where I got this picture of the old barn. Tomorrow I will follow this road the rest of the way into New York. We are starting to get some fall color along the way, so with the mixture of old barns, and the trees, and some cloudy skies, I should get some nice images.


September 28, 2004 - Today started out as a bright sunny day, and ended up in the pouring rain. In between I watched the sky go from blue to puffy white clouds to the gray sky and rain that I ended up with. The first image from today is from early in the day just outside of Chicago, along Interstate 80. The second image is from just on the other side of Chicago, just as I was getting onto the turnpike that runs through three different states .


September 27, 2004 - Another day of driving across the mid west. Today I stayed mostly on the main highways, so I could get over to the east side a little sooner and explore some new back roads and maybe the start of some fall colors. On the way I did these shots out the window, as I drove down the road. I think the first image is almost a duplicate to one that I did early this year on my way down to Florida in Janurary. The other is of a mirror image of the sunset and traffic behind me.


September 26, 2004 - Left Gillette this morning and headed out on some of the back roads on my way across the states. I had nice weather for the drive today, it got up into the low 80's for most of the day. There are a lot of, almost on the edge, Ghost towns out there in South Dakota, and the shots of the day are of a few of the buildings in those towns. The first one is in Belvidere, which looks like there are maybe 6 people living there and the other is from Oakton, another town that maybe has 12 people living there still.


September 25, 2004 - Another day, another 500 miles. Tonight I am sitting in Gillette, Wyoming, after leaving Butte ,Montana this morning. I would have made it a little farther but had some problems and had to stop in Billings and have it checked out. It turns out that I had three plug wires that were shorting out and so I wasn't getting full power to my engine and my gas milage was way down. But now I will replace the wires tomorrow morning before I leave, I did a few things tonight to get ready so it shouldn't take to long in the morning. So todays images are from the last part of my drive through Montana, and the start of my drive into Wyoming.


September 24, 2004 - Yahoo! I'm back out on the road. Now I can finally put some images back up on my site. Todays images are from my drive through Spokane and later on that evening as I drove through Montana.


September 23, 2004 - Finally, it's around 11:00 pm and I am done. Tomorrow I will start back out on the road.


September 22, 2004 -  Another day of getting everything put together for my last two shows of the year


September 21, 2004 -  Work, work, work. Man I can't wait to get back on the road again, then I can start putting up some more images about where I am and where I'm going. I'm almost done though, by tomorrow I will be putting the wire on the back of my framed pieces, and then will start to load up my van.


September 20, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 19, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 18, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 17, 2004 -  Work, work, work. If this sounds like the same thing over and over again, it is.


September 16, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 15, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 14, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 13, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 12, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 11, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 10, 2004 -  Work, work, work.


September 9, 2004 - The next few days are all about the same thing, work, work, work.


September 8, 2004 - Another day out in the shop, working on backgrounds for my tile images. I also unloaded my van to get at my work. so that I can change over the frames to my newer work. Then back to giving another coat of paint to the backboards again.


September 7, 2004 - I got up this morning, and the first thing I did was go help a friend get his van going again, and after that headed out to collect some of the materials that I would need for the next few days. I spent the rest of the day working on the backboards for my images to sit on, and giving some other ones there first coat of paint for the porcelain glaze I put on them.


September 6, 2004 - It was another nice day at the fair, wow three days of good weather, I don't think I have had that in awhile. So then after the show and teardown I was able to drive home that night, another thing I haven't been able to do in a few years. I finally got home at around one in the morning, and with my next set of shows comming up will get up early and start all over again.


September 5, 2004 - Sunday , Art in the Pearl, this morning when I got to the show it was nice and peaceful, the low clouds where slowly desolving away to leave the sun shining down over our booths. But by ten in the morning the crowds of people slowly started to move in, and thus began the second day of the art fair.


September 4, 2004 - Alright, the first day of the show and my booth looks good and we have a lot of people comming in. I'm very happy with my new work and have had a good response from the people that go through my booth. This afternoon I caught these two people trying to grab some of my work off my walls, but I got a picture of them in the act. But wait, it's really the Beamers, some friends of mine that stopped in to say hi, at least they like my work. This evening a few of us got togeather and went to a Greek restaurant for dinner. Lots of good food, a great belly dancer, and more good food, along with these squid tentacles, we all had a great time.


September 3, 2004 - Got up this morning and finnished wiring the back of my frames and got my van loaded and ready to go to Portland for my show. Mike and Steve stopped by, so by the time they left it was 12:30 and time to leave, so I could get to the show and start my setup that afternoon. It took around5 hours for me to get everything done, and then after that I got togeather with some friends and went out to a late dinner. The next day the show starts.


September 2, 2004 - This should do it, by the end of today I should have most of my work done and should be able to turn off the shop and go into my matting room and start putting things togeather. By the time I quit for the night I hope to have most of my work framed and have only a few more frames to wire across the back for hanging.


September 1, 2004 - Ah, the first of September, where has the year gone. I could have started out this month with just more writing but I thought I would make it a little more interesting this month. Now that I am doing my new process, I now have some background painting that I have to do for some of my smaller pieces, so my matting room is now just a little trashed. And now that I am doing all this painting to some of the backgrounds, my hands tend to get a little more colorful too.