Working with my photos

autumn leaves goes disco, originally uploaded by FandangoTravelers.

This is one of the pieces I've been working on with Picnik. I originally took this photo in either Detroit or Toronto (it all gets to be a blur after awhile!). I loved the color, but thought I could have some fun with it as well. I am working on using the tools in editing (paintbrushes, erasers and focal points) as well as the effects. This piece used an effect called "Circle Splash". I also put a mirrored frame around it. I wish the weirdly colored leaves were less opaque, I'd like to have the original shading and veining show through more.

Several people have chided me for not having more pictures on the blog.

 I will try to keep from overloading. 

If I go overboard - please let me know. 

Okay? 

Really.

EVIL

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Post Rerun - The Inside of our World

I am learning how to do some new things with Blogger and my photo editor (Picnik). In the meantime, I thought I would re-run this post showing the inside of our truck.

It basically still looks exactly the same as it did in this original post. Well, I guess, the magazines have changed, and certainly the sheets and quilt have been washed a time or two. But otherwise . . . still the same.

Originally published 07/15/08

We paused at our terminal in Laredo, Texas last night and this morning and decided to change sheets and do a general bed re-make. Since it is nice and straight and not occupied, I thought I'd show you what some of the inside of the truck looks like. I can't take a picture that shows the entire inside in one picture, because then you would see the "pile o'crap" that I have to move around in order to take pics of each area. Here they are in de-crapped segments:

The black webbing is our sleeping restraint system. One of us (Tony) was skeptical about being able to sleep while harnessed in, but he gave it a try and found it works just fine. The 2 straps that connect to the sides of the sleeper (the head and foot of the bed) work to create a tent-like thing that keeps the harness from being restrictive. You can actually turn over and not feel tied up (or down, as the case may be).

You can also see our wonderful pvc shelving that Tony engineered. The grey thing the microwave and shelving is sitting on is what we had installed in place of the top bunk. The grey shelf is about 4 inches deep and maybe 6 inches wide - not real useful, but better than the bunk. Tony figured out how to secure the microwave and shelves. We store most of the light weight type food and snacks up there. Up at the very top is the extra blanket and our one piece of decent luggage (a folding travel tote).

All of this junk is held in place with staps and bungie cords.

Bungie cords are our friend!

You can see the wonderful array of them holding the magazines in the magazine rack. It is a great rack, but only 2 inches deep (WTF?) - so. . . bungies to the rescue!

The little round blue pillow in the top shot is my ipod speaker pillow. I love it! I especially like that my ipod nano fits inside it so there are no wires snaking around the bed to get tangled up in while getting my beauty sleep.

This is a look into one of our closets. The top portion is where the all important cache of caffeine lives. Tony drinks a very intense roast and I drink a wimpier hazelnut coffee, so we have to have 2 kinds. Leo's inside food container is up there too.

Next down, is our kitchen tools, plastic flatware and empty grocery bags stuffed over on the left. I can just barely reach in and snag a corner to get one out for trash.

Then down below that is our dirty clothes hamper. It is possible to crack open the closet door (cuz the pile o'crap is blocking the floor in front of the door!) and reach in and stuff the item into the container. Below that is where the handy-dandy folding stool lives. We use this stool all the time and having it hand is a life saver for us. Again, it is possible to crack open the door and reach in and grab the stool.

To the right of the closet, you can see our new cooler. We used to have a 12-volt cooler, but after 2 of them in 6 months, we pitched the last on!e and bought a good old fashioned cooler.

So, this is where we live these days. I have some more pics, but am out of time. I do have to drive you know!

What Happened to May?

Did the entire month of May just whiz by and I didn't notice?!?  

Can someone please explain to me how a full month of days can run by in the blink of an eye?  

I have found that this seems to speed up as you get older - what a whirlwind they'll be when I'm 90 or so!

We have been running along the northern tier of states a lot this past month.  Washington, that tiny little slice of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, etc, etc, etc.

There isn't much internet accessing going on up there.  

Really . . . I tried.  

Multiple times.

The rest of the time, I have been driving with my mouth about half open . . .  mostly in awe.

Spring has busted out big time in these northern states and it is really something to see.

In Terlingua, we usually managed to have Spring on the 1st Tuesday of March between 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.  Sometimes, if you weren't paying real close attention, you could miss it altogether.  

But let me tell you, that is not the case with Spring up here.  

This place is GREEN and WET.  

Seriously, there is water tumbling out of the rocks and hillsides like nobody's business.

We have really enjoyed this last couple of weeks.  Pastures are crayon green and full of lively babies - horses, cows and lambs.  Ponds are full to the brim and littered with mamas and their flotillas of baby ducks, geese and swans.  I love watching them as we go by - they look like paintings.  I even saw a kingfisher sitting on a low branch scooping a creek for fish.

I have found the long missing instruction book that came with my camera and I am going to be trying out some new techniques soon.

I'll start posting more pictures.

Really.

I promise.  

Map Schmap

I took a photo while we were in Atlanta last Thanksgiving.  Imagine my surprise when I was notified that it was being considered for inclusion in an online city guide called Schmap Atlanta Guide  

That was pretty cool.  

Then I got the notice that it was actually going to be used.  

Awesome!

This will take you to the page.  

If you are too lazy to follow the link, this is the photo

This display is giant Coke bottles decorated in different ways.  This one is covered with seed beads and was done somewhere in Africa.

We are lounging in our favorite hotel in Joplin, MO for a couple of days off.  Leo got his annual vaccinations and we shopped for water loungers.  Our family is gathering on Lake Ouchita near Hot Springs, Arkansas.  It is my dad's 80th birthday celebration.  We have rented an amazing houseboat for 5 days of relaxing in the sun.  We will put in a month of hard running on the highways before we stop again for the boat in late June.

Poor Jeff

I blew Diet Pepsi out of my nose - it hurt!

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The Big Blow

I had my first 18-wheeler style blowout.

It was one of the trailer wheels, so not such a big jolt to the driving.

What made it most interesting was that it happened on the Atchafalaya Basin Bridge.  This bridge spans the largest swamp in the country and stretches a whooping 18.2 miles.  

What a wonderful spot for a blowout.  Wheeeeee - we're having fun now! 

 

Oh, did I mention that it happened late on a Friday afternoon. 

 

Talk about backing up some traffic!  I was in the right hand lane when it blew, so I eased over to the shoulder (which is JUST barely wide enough for a semi) and paused long enough to ensure that everything was still intact - yep . . . nothing laying out in the roadway.  At this time of evening on this bridge, I knew better than to get out of the truck, so I decided to creep forward about 10 miles per hour with my emergency flashers going. 

 

Oh, and did I mention that the blowout happened about 10 feet before the exit for the ONLY rest area on the bridge.

  

Plus we were fully loaded (meaning that our rig weighed in at a barely legal 79,600 pounds).  

No way this baby was slowing down enough for me to dive off the exit ramp.  Swept right on by that before coming to my check-the-rig pause.

Here's the picture - 2 lanes of Friday afternoon traffic.  One of them is totally blocked by a very slow moving semi.  Can you imagine the backup and feel the wave of irritation washing over the driver of that slow moving roadblock?  It wasn't the most pleasant feeling.

Oh wait, what's this in the picture? 

 

A Louisiana State Patrol cruiser with it lights and siren on.  And it is pulling in behind me.  I wonder if he wants me to pull over?  I'm not doing anything wrong.  Yep . . . he not only wants me to pull over, he is motioning for ME to get out of the truck and come back to him.  I thought THEY were the ones who risked life and limb in whizzing traffic situations.  Luckily, the traffic had all been scared over to only one lane by the lights and siren and I had a momentary clear space to jump out of the cab and run the 70' back to the cruiser.

I explained what had happened and what my plans were now (to get off the $#@*&ing bridge!!!!!).  He explained that I was really tying up weekend/rush hour traffic and he didn't think 10 mph for 10 more miles was in the plan.  We discussed calling a heavy duty wrecker, but decided that would just tie up traffic for a long time too.  The one lucky break in all this was that I had eased far enough across the bridge that the one other on/off bit of dry ground was coming up in 2 miles.  If I could get it up to 20 or 30 mph and get over the Whiskey Bay part of the bridge, he would tail me until I got off safely.  

Good plan.

Once I was safely off the bridge, Tony and our RoadService guys coordinated and called in my Knight in Shining Repair Truck.  

Knight's name was JR and I knew he had arrived by the raucous sound waves of Zydeco that proceeded his actual appearance.

JR hopped out and set to work immediately.  The fact that we were fully loaded didn't even make him pause.  He started unloading equipment and had the trailer jacked up and was removing the outside wheel before I could even get the camera focused.

This is the air driven thingy that was used to remove and eventually replace the lug nuts holding those monsters on.  

Zip, zip, zip and the bad wheel was off . . . 

JR worked so fast that his hands were blurs in all of the photos I shot.  In this one, he is working both hands AND both feet.  

A mere 30 minutes and we were on our way.

Since these photos, we have been to Atlanta to Miami to Minnesota to Illinois and are now in The Rockies on our way to Los Angeles - gotta keep moving or we'll rust!