Long road trips are what blogs are all about. It is a chance to write down all of the things you encountered and thought you had in your head but also aren't really the things that you would call up a friend to share. Nonetheless, here are some brief thoughts and shots from my trip from SLC to Palm Springs "the back way".
As I left my house at 8am Saturday it was 34 degrees. I wanted to take photos as I cruised through the valley, catching the morning light as I rarely see it, hitting the copper mine and burning off the frost. But it wasn't until a few hundred miles later when I figured out that I didn't need to stop the car and pull over, I could just feel my way around my purse and to turning on my camera and then just randomly hold it up and shoot and see later what I got.
My first attempt at this, I wanted to capture half burnt trees from a wildfire this summer.
One of my favorite parts of the long I-15 portion of the drive is slaloming though the Virgin River gorge. It was stupid to even try my "safe" snapshot while driving technique as anyone who has driven that gorge knows it takes at least 2 hands, feet and eyes in full concentration at all times to make it through alive. But I got some good shots.
Then the random Vegas shot as I turned off I-15 on into the back dessert of Nevada and California where miles and miles can pass without another car in any direction.
My favorite spot between Las Vegas and Joshua Tree is Amboy.
According to my dad, the "town" was for sale on ebay recently. Not sure if there were any takers. Amboy consists of a boarded up school, hotel, church and restaurant and a working post office. Amboy is on "Historic Route 66" I arrived there just as the sun was setting. I got out of my car to take photos in the still dessert heat with no sound other than my car engine, my dogs tags and a train rumbling by. It was amazing and frightening and comforting all at once.
