Journeys End...?

After driving through 9 states, meeting many interesting people and seeing some of natures awesomeness the last 18 days have been a whirlwind of experiences. It’s going to take a bit of time to reflect on them and to fully understand what I have learned. I know there is still plenty of things here I want to see and do, It really is a wonderful country despite all it’s faults. One of the things I’ve learned is how easy it is to start to look like a trucker! Getting up having a big breakfast then spending 5 to 8 hrs a day sitting on you arse driving, then having a big dinner and crashing out in a motel day after day. You soon start putting on the pounds and growing the facial hair, and given long enough I expect a mullet! I’ve also learned that spending 24hrs a day with someone for such a long time isn’t natural especially for me. So the fact that Steve and I haven’t fallen out despite a few patchy moments is testament to our friendship and patience for which I am grateful.

For 4600 miles, cheap gas powered the general and coffee and Red Bull powered me. Crossing time zones back and forth as the landscape changes shape and colour, sunset after sunset, often sat in comfortable silence with your own thoughts. A different motel, town or city every night. Loosing track of where and when you were just a few days ago. Never really knowing what day it is and not really caring, it soon became a way of life. It feels strange that it’s coming to an end but I welcome back a normal routine and a chance to shave! 

We’ve spent a lot of the trip photographing and filming which in it self doesn’t feel like work, at least not till we have to edit the 100s of gig of data we’ve amassed. Which will take some time, so please be patient! Going through it will help recall the memories which is great because mine is crap, one reason I take a lot of photos!

Seeing contrasting views on how americans live from the big cities and nice small towns to the dying towns on the brink of becoming ghosts and the trailer parks in the deserts has made for interesting trip in it self. You can see why some folk cut off to anything more then there own life's. The vast distances and time it takes to get anywhere and the difficulties of making a living in such a harsh landscape with it’s unforgiving high temperatures, experiencing real life more than a few states away is often not possible. The only view of the rest of the world is what they see on TV and the occasional tourist passing through. 

It’s been a great trip and a few of the things I’ve experienced here have made my top 5 best things I’ve done in my life, so can’t be bad! I believe that experiences define the person, the more you have the richer and more fulfilled your life will be. So I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more.

Stu

Just A Big Hole!

After leaving Texas we headed into New Mexico following old route 66 which gave us chance to see and get a feel what it use to be like before the freeway replaced it. We spent little time in New Mexico which was a shame as I felt there is a lot to see and experience, another trip me thinks!

On our way into Arizona we stopped of at Four Corners before heading to Flagstaff where we were to stay a couple of nights. Flagstaff was stunning! Set in the middle of a forest and keeping a small town vibe but still an exciting place with plenty to do and see. While we were here we were tourists and another one of natures creations waited for us, The Grand Canyon!

Natures big dusty rocky hole failed to impress me at first. I expected a big WOW moment when I first laid my eyes upon it..... but I didn't. We went to a few of the viewing vistas before getting settled at Yaki point for the sunset, which was much more impressive and beautiful but still no WOW. You hear stories and watch documentaries of a place and your expectations rise high and is often the case where the real thing fails to deliver. After sunset most of the people left and it became quiet, the last of the sun light beginning to turn to darkness. I stood on the very edge of a rock with a 40ft drop to some more rocks below and looked out into the vast expanse before me. The wind picked up blocking out all other sounds and then the moment arrived. I was once again in awe.

After a stop off for lunch at Cooperstown in Phoenix we left Arizona and back into California where we were to be "loved by God" which Steve has told you all about below.

God is Love!

As we approached Niland I could see Salvation Mountain from a few miles away.

The vibrant colours painted onto the adobe clay was as I had seen many times in pictures, but the heat was unbearable.

Leonard Knight who’s now 82 has spent the last twenty years of his life creating the mountain to spread the word of Gods love.  Before that he had taken three years making a large hot air balloon with the same words “God Is Love” but that plan failed and he had the idea to just squat on the mountain and paint.

I wish that I had come to meet up with Leonard  ten years earlier, because I’d say that all that hot sweltering sun must have had some effect on him, as his answers to our questions had sort of the same answer, “Gods Love Is Universal”.

Not being a religous kind myself, but I really liked Leonard and he was very generous with his time with all visitors that drove up to his mountain and offered to show them around. he had a big heart and that’s all that matters to me...

We gave him some cash and I checked if he needed me to get him anything from the grocery store three miles away (he has not left the mountain in twenty years), but he said “I have everything right here”.

Thank you Leonard and God bless you too!

New Mexico

With a decent nights sleep in Amarillo, we left to head east on the old route 66 stopping off at Vail before crossing the state line into New Mexico. Then a brief visit to Tucumcari which once used to boast over 1200 motel rooms.  The sad fate of these towns on the old route is that they are dying, many of the businesses are closing each week.

After a late breakfast at the Midway Point Diner , we had a photo taken by the sign showing that we were exactly halfway between Chicago and Santa Monica. Then Stuart suggested from his book that we stop off at Santa Rosa and check it out.

First sight we see is a hotrod raised above the buildings and this was a car museum and a landmark of the Route 66 Auto Museum.  Spending some time inside looking at the many cars in the collection, I sparked up a conversation with the lady in charge.  She invited me to go and have a look at the garage over the road where the guys restore the cars, but they were closing soon so I had to hurry.

Now, when I got there, they seemed a friendly bunch and I had a chat with a man named Bozo who it turns out owns the museum and the garage.  I persuaded him to be filmed and become our 5th subject of the trip.  Bozo was very comfortable in front of the camera and in spite of needing to be somewhere else he gave us all the time we needed. 

Bozo, thank you so much...

State lines & a whole lot of not a lot!

We carried on east that afternoon but failed to make the next state so we checked in to Lamar for the night. Today would see us in 4 different Sates, it was going to be a long day!

A long day of long roads, a lot of ranches, millions of cows and 360 degrees of featureless horizons full of crops. Colorado to Kansas to Oklahoma  and into Texas, over 400 miles and thats all I have to say on that..... oh.....I had a wonderful Steak in Texas for dinner.

My hopes for New Mexico are high and is for some reason the state I’ve been looking for to most.

Light Chaser

The Oldest Whore house in the Creek

The wipers squeaked and the rain lashed down as I drove through the mountains bending pass. Night had fallen by the time we hit Cripple Creek. First impression was not a good one and not what Steve had imagined it to be. A mining and gambling town it looked seedy and downtrodden in the gloom of the night. We booked into the Motel and went for food. We asked About the Homestead that Steve had found out about but no one knew of it. Things were looking down as we went out on a late night curb crawl to find the whore house, Something I pointed out to steve as a police car drove past. It made us chuckle and lifted our mood a little and which was lifted a lot more when there to our left stood the homestead. Now a museum for the past 50 years, the first of it’s kind, it fights for survival.

We arrived at opening time as an elderly lady was putting out the sign and hanging up the American flag. We introduced our selfs and told her of our journey and the people we met and interviewed and how we would like to do the same to her. She agreed with a smile and introduced herself as Loudie, she’s 84 and still fighting for what she believes in. 

We did the brief interview and had a tour of the house and discovered what she was fighting so passionately for, a very colorful, fascinating and important piece of the towns history. She didn’t allow photos to be taken in the house which was for us a shame as we can’t show you what we saw. It’s does however keep that sense of secrecy and discretion about the place for in it’s time it was operating outside the state laws and could only be afforded by the rich millionaires of the Creek. 

Light Chaser

Spirit Walk

After interviewing Mayor Dave we were free to be tourists in Moab, so that evening we drove up into mountains to see just a little of what makes the place so magical. Every corner we turned unveiled a more beautiful scene than the last. Monoliths of stunning red rock towered before us resulting in dropped jaws and sounds of awe. We had little over an hour to make our of destination, a mile and half climb up to see and experience what the native Americans and the people of Utah hold so close to their hearts. It was a moderate climb with every step a pleasure. As I neared the top voices carried on the wind told me I was close. I had to navigate a small path with a high rock face to my right and a shear drop my left, as I turned the corner about 50 people sat up on a ridge with there backs to me and cameras in hand. I climbed the ridge among them and there before me stood the Delicate Arch in all it’s glory. I moved my way to the front to set up my cameras in readiness for the last moments of sunlight. What happened next was the by far the most wonderful thing I’ve ever witnessed. Something you can only witness for pictures and words could never do it justice. A Sunset followed by a moonrise on either side of the arch with valleys and mountains as it’s backdrop. I only wished I was alone...for a few brief moments I felt I was.

Most folk had gone back down before the moonrise, only us and a few stragglers remained to navigate our way down with the moonshine to guide us as we reflected upon what we saw.

Beep Beep BEEEEP..... the alarm wakes us an hour before sunrise. We make our way back up the mountains to try and capture a bit of what we saw last night. Beautiful though it was we couldn’t get our self's into a good spot to see it in full effect. So we decided to move on.   

“Good luck with your trip” said Mayor Dave as we were buying supplies from his store. Tell Dave Gorman that Walmart are still not in Moab! “Something he’ll be pleased to hear I’m sure” I replied. With that said we headed east.

It took a while for Colorado to win me over after Moab. but as we started to climb higher and higher and as the pine trees started to thicken and the clouds began to drop along with the temperature it had done just that. We passed through Aspen followed by Frisco both waiting for the snow to fall and the Skiing to start. We went deeper into the Rockies in search of final destination for the day, Cripple Creek.

Light Chaser

Best Whore House in Town!

As Stuart said “if that police officer stopped us and asked us what we were doing curb crawling in his town” I would have said “looking for a brothel”!

I found out about the Homestead Museum in Cripple Creek about a month ago and the plight of the curator (Lodie) trying to raise the money to buy it before it is closed for good.  She now has just one week left of the season to raise the rest of the $350,000 to buy it back from its owners who’ll just sell off the original artifacts and tear it down.

The Town is an old mining town that has now become one of three legal gambling towns in Colorado, so to lose the last real gem in the town is a high priority and we filmed a story and will pass on the results as soon as possible.

More information can be found on :

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69278492325

Are you Dave?

“You have just missed him” was the greeting at Dave’s Corner Market by the very friendly and helpful staff, after asking for Dave.   He had gone to City Hall to do Mayor things but would be back tomorrow at 6.30am to open up the shop that he has run for many years.

I thought that I had better buy a coffee and try to think what to do next, then decided to use  the power of email to get to the man at the top.  As you may know, I’m a little slow at typing 

and took a lot longer than I should, trying to find the UK code to leave my number on the email that he may never read I felt a little beaten.    Then I hear a voice and look over to see the same man that I have seen in Dave Gormans book many times (not that Dave Gorman shows him loads of times, it’s that I have read the book many times) and I just asked “are you Dave?”.

Next thing I explained about the film and the people we are trying to locate and film.

Dave couldn’t have been more helpful, we filmed the piece and talked some more.

He even took us down to City Hall and showed us around his office and we talked even more.

It turns out that Dave is into photography himself and was very interested in our kit 

(Canon  5D) that we were using to shoot our film.

Dave (mayor) also fondly remembers Dave Gorman and sent him a message  which we will put in the edit just for Dave (Gorman).

Dave, thankyou so much...

Tumbleweeds & Dirt Trails

We set out early to the Salt Flats to put the finishing touches on film of our time here. The day before we met an old timer called Kip. He's been coming to the Flats for longer than he remembers and seen it all. He had more stories than we had time which was unfortunate as they were all fascinating. Not just about the speedsters either but the unwritten history of the area. After spending an uncomfortable night on the floor of his trailer Kip was still as chipper as ever and willing to give his time and stories to anyone who wished to hear them. So as everyone was packing up and heading off we managed to grab a few moments with him.

Kip

It was time to move on but we were at a cross roads and had no real plan from here on out. So we let fate decide. We got out the map and placed it on the car. Picked 2 destinations (Tails-Las Vegas or Heads-Moab) and flipped a 1971 2 pence coin to choose our path. Runner called heads..........We were going to Moab!

We were told by Kip about traffic problems just past Salt Lake and he recommended a scenic route that takes you through The Pony Express. So off we went and yet again the landscapes were stunning as we drove past ranch after ranch through a beautiful valley. Kip told us the road we went on would come to an end next to a military base and we'd have to take a dirt trail for quite a few miles. He wasn't kidding! Limited to 20 to 30 mph we carefully drove up the dirt tail to the mountains. Tumbleweeds blew across our path and we left a huge dust clouds behind us in the extremely windy valley which FYI is called Skull Valley..... The reason for which soon came apparent when Runner noticed a HUGE dead cow! Then I saw  a dead deer... looked fresh too! The thought of strapping it to the roof soon evaporated in the blistering heat as theme of the place started to take effect! Best keep going! We soon got past Look Out Point and through a town called Vernon and made it back the main road where we saw what Runner could only describe as a huge dead lion. It was at this point The General who looked like he'd been to war started bleeping warning signs at us....2 towns later he blew a tire! Which is how we ended up here in Provo the home to The Osmond's.....and is closed on Sundays!! As I write Runner and The General are out finding a garage so we can head off to Moab where the coin will decide once again where to take us.

Part of the Pony Express trail

Wounded but will fight on!

Light Chaser.