Here’s a long list of numbers to contemplate: 4925 (miles), 182 (gallons of gas), 21 (states), 6 (liters of Iced Tea), 4 (lemons), 1 (world’s largest cross…of this I am dubious), 1,000,000 (pictures seen and not taken).
A couple of posts ago I commented on the journey I was about to undertake and my feeling of sadness for the images I wouldn’t be able to make. The experience was far more frustrating than I imagined. So instead of simply looking for images I couldn’t make, I started to try to feel the culture and the state of mind for each state I was passing through.
Reading the billboards proclaiming “The Land of Enchantment”, “Find Yourself Here”, and “It’s Like a Whole Other Country”, gave me the first impression of uncharted territory. Then I began to notice the structures, new and old, the way we have imprinted our values on the land by erecting modest farmsteads or garish strip malls. I noticed what the states were most proud of….”Home of Garth Brooks”….”Home of Tyler Hicks”…and then I began to see evidence of history and warnings of the future. The dust bowl of the 1930’s was not hard to imagine in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and all down I-5 South in California there were proclamations of a current dust bowl, created by Congress and Diane Feinstein apparently. The sign for The Chisolm Trail created images of calling cattle and weathered cowhands with dust-encrusted faces, but I was met with asphalt, a decrepit gas station, and a deep-fried menu.
Yet underlying all of these images was an eternal dynamic landscape. Altitude changes brought different vegetation and geology. The wind and water have created patterns in the land as well as patterns of habitation. The stark surreal beauty of hoodoos gave way to gently sloping hills and meadows with aging cottonwoods in the washes. Wide rivers with flood plains are still flanked by cotton fields….so many spindly dry stalks with puffy white marshmallow tops. Red clay roads are cloaked in kudzu and draping moss, the stars in the night sky and the moonlight through the pines (Thank you Ray Charles) the only relief from growing claustrophobia.
Our interaction with this earth, our home, reveals so much about us. Rolling across 21 states in four days has left my mind spinning….and working to find ways to return to each of them and discover the Enchantment, the Smiling Faces, and The South’s Warmest Welcome. I can’t wait to photograph as I am in these places.
Here’s a selection of photos from my phone, using a couple of applications from Best Camera and Hipstamatic. Fun.
Very cool shots. Interesting processing too. On another note… that sure is a lot of tea 🙂
Wil
when you first mentioned an airstream, i imagined you on the road, but your words created a far more delicious, colorful, and engaging image than i conjured. like all of your posts, this one sucks me right into who and where you are.
your talent for words is equal to your photographic gift. ride on, keron, and write about every sign, dust particle, and or strip mall. those who find this blog will be in for quite an adventure.
thanks.
Hi Honey and Wil,
Yes, but sweet tea with lemon and sparkling clear ice is the elixir of life! And I’m completely energized for the real road trip to come. With Airstream and With time to shoot. : )
Keron
Love the way you’ve described the landscape – both from an historic and present-day perspective. Perhaps you couldn’t capture all of what you saw and felt with your camera..but you have done so – beautifully – with your words!!!
Hi Marcie,
Thank you so much for checking the blog regularly. You, Honey, Riley, Karen, and all my faithful readers mean so much to me. I’m looking forward to a return journey across the country. I need to go deeper! (and with the camera and time…)
Best,
Keron
Love the feel of these images and the words that accompany them.
Thank you! Coming from a writer/photographer of your caliber this is pretty special! Hugs to you.
k