TEXAS HUMIDITY

In June I set off for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex to document some of the railroads there. My first afternoon was spent on an overpass just south of Tower 55, which is now off limits and patrolled. Eventually a police car pulled up and a lady officer, who seemed to think it was funny, told me that I'd been reported as a suspicious character and a probably threat to Homeland Security. We chatted about what I was up to, the patrol car mostly blocking traffic, then she asked if the white SUV was mine, which it was. She told me the area was not really nice, the cops called it crack alley and I perhaps might like to consider not being there after dark. So after considering it, I went and found a motel and considered the next day. After more Tower 55 I ended up in Saginaw, 7 or 8 miles north of downtown Fort Worth. Watching TV that night I was, ah, interested, to find that I was in the tornado warning area! Sitting trackside at Saginaw the next day I couldn't see across the tracks for the rain, and the day was mostly worthless. After the storm moved through, it heated up again and the humidity became almost intolerable. After driving to Dallas and finding the Trinity River bridge, I got set up and discovered that my camera declined to function due to condensation. So I spent the next hour in the car with the heater on full trying to dry it out. Late afternoon the storm clouds showed up, so I packed up and set off back to the motel in Saginaw. It took two hours on the freeway to cover the 34 miles! All in all, it was reasonably interesting, but oh, the humidity!

From Dallas I set off to Columbus, Ohio to pick up my wife at the airport for a visit with our oldest son and his wife, and of course our grandchildren. I got to spend an hour on top of the parking garage watching the planes until my wife arrived, then off we went to see our grandson for the first time, and I got to practice child photography with my new camera. After the visit I dropped my wife off at Columbus International and went to Marion, a couple of hours north of Columbus. Chris joined me the next morning, and went home the following morning, and I set off home the morning after. Marion was interesting, decent amount of traffic and variety, and only a two day drive home. I got to Socorro, New Mexico the first day, and from there it's only 400 miles home!

Fort Worth & Dallas, Texas

Marion, Ohio

Grandkids

A TRIP TO NORTH DAKOTA

We had to attend the wedding of our niece at the International Peace Gardens between Manitoba and North Dakota at the beginning of July, 2009. Since it was our niece, my wife flew up to Minot to help her sister get ready, and I, being too cheap just to go anywhere, set off to shoot BNSF on the old Northern Pacific line across North Dakota. After leaving Tucson about 6 am, I spent the first night 850+ miles later in Castle Rock, just south of Denver, Colorado. I have made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming (1005 miles) in a day, but I guess age is creeping up on me and I don't really feel like doing that any more. I set off for Glendive, Montana, the start of BNSF's Dickinson Sub, next morning and arrived early afternoon after driving up through the Powder River coal fields, seeing a reasonable number of trains on the way. I spent a couple of weeks shooting my way across the state, ending up at Casselton, west of Fargo and the end of the Jamestown Sub. The Badlands were interesting, and I got to meet a couple of BNSF MoW employees, the first being somewhat aggressive! I'm quite entertained (after the fact) that they seem to know to an inch where the property line is (your tripod is trespassing). This one told me, in addition the the usual Department of Homeland Security, need permission to take pictures of trains, trespassing etc, that I was obviously up to no good since my car doesn't have plates! Arizona is a one plate state and thus no plate on the front. So he walked over to my car and put the tailgate down to check if I had a rear plate. A while later his supervisor showed up to check me out, but was a good deal more polite. Otherwise there were no problems on the trip, mostly excellent weather and my car didn't do anything it shouldn't. We had a good time at the wedding, catching up with a number of in-laws and nieces and nephews. I did get stopped for speeding on the way back to the hotel after the wedding, and got to sit in the front of a state trooper's car while he checked me out. Since I was well dressed, sober and polite, and have a clean record, I got off with a warning. After dropping my daughter off at Minot airport at 4 am, I set off for home. I didn't realize it until well in to the drive home, but the big Sturgis bike festival was going on and North Dakota was FULL of motor bikes. I made it to Castle Rock again, and was home the next day.