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.

California

My friend Graham came over from the UK in May, I met him at LAX and we had a few days on Cajon Pass. As usual I was too busy shooting video to take many stills, but did manage a few. The new track is open, traffic seemed a bit down, but there was enough so that we didn't get bored. I was concerned over security, and I'd heard that the inside of Sullivan's Curve belonged to BNSF. However, there were signs near the crossing at Cajon that seemed to indicate that it was actually Forest Service property, so we went and had a look. Security was out and about over the pass, on the new double track, but I made sure the car was well away from the rails, and so were we, and we weren't bothered. Somebody in a pickup was racing around the inside of Sullivan's while we were up on the SP side, and somebody in a Jeep came along, crossed the SP track and sat on the retaining wall alongside the BNSF track, which I thought was perhaps a little foolish. The access road up at Summit is used by dirt bikes and ATV's, so I'm not sure what the trespass situation is there, I figured it was perhaps best not to find out!

After Cajon we set off for the Feather. Satnav and I disagreed, I would have gone down to I10 and up 5, satnav and Graham wanted me to go over Tehachapi and up through Sacramento that way, so since I really didn't think LA would be too much fun during the rush hour, I took their advice. Nothing moving over Tehachapi, but there was probably a good deal less traffic, so it all worked out well. On arrival at Oroville, we checked in to the hotel and then went exploring. After we got over the bridge at Pulga, the car felt odd, and it turned out that we had a flat. It's a royal pain getting the spare out from under the Trailblazer, so we were both filthy by the time it got done. On the way back we found an eastbound, and managed to get a glint shot at James. Dinner was at the brewpub in the Oroville depot, and very nice it was too. Next morning it was off to the tire store, where I had to buy a new tire, since mine had split. I think it was this day that I tripped getting over the crash barrier at the side of the road and landed, hard, on my face. Good thing my glasses are plastic, otherwise I might be blind in my right eye now. Knocked me out for a few seconds, and gave me a good road rash on the side of my face. Gave me a bit of a headache, too. My doctor says that one looses one's abilty to quickly regain balance after tripping as one gets older, had I been 30 years younger it would probably have just been a stumble. 

It had been ten years since I was on the Feather the first time, and the trees have not stopped growing (surprise!). The shot at Keddie is going away, and there is some construction at Clio, which together with new growth is taking that shot away. Some of the shots in the canyon are going away too. Traffic counts are fairly low, but chasing is easy, and we had perfect weather, so we got enough footage for a nice program. After running around, we had a look at the museum in Portola, then set off for Sacramento, where I left Graham, he had a flight to LAX and on to London. Satnav had me take the central route down to Tehachapi and then to Victorville, I would, again, have gone down I5 to LA and on to I10. I spent the night in Banning, and was home by noon the next day.

NEW ZEALAND

My wife and I took a trip to New Zealand at the beginning of April, 2009. It didn't start off particularly well, Southwest was two hours late in departing Tucson, which cut our time in Los Angeles way down, then our luggage took forever to get to the carousel. Then we had to change terminals, and while there was no line at the Air New Zealand check-in counter, there was a good line at security. We were held downstairs for long enough for minor panic to set in, then the line was allowed upstairs, where the x-ray machines are. We were within a dozen or so people from the machine when a teenager with a high school band decided to be clever and made a run for it. X-ray immediately shut down, every security person in range took off after him, and cops by the gross  showed up, the terminal was completely shut down. After about an hour things started to move, I have to assume they caught the kid, and I sincerely trust he didn't make his flight! By the time we got to the gate, boarding was just starting, so we got to walk straight on to the plane.

The flight was uneventful, and we arrived in Auckland at 7:30 am, and eventually took a taxi in to the city to our hotel. Our room wasn't, apparently, ready, but we were able to upgrade and check in! Nice room, we unpacked and went for a walk, then in the afternoon, lying on the bed, we were disconcerted to see a body flying down past our window. Our room was overlooking the Sky Tower, and for a fee you can strap on a harness and plummet 900+ feet down. Or walk around a 3 foot wide walkway with no handrails (but wearing a harness). Late afternoon, getting ready to change and go find some dinner, I discovered I hadn't packed any underwear, so we had to rush off and find a department store! Next day, my birthday, we set off to see Silver & Ballard, a company marketing my programs in New Zealand. We had lunch with all the employees, then Geoff, the manager took us to see the sights. Auckland seems like a very nice place, quite scenic, and we were very impressed with S&B!

Next morning we flew to Christchurch on the South Island. Geoff had suggested we take a look at a couple of the tourist railways, so I'd made some calls, and everybody concerned was very nice to us. I got to ride the engine on the Tranz Alpine Express from Christchurch to Greymouth, except through the Otira tunnel. Then I got to ride back! Margie and I rode the train, I shot from the open generator car, then I spent a couple of days driving out and shooting scenery and trains over Arthur's Pass. We had, I think, four days in Christchurch, I'm not much of a note taker. There was a very nice pub just around the corner from the hotel, and we enjoyed several meals there. Very nice steak and ale pie, and we discovered Tui beer. A tui is one of New Zealand's endemic birds, we saw a couple in Auckland.

From Christchurch we drove down to Dunedin, and stayed at a delightful bed and breakfast. Our accommodation was in a converted sheep shearing barn, and very nice it was too. The Grants, who own the place, live in the other end of the ex barn. There was a real barn on the property, and it was the home of a little owl, who obligingly let us have a look at him. He wasn't overly enthusiastic, but did stay put. The morning after we arrived, I drove in to town and went to see the folks at the Taeri Gorge Railway, who said "Oh yes, we have you down to ride the engine this afternoon". So I had to shoot off back to the farm, pick up the camera and get myself back in to town in time for the train. Because the first part of the railway is on trackage rights over the national railway, I rode the train until the first stop on the Taeri Gorge, then transfered to the cab. The engine crew were very hospitable, so I got to ride the engine back to just before Kiwi Rail's tracks. Next day Margie and I rode out to Middlemarch on a beautiful day. I shot from the rear vestibule through the  spectacular gorge. At the end of the line I took my wife down to have a look at the engine, it was the same driver, so he invited me to ride the engine back down again. Of course I accepted (after getting permission from my wife!). Next day I drove out to get a couple of shots of the train and some scenery, sadly the railway runs through remote, inaccessible country.

I had the next day off, and we went out and did tourist stuff, eventually going on a tour to try to find yellow eyed penguins. We did see a couple, and lots of fur seals, close to a Royal Albatross colony. Good tour!

From Dunedin we drove to Te Anau, the rest of the trip was vacation. We drove down to Milford, stopping at all the scenic bits. To my surprise, the famous view of Mitre Peak is right off the beach. The highlight for us was on the way back, just outside Milford tunnel, where a couple of Kea, New Zealand's alpine parrots, were entertaining the crowds. We took a cruise on Doubtful Sound, hoping for Fiordland crested penguins, but sadly the only one to be seen appeared just after we'd gone inside out of the cold and wet. While in the area, we took some walks in the woods, and took a drive up to Cooktown to check out some "Lord of the Rings" filming locations. From Te Anau we drove up to Twizle (honest!) for the ride out to Mount Cook. We drove down the 50k access road in the afternoon and were rewarded with spectacular views of the mountain, next morning when we drove out it was, as is often the case, covered in cloud. From Twizle we drove to Christchurch, had our last meal in the pub, and next morning flew to Auckland for the long ride home. We enjoyed New Zealand, felt quite at home, and of course cab rides are not to be sneezed at! The beer wasn't bad, either. My thanks to all concerned.

On the way to Mount Cook

Mount Cook

On the way back from Mount Cook