Month: June 2024

As we bounced out of town with the farms and fields along the Clackamas bathed in sunshine, everything seemed just perfect. I had already done some recon and adjusted my plan to exclude stupid things. The world was my….oh…hello woodland fire vehicles! "Sir, this road is closed," the dour docent of the way informed me. My excitement at the back door to my favorite secret lake being finally OPEN was dashed. But no matter! There are plenty of ways to crack an egg and I was ON IT because I had the perfect shoot planned for a bed of woodland moss and wasn't nobody or nothing that was gonna hold me back!

My moss, so recently released from a snowbank, was underwater. Which was the sort of lucky stroke that my ex-wives hate me for because the quick return to the truck with a thought of lunch revealed a slowly-deflating tire, punctured somewhere along the rough and craggy climb up the back door to the back door. A quick patch and a hasty retreat got us to Madras and a real fix and back on the road in less than the time it took to drink an extra-large mocha.

I had planned to bounce into the desert to escape the mid-June rains always brought on by Rose Festival. I hear it snowed on Mount Hood the day after we crossed its southern flank. There was plenty of frost on the ground outside Post, OR as we toured the geographic center of Our Fair State, chasing wild turkeys (the fowl, not the drink) and wildflower blooms in the chilly sunshine. Epic epic epic. As we sat down to review, we were astonished that our little dashes and patches of art-during-roadtrip had somehow yielded a trove of treasures. Let the summer begin! Let's DO THIS!

Technical note: I'd like to thank Dan Webb for outfitting me with a whole new kit that I relied on heavily for this. And of course the opportunity to dive deeply into an education from the inimitable and gracious Zoë Celesta West, who is a goddamned national treasure of arching eyebrows, pose and wit. We manage to meet up every year or so and I spend the rest of the time poring over the pictures to glean the lessons within. '- )