Botany, Battlefields, and Bolts of Lightning,

The Mr. G needs to get out this weekend. He and I are not spending 2 weekends in town in a row. Nick and I had talked earlier in the week about going out since his wife is in Europe for a little while longer this summer. But where to go?

Nick arrives at the house with McDonald's and we decide to head up to the Rim. That is it. The entire plan for this trip is “Lets go up to the Rim” So away we go.


Our Ride's Navigator, DJ, and man on the spot Nick.

We get to about 20 mile South of Payson and decide to turn off and explore a side road. The road is bordered by these amazing flowers that tower at least 10ft in the air on either side.


Very Cool

Navigator Nick has the Arizona Gazetteer out and before you know it he is saying that around the next big corner are Indian Ruins! Whoo hoo the adventure begins. Only thing is we can't find them. Nothing on this road except a local cemetery and a junk yard. Funny how those Indians built ruins in a area that was destined to be home of other dead stuff 400 years later. Reminds me of Florida but I agree to go explore the area some more. Pretty soon we come to a meadow with some cool flowers.


Nick of course didn't bring a camera since he figured ......I have no idea what he is thinking since he knows I usually ALWAYS have a camera with me. Taking pity I hand him my Nikon. He is off and takes a picture of me in the meadow


These flowers are amazing and I soon realize that I have no clue what I am taking pictures of. Note to self get a botany book.


I keep finding old fence posts in the West fascinating to photograph. They may be the closest thing to Zane Gray out here.

We better get a move on it since we have no where to go. We duck into the Payson Walmart for some nutritious snacks and some batteries. Here we meet Michele the unhappy checkout girl in the world. We offer to let us come with us on our adventure, but alas there are people with pop tarts behind us and her sense of duty prevails. I hope she gets happy soon.

We climb the rim on 87 and turn right at Forest Service 300 and venture into the back country. First on the list of must sees is Potato Lake. We have no idea what Potato Lake is even but it must be seen.

As we drive I spy a cool looking log in a meadow with some yellow flowers So much for the push to Potato Lake at all costs. There is Botany to look at!


The log with Yellow Flowers turns out to be a treasure chest


We find a whole hosts of little guys hanging out around the yellow flowers.


Very Worthy Stop

We press on and as we turn a corner we are missed by centimeters (almost Picometers) by a ATV riders who thought he was in the Baja 1000. The turn to the left is not really tight, but the hill side and the trees make the sight lines maybe 20 yards tops. The ATC is going about 40-50 miles an hour on a track about 10 feet wide covered in gravel that has more in common with marbles then sticky tarmac. Now I ride my motorcycle very fast. Some have called me insane, others even stupid. But even when I had the GS I never went flying down dirt roads where I couldn't see beyond where I could stop. This guy would have been dead, or worse Nick and I could have been hurt by him flying into the cabin of the Trooper. He slams on the brakes, I jam my foot on mine and try and get the Mr. G over to the side of the road. He only at the last possible instant guns the motor and power slides out of harms way. We shake it off, but both of us joke for several minutes to let the adrenaline subside.

We only linger at Potato Lake for a minute and then head back down to the East along the Rim. I stop the Mr. G in a dense part of the forest as some other flowers and undergrowth catch my eye. Taking pictures in dense woods is difficult. I want to get a sense of it here in Arizona before I set off for the Giant Redwoods of California later this year.


The Mr G. looks good in the woods.


Now I have a chemist friend in Utah that loves to take pictures of flowers. The big difference between Jan and I is he has a clue of what kind of flowers he is photographing.


They are worthy though

While waiting for Nick to get back from exploring the area I talk to a nice couple who tell me of a monument to a battle from the Apache Wars of the 1880's. It seems that if we go down Forest Road 123 we will come to it. This is something I have to go see! They tell me that if I get to the other monument on the main road we went to far. Nick is in the minute I tell him there is a battle field up here.


We drive through the area and only encounter the odd beast now and then. Nick and I discuss the possibilities that we tend to have less issue eating things that are dumber.

We find 123 and after a little exploring the end of the road we find the monument in the woods.


Not the best picture but it seems that some Apaches from the San Carlos Reservation tried to ambush some soldiers.


I am surprised by the number of soldiers who fought here. They don't name the Indians.


I need to do some more research on this.


Photo BY NICK PURZER (on my Nikon)
One of the Rock Nests


I don't think that the 3rd Calvary was wearing shorts during the battle either

We pull out of here thinking about what it would have been like back then. The guy told me that there is a headstone of one of the soldiers out here but we don't find it. Oh well we still have about 30 miles to go on dirt and I hear the first rumble of thunder in the distance.


Photo By NICK PURZER
The Rim Road goes along the edge of the Colorado Plateau. I won't bore every one with a geography lesson, Nick catches our hero taking a panorama of the vista made possible by a fire from several years back that cleared the forest.


Don't let the blue sky fool you from the shot above looking South. Turning around I see that we are in for some weather before going to much farther. In fact I am really a bit nervous that we could get stuck if the washes fill up.


Nick's sense of urgency is somewhat less then mine.


The sky gets darker but at the same time very beautiful.


But in just a few moments we are reminded that it is also not something we have any control of. I do like taking pictures of lightning though...worthy

We roll on down the road and into steady but not major rain. The Mr G slides a little but he is in 4High so nothing too bad.


Nick does manage to fix the GPS since we are bouncing around a bit. That MIT teaches a full course on bungees I bet.

As we drive out and back down to the pavement, the temperature has gone from 80 to 55 and we have a good rain all the way down the rim into Payson. We had noticed on the way up a big sign in Sunflower advertising a Topless Cabaret in Payson. This sign is new to me but I have been wanting to post a sign of the place for some time.


The owner really needs to get the Marketing for Dummies book if he hopes to make a go of it.

We decide to just push on back to the house and not have dinner in Payson. As we ride home the traffic is light and we reflect on a great day that took us nowhere.


What better way to top off the evening then with an all American Meal. Oh and now that Budweiser is owned by the same company as Spaten, I feel just as patriotic drinking it as Bud.

See ya all next time.

Next Steps in the Evolution of Tommy's Universe

Over the past few months this Blog has turned from a place to just post my riding adventures into sort of a extension of my desire to be a person who participates in the Arts. The Arts to me have a special meaning. It is for me a way to get closer to something cosmic. What that is is really not all that important to me as the quest to strive and touch it. 

As I evolve my storytelling/photographic medium further, I please share this site with anyone you think might enjoy it. It would mean a lot to me to have some folks enjoy and even critique my little corner of the Arts. I am also going to start taking my pictures and stories from the net and trying to see if anyone likes them in real life and wants to purchase a print or publish them in the real world. 

 
I hung up the bag for the most part this weekend. 

 
The Epson 3800 is a great printer for my next steps. It can print large sized pictures at a professional quality level. It weighs 43lbs.

 
The images are worthy to say the least and with some help from my pals, I get the settings down to print the big prints. 

So next up was a great adventure to learn how to matte pictures and frame them. I have been toying with doing this for some prints around the house. But now, I want to get some of my prints out and about here in town so I need to get serious about learning the do's and don'ts. 

Talking to other Artists is both fun and a bit of a challenge for me right now.  I know my pictures are good.  But other then here, few have seen them.  Will they look good framed and matted?  So off I go to Arizona Art Supply and within a few minutes Lindsay the girl in the shop is teaching me all sorts of great things about framing and matting.  This once again proves the theory if you aren't in the pool you can't swim.  I come home with materials to last me a few weeks and start to get ready.  

First off the frames I am using are ones that have images in them.  They just aren't my images.  Fixing that is going to be step one.  Then I need to tell myself.  Measure 200 times then cut.  Twice never works for me.  

First out of the gate is the Wagon Wheel from last weekends printing workshop. Thanks again Scott!  It is not a great matte job but I know I can do this.

 
This shot from the Ouray trip looks great printed though this picture doesn't do it justice

 
Each frame is about 17x22 and so far each one is getting better. But let me tell you, cutting with hand cutter is not easy!!

 
As the day progresses, I am working on more dramatic colors. Most of the prints though will have a traditional white matte for now.

 
A better shot of the deer and shows how two look together

Anyway, I think the next few weeks will have a few more worthy tales to share. In the works are some trips around Arizona, and maybe even beyond a little bit.

Thanks again for all the great feedback. It means a lot to me.

The Ouray III Experience Tour Part 3, Clouds and Armstrong Wannabes

Clouds:

From Wikipedia:
“A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals floating in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth or another planetary body. A cloud is also a visible mass attracted by gravity (clouds can also occur as masses of material in interstellar space, where they are called interstellar clouds and nebulae.)”

Ok so that meaning isn't what I see when I look up and see clouds. I see shapes, mythical creatures, condo's for Angels, and even sometimes the weather. In my mind the greatest clouds anywhere are in New Mexico. Second to NM is Southern Colorado. I am not talking about the feathery kind, but the cotton ball pasted on a blue sky that takes your breath kind. Nothing like seeing a summer storm come together in the San Juan Mountains.

Today we still have the jeeps and are planning on taking them out the other direction up to Yankee Basin and maybe even Telluride if we have the time. It is Sunday and the traffic is light but there is a rumor that we will see about 1600 bicycle riders in the part later today.


We will see some weather today. The story is in the clouds. They seem to just need some Bach, or maybe Guns and Roses piped in to make the mood seem even more dramatic. Unfortunately Monty the Tyrannical Jeep Driver refuses to allow music in his Jeep. In the name of team unity I don't turn the Ipod on. I do start humming as a form of protest though he doesn't seem to notice.


The peaks to the East are clear for the moment


This area looks like it is straight out of a Coors Commercial.


From the Rockies to your Fridge....Code Blue. I marvel as I look about as to how effective Marketing can be on the consumer. I mean I should be thinking of Ansel Adams, John Muir, even Heidi Klum(hey, its my blog), but instead I am thinking of that old dude named Coors.


Nothing is more annoying to a 4x4 Driver then to think you have managed to man handle your vehicle in places where no sane man has gone before. Worse we are all off road motorcyclists who just stare when we come upon this guy at the END of the trail. At least it wasn't a Prius or I would know it is the work of the Devil


You know if I didn't know better I would tell you that the clouds coming in from the other side of the valley look a lot like snow. It is June though so I know that it is just probably some rain.


I should have paid more attention in Meteorology class.


No fear, we are in a Jeep!!


This is why I am an Armed Socialist. You never know when you will come upon yokels who only see things in Black and White, riding around in Yellow Jeeps. Using diminutive linguistic communication techniques, I convince him that I am harmless and not a threat to his world. He moves along none the wiser. They really are quite harmless if you keep a safe separation distance and never get in between them and an AM radio.


This ladder on the wall caught my eye. Amazing the extremes that people go to in the name of prospecting.


There is so much beauty in Colorado. The views around every corner holds wonderful sights. I have to spend more time here next summer exploring the area. Monty speaks of a winter expedition to the region. This may be a great place to explore around Christmas.


Wow a glacier!


The smallest things have beauty as well


This seems to capture the cycle of life to me. The forest never stops.


Ok this road has some interesting topography to get through. Monty does a wondrous job getting us back down with only minimul loss of life


We do have the occasional guest on the road to look out for as we get closer into town.

We get to the main road and have to wait as about 30 bicyclists come down the hill having just ridden from Durango.


They took over the local park with their tents.

Now I am a big guy. I can get along with almost anyone but for some reason bike riders always have this peleton mentality and refuse to converse with those who are not part of the race. I have noticed this several times but as we go to the restaurant they are not the most friendliest people. Oh well their loss.


It was right about here that I became convinced that Bullet fit in with our merry band of Loonies


The next morning comes to quickly and as usual I am the first one up and make a dash out of Ouray before first light. I get to Telluride as the sun is rising over the hills. I take a few pictures including this one of a herd of Elk near Mt Wilson. It is cold, I get snowed on, and yet as I pull into Cortez an hour later it is already 75 degrees. Before I pull into the garage at home this afternoon, I will see 114 degrees making this the biggest temperature change I will experience on the motorcycle to date.


The Final Tale of the Tape. 1438 miles of wonderful experiences. Not sure where I am off to next but stay tuned!

Printing Pictures in California with the Master

Ok, so I am behind on getting the last of the Colorado pictures up. I will do that tomorrow once I get some things done here at the house. Over the past two days I have been in California learning how to take the next step in my personal journey of writing and photographing the worthy universe. My pal and over all great photographer, zen master, and number one husband to a wonderful artist Scott Adams allowed me the chance to go print some of my work on good printers.

What I learned in this short time was not just about making a print that will sell, be seen in a gallery, or be worthy, but that without friends who care about what you do as much as Scott and Patricia showed me, you might as well find a fast train to sit in front of.

This is his post which shows what we were up to that he has allowed me to paste here. .

"My Uber-worthy-friend arrived yesterday, gifts in hand, and loaded to the gills with computers, cameras, and most important -- image files!

We spent the afternoon discussing the relative merits of various image processing software, talking about style, photographic instincts, and how to get a mental picture into a camera and then out of a printer looking like our "vision" of the scene before us. I don't have to tell you peoples who frequent this place that Tommy has great instincts for photography, and his passion about it has accelerated his learning and experience curve so quickly that a lot of us are jealous.....

Well, in person, it quickly became apparent to me that he's on the road to real artistry, and that those "apparent" good instincts really are fabulous and natural, and almost unconscious in his way of seeing. You can't teach someone to see... teaching them not to let the equipment get in the way is easy!

So... up early this morning.... infused with our drug of choice....




Two-shocks begins the process of selecting, editing....




Decisions, decisions....



Meanwhile... from the bowels of the giant machine... LARGE prints begin to emerge....



When I told him that only "perfect" prints get to leave "Studio-de-Couch" facilities, he seemed a bit perplexed... especially when I made him rip the offending "non-perfect" print to shreads... but just look at the one in his right hand!



Someone looks happy with his work!





The kid is a natural...

Now we readily admit that none of this is as much fun as, say, a 12k service on a K1200GT... but we'll just have to suffer.

_________________________

Twas a good day's work....

Worthy, Tom, worthy....

_________________________

Our last print of the day, and a fitting "parting shot," is this glorious panorama. This photo proves the maxim that good photos are often, "F/8 and be there!"



Tom, thanks for spending time with us, sharing your photography and life with us...."

Scott and Patricia, I really wish that we lived closer as I do with most of my good friends. The ride home last night got me into a pretty good storm.

This was just outside of Tonopah around midnight last night. Best kind of 4th of July you could ask for.