Our RV Movie Experience

You don't even want to know how the wind caught our 20' awning on the first day of our 2 week vacation going 65 mph down the highway right outside of Dodge City through the central plains. To make a long story short… 
Standing at each end of the awning with our arms in the air, we both try to hold the support poles stead in 30 MPH wind staring at each other dumbfounded. It had uncoiled about three feet and appeared locked in that position. Tension builds (in each of us). Duct tape for a few miles. Well maybe 2 miles. Then more duct tape. We find a building in town to block the wind. Climbing the short ladder an attempt is made to get it to recoil. Not budging. The tall ladder is drug out and he climbs up to the top. I follow intrepidly. It's now obvious the whole thing is bent out on one end by 2'. I say let's just cut it off. We do it without a second thought. We disassemble as much as possible. Lucky for us it's Labor Day and no one is around to see us leave that 20' monster beside a nearby dumpster.
Thus, our first 'RV movie' experience.

If my phone had been in my pocket, I would have sneakily set it on mute, grabbed a few shots of the 'trash' so as not to aggravate an already agitated man. But all that remains are a few bolts that were in my pocket from an attempt to dismantle it from the top.

This was our first 'real' trip in this 'bus'. We previously had a few overnighters in the church parking lot where hubby's folks live and a 2 nighter in Amarillo. This wasn't a great way to start a 2 week trip across the country. We really didn't need that awning anyway and we were fortunate it did no damage.

A Prayer for 2015

As I photographed from the car window on the long drive from North Dakota to Texas I began to hear these words…
For you my friends…

May your faith be strong.

May your shelter be adequate.

May you find provision on every path.

May the majority of your battles be downhill.

When you find yourself in the lowest of valleys, may you see the beauty hidden there.

May you keep the company of like-minded souls and have much support on your journey.

May confusion and the opinions of others not distract you from your intentions.

May you never lose sight of your goals.

May you not be afraid to stand out in the crowd.

May the mountains before you part as you move forward.

May closed doors open in due season.

May you find strength and power.

May no boundaries keep you from achieving your dreams.

And remember, however you get there,

...enjoy the journey.

Linking up with Kim for Friday Finds.

Texture Tuesday August 12

Yes, the grass appears greener on the other side. It's most certainly taller.
Taken while cruising the backroads near Terrell Texas.

Textured with kk_achieve.

I used my Cool Faded Peonies Lightroom preset to edit these last two.

Sorry folks, no still life, no flowers today. Aren't they sweet?

Join us over at Kim's for Texture Tuesday.

Santa Fe Road Trip- First Stop

A road trip was planned.  Two girls from Texas would meet up with one girl from Kansas in the beautiful city of Santa Fe, New Mexico. 

Cameras and food in laps, they headed out.

While approaching the city limit sign of Melrose NM, the passenger squeals! The Big Year! The movie! The Big Year!

She's a bird maniac. The driver blames her for the new infatuation.

After a google search and pretty good directions, they drive past and promptly turn around. A very unsuspecting small (appearances are deceiving) grove of trees just off the side of the road. This is the Melrose Trap? 

You can see why they drove right past. But it's a migratory stop off to hundreds of different species of birds. A birder's delight.

As they got closer the car was dwarfed by the huge cottonwoods. Yes, so very big. 

One lone pickup truck was there, a man and his quiet dog. Who takes their dog to look for birds?

A lot of the large trees were dead, which gave them great character. The girls walked out toward the east, cautious for snakes, and had a great view of the large cottonwoods. 

The young trees were bent from years of wind. No, this is not a hill.

The driver photographed the trees. The passenger looked for birds.

There were quite a few rock structures which led them to believe a house once stood there.

The driver also photographed some wildflowers and dead stuff.

 And other things.

 This was the view from the other side looking to the northeast.

By this time the bird man and dog had left so the girls ventured back into the trees. They found the bird watching chair and what little water was available. 

Perhaps that was why only three species of birds were spotted that day. The Eastern Kingbird with it's yellow breast and playful manner. (The driver is not very good at getting sharp bird photos, sorry)

The American Kestral was beautiful when it flew.

And possibly a bushtit.

It was a good first stop for this photo trip.

Linking up with Helen for Weekend Walks.

Friday Finds Oct 4

Another road trip to Amarillo this past Monday. This time early enough to find some awesome morning light. Good thing hubby was driving this time so I could snap away. 

Hope you won't be too bored. Most people hate this 2 hour drive across the FLAT plains. But I think the theme of the month is 'seeing', so this is what I see.

All photos are SOOC (straight out of camera) except one. I was intrigued that I was able to capture some that looked good enough not to touch up at all. I didn't even crop them so don't be too critical. Shutter speed at 500 or 750 for the morning shots.

 Rarely do I catch an interesting animal shot speeding down the highway.

I love prairie grass. Nearly as much as I love sunflowers. Especially when the light shines through it.

 A random flag.

 Did a little adjusting on this one with the old truck.

 Did I mention I love prairie grass? Especially the white gold this time of year. The only thing that could have made it better would be a stormy dark blue sky.

 I was glad TXDOT hadn't mowed yet.

On the way home the evening light was good to me. I stayed in Amarillo far longer than was planned and I was glad.

 I drove by myself, so I stopped whenever I felt like it. Even on the interstate.

As I passed by this I slammed on my brakes and looked around. No one was coming up the access road so I put it in reverse and backed on down the road so I was straight East of the 'pond'.

 Sometimes I feel very brave. Even the mosquitoes didn't threaten me much although they could have carried me away.

I love to shoot:

Trees (mostly dead ones)

Grass

Clouds

Old structures

Old vehicles

The really best part was cruising the antique shops on Route 66 with my friend Barbara. We found some cool stuff!

Three link ups today.

Friday Finds

Random Five Friday

Weekend Walks