Meltdown
As usual, the winter was marked with the HOV Lane’s seasonal snow fall on this site.
It seemed clear Spring was on its way as I enjoyed a chorus of frogs ribbit in Calvert City, Kentucky way back in the first week of February. Just didn’t believe it.
With the end of the snow fall here, it is officially Spring here in the HOV Lane.
Hope your year is off to a great start!
A Sign of Character
During my recent “trucker” road trip, I saw a great billboard. Unfortunately, I could not tell what they were selling, otherwise I would properly attribute the following copy:
Learn To Lead. Lead To Learn.
Provocative, indeed.
Keep On Truckin!
I have dreamed of driving a big rig from coast to coast just one time in my life. In fact, you could say it has been on my bucket list. As dreams go, it was pretty impractical. A commercial driver’s license would be required, which is a significant investment of time and money.
Then, an opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago. In respect of everyone’s privacy (including the client’s), I’ll avoid specific details.
A couple of great friends of mine own a promotional agency. They had landed a project to pick up promotional displays from over 400 locations throughout the US over the period of a couple of weeks. Luckily, I was one of the people they called.
As they put it, “Josh, you are a road warrior. You’ve driven all over America. This is right up your alley.” I was grateful they thought of me and that they shared the opportunity. While not the type of work I usually do, it was of great interest. What a would be a wonderful departure from the usual?!! Little did they know, I’ve always wanted to do this sort of thing at least once. Hopefully, they know I greatly appreciate any business opportunity.
So, I was tagged to be one of the drivers. I drove a GMC C7500 26 foot truck. I’d like to thank of Scott of RustyPants.net for sharing this photo. Scott took the above photograph for an article on his blog, RustyPants.net, about their move to Pensacola. He did a great job visually conveying the truck’s significant size don’t ya think?
To me, it was a monster truck. I’ve had the opportunity to drive this size truck in the past, but never over such a long distance. If you’d like to buy one for yourself, Trucker.com and General Truck Sales have various models for sale.
The route was 65 locations in 4 states, which racked up just under 5,000 miles through 9 states from Atlanta, Georgia to Miami, Florida and back up to Madison, Wisconsin.
We had a long way to go and a short time to get there.
It was 2 weeks of non-stop fun. Although, there was no time for anything else but driving, loading… and, driving some more. I drove by so many friends. I so wish I could have caught up with them. In the end, the truck was chock-full-o’-displays.
While not a big rig, this was pretty close to my original dream. 5,000 miles is actually further than going coast-to-coast. So, I consider it done. Now, it is back to my usual work.
I have a great deal of respect and appreciation for those men and women who do this for a living. Their wheels rolling keeps America running. Thanks for all you do. Keep on truckin’!
Happy New Year
I hope your year is off to a great start!
Took the above shot while playing around at a good friend’s birthday celebration at the end of last year. It was festive so it seemed to fit this post. Didn’t have anything from New Year’s Eve to share.
Unexpected Hiatus In 2008
2008 was a great year. I hope it was even better for you!
Although, it turned out to be slow-going in The HOV Lane. The double-whammy of a full-time client commitment coupled with a hacking of this blog’s server left me in an unexpected blogging hiatus much of last year. I kept thinking I’d be able to get the blog up and running again within the next couple of weeks, but these plans didn’t come to fruition. The HOV Lane was stuck in a Level 5 Blog-Jam.
I would like to apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused any of you. Your interest in The HOV Lane means a great deal to me. I hope this hiatus didn’t suggest otherwise.
It is good to be back. I missed it and I missed you.
Don’t usually make new year’s resolutions, but I will in this case. Blog on.
Fight The Snow - Save The World
Earlier this week, it snowed as much as 8 inches in New Orleans and throughout Mississippi. This does not happen.
Global warming may be upon us, but what if there is actually an alternate issue: global snowing. It would be serious because if it is an issue, no one is working to solve it.
What if the snow in Louisiana and Mississippi is a sign the tides are turning? The first inkling of a giant snow wave engulfing the planet? Our world would become a snow globe (actual size). We might be able to survive that.
But, once the earth is an actual size snow globe, you know somebody is going come along and shake us up. They always do.
Fight the snow. Save the world.
Welcome To The Club
I see I’m not the only one who would leave their high-priced tripod in a picturesque setting for a random to gift himself or herself. Turns out, Ellen who writes for Inside Aperture had a similar experience to one of mine when photographing in the Sequoia National Forest a couple of summers ago. Here’s her article.
The point of her article: to keep up with all your gear, routine is key.
I could not agree more. Learned this one the hard way.
I had pulled off the side of a desert highway to photograph the sun dive in the beautiful Sequoia National Forest: Post 1, Post 2. It was an evening of absolute perfection. It was stunning and it stunned me right out of my normal routine. After shooting, I uncharacteristically left my tripod standing away from the car, off the road a bit. Upon nightfall, I packed everything up and hit the road.
The next morning, I stopped to take an early morning shot to discover my tripod was no longer riding shotgun. I instantly knew where it was. At least, where it had been. I frantically drove back into the desert to discover it was gone.
A random had happened upon the tripod and must have decided, “Oh, there’s mypod.”
Lesson learned. I hope.
Leftover Goodies Goalie
A goalie is an intimidating warrior on the ice.
Thanksgiving leftovers are a coveted prize - the sequel with no equal. Indeed, something to be protected.
When an icebox swings open, tasty leftovers become exposed… vulnerable to attack by many-a-random predator. The time they have left is often numbered in minutes, not days.
Even so, I can not be there to guard my stash 24/7. It was time to call in the leftover goodies goalie to disallow those who look to score Thanksgiving leftover goodness. This makeshift goalie mask cover was fashioned by pressing tin foil on one’s face (hope you can see it in this photo).
Can you see the face? Anyone care to share their leftover afterthoughts?
Memory Lane - More
Our rear view mirror can now see more - up to mid-July 2007 is now moved and reposted.
Hope you enjoy.
Welcome to my artist's blog, The HOV Lane. The blog is a clean, freshwater stream of photos (pro & fun) and stories from my travels as a photographer.
With you riding shotgun, we can roll together in the HOV!
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