Discovering America
I do my best to be a good father to my two kids. That is why, when my 20 year-old son asked if he could keep the car we bought him for his second semester at college in California, I not only agreed but I volunteered to drive the car 2,900 miles across the country. Note that we did not buy him a Tesla or BMW but a used Kia Soul, a car that might be practical but would not be my first choice to drive across the US. Of course, my motives were not entirely selfless as I planned to take my time and make a photo journey out of the trip. I had always wanted to explore the old Route 66 and this trip would give me a chance to do just that. By the way, you can click on the photos below to get a larger view.
As I planned the trip I used Google Maps extensively. As I digitally researched prospective routes and places to stop, I would often zoom in on various small towns and country roads, places that disappeared and become lost whenever I pulled back to get a bigger picture display of a state or region. It was these “lost” places that intrigued me the most and, as I discovered on my drive, many of these small towns and villages are literally becoming increasingly lost as a changing economy and the development of newer roads has left many of the areas struggling. I could not count the number of abandoned gas stations, empty hotels and closed stores I came across. Still, there was a real beauty to these classic locations and my eye was consistently drawn to them.
The entire drive would be about 41 hours if I did it straight and I tried to make between 5 and 7 hours of “driving progress” per day (350 to 500 miles). My total drive time per day was higher due to the numerous detours I took to find good photo locations. I made hotel reservations one night ahead mostly in “larger” towns like Albuquerque, Joplin, MO and Terre Haute, Indiana. Luckily, I am not much of a “foodie” because the culinary options were generally quite limited where I was staying.
I took one camera body (Nikon D850) and three lenses and there were only a couple times I wished I had another lens with me. I barely used my tripod and I was generally too lazy or rushed to dig my drone out of my bag — probably a wasted opportunity. Each day, I woke up about 4:00AM to get an early start and catch the early light in some small town on the route. Given my desire to shoot during the whole trip, I had to photograph during times of the day where the light was the harshest — not ideal but I made the most out of it. There were some areas that I could have spent several days in.
My favorite shots were mostly in the western states along Route 66 and I found myself shooting less as I moved east although Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana did have some interesting farming communities to photograph and I was blessed with a couple of unexpectedly foggy mornings which added to the mood of my images.
Several people have asked me if I was lonely during the trip and while I missed my family (just in case they read this), loneliness was not a big issue. While I was shooting I was so focused and excited to capture some interesting images that my mind was entirely occupied by the task at hand. During longer stretches of driving on Route 40 and Route 70, I had the delightful company of both Seth Rogan and Barak Obama while I listened to their books on my phone (my first audio books!). At night, I looked at some of the shots I had taken during the day and read a new novel called “The Photographer” by Mary Dixie Carter (highly recommend!). My plan to do some astrophotography in New Mexico was offset by my need to sleep given the early starts to the day.
I generally felt safe although there were a couple of spots like Gallup, NM where I did not linger too long in certain sections of town. The only “touristy” thing I did was stop at a meteor crater in Arizona. I would like to have interacted with more people along the way but I was on the move fairly consistently and did not have too many opportunities.
I certainly gained an appreciation for the immenseness of the country, particularly stretches of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas where there were miles and miles of flat open land. Whereas we complain about a drive of more than two hours as quite “long”, such a drive would be called “going to get some milk” for the folks who live in certain areas I visited. Driving through areas inhabited by Native Americans, I was struck by the very visible poverty and less than ideal living conditions. It will be hard to complain about spotty wifi service after traveling through some of these areas.
When I was working full-time on Wall Street I often thought it would be pretty cool to just get into my car and drive, having the freedom to explore new areas. Guess what? it was pretty cool! To see my seven-day photo journey in just 33 minutes, check out my YouTube channel: “JC Images: Behind the Shot.”
