Northeastern New Mexico
I'm not misanthropic, usually, but I love taking the back roads on my solo photo road trips and staying away from people. I've mentioned before that traveling on the blue highways made famous by William Least-Heat Moon is restorative and contemplative and suits my deliberative photo style.
I'll post some of my favorite lonely road shots below. This is the way you can come along with me, I don't have a shotgun seat available. It's nothing personal, I made a custom camera and lens shelf to have my gear ready at a second's notice. I love you, but absence being made fonder is a good thing too. (That link shows the cam shelf and Freaky's cousin, Kinky, on loan from Deven, who travels to friends a bit like Flat Stanley, and dates back to my first solo photo road trip.)
So here follows some of my favorite lonely road shots, with just a few notes of explanation. You're welcome to come along here on OS with me.
Meteor Crater road, northeastern Arizona. The uplift in the distance is the surrounding ejecta from the crater.
Driving up to the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park, the same road that our own OS Blake Mitchell described as his Stupidest Run Ever.
On the way to the base of Mt. Sneffels in the San Juan Mountains for a picnic. This is not far from some property we own near Ouray and Telluride.
On the way to Shiprock.
Still on the way to Shiprock.
Shiprock, bedsprings and beer bottles.
Turkey vulture looking for road kill in west Texas.
Petrified Forest lonely road. This is a stitched panorama, you can see a larger version of this here.
Hamblin highway, State Road 207 at the southeast corner of Palo Duro Canyon near the panhandle of Texas. Larger version is here. This is a recent revisiting of this favorite place of mine. The previous visit, less stormy and in much different light is shown below.
Larger one here.
I'll end with another view of Mt. Sneffles, viewed from a point closer to our property. Our land is up on a mesa about a 1000 feet higher than the little town down below to the left in the picture. Ridgway has some 700 souls in it, and I want to be there—often. Larger view of this one is here. It's large, 8,600 pixels wide, but you can see a hot air balloon above Ridgway in the larger panorama.
Thanks for coming along.
Oh, a few more lonely road shots are on a couple of galleries I keep online, found here and here.
all images copyright © 2007, 2008, 2009 by barry b. doyle • all rights reserved
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jackburns
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Comments
I really need to get out west sometime!
I really love your shelf. I would like to have something similar to hold sippy cups, slurpees and rocket launchers, but The Man insists on riding in the front.
(thumbified for sharing)
Your photography takes my breath away.
Buffy, you really are so full of wonderful affirmation, thanks for those words.
Owl, I love abandoned buildings too, so many stories waiting to be told in abandoned buildings. Our OS photographer friend kmbearden has some great shots of abandoned places.
Makes me want to go on a nice solo road trip. Soon.
Kisses,
Marcela
Thanks Rob. That shot stands ok as a smallish shot, but when viewed at full resolution, there must have been some camera shake as the turkey vulture is a bit out of focus. But I like the cut road in the sandstone and the composition of looking off to the infinity point too. Thanks for always stopping by Rob.
Thanks Marple...glad you came by too!
Stella, we have a special photo bond that I love, and thanks for your lovely words.
Steve, I'm glad, in a way, I am able to evoke that in you. I'm sorry for the longing that can't be fulfilled right now, but I'm touched that my stuff brings that out.
Thanks Lea, it is indeed rich. The areas are so vast, that sometimes it takes some effort to notice the beauty.
Thanks Suzn, you should go! And yes, the banner is a shot of mine of Long House at Weatherhill Mesa in Mesa Verde National Park. That shot uses a technique called Tilt Shift. I did a tutorial on that as an OS post, found here and I have a collection of tilt shift photos, including more of Mesa Verde, found here. Thanks again!
Thanks Marcela! I love that balloon too.
John, I have a cousin who was a vegetable farmer in Lincolnshire on the east coast of England. When he visited our other relatives down on the south coast near Devon, he felt claustrophobic from the hills and said he needed to get back where he could see miles and miles without anything in the way. I love the big sky scenes too, and our place in Colorado has both, fortunately.
Barry I am about to do a roadtrip too - not solo though, and we plan on photos and drawings to document our adventures. I am inspired!
Oh, and Suzn, in re the banner photo, if you go to this NPS PDF map, found here, you'll see in the lower left part of the map, the Wetherhill Mesa (the correct spelling, not the way I spelled it before) you'll see the point on the trail where I took the banner shot, from the Long House overlook to the south and across a small canyon from Long House.
I have two requests:
#1 - Can you do a shelf for a CR-V? If so, I'd love one. I'd pay a fair price for it, too.
#2 - If I am quiet as a church mouse and sit in the back, can I go with the next time? :)
Rated for solo road trips and the power of thoughtful journeys.
Great pics!
Dawn at Prada Marfa: http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=145113
Contrabando: http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=158939
A town called Marfa: http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=188009
The MobileMe gallery was a treat to find. I've bookmarked it. It's got so many of the images you've been sharing with us over these months going on years.
I thought the first image was Photoshopped for a minute there, because there isn't a road in our fair state with that good paving or striping.
Thanks for coming by, I love your state.
Marcelle, thanks again for some lovely words. (I love your avatar--what a beauty)
Blake, happy to give a shoutout to a terrific story and an amazing run. Thanks for coming by.
Smithery, it was one of my favorite books, and thinking on the road is what it's all about.
Maria, congrats on the move, I love southern Colorado and northern New Mexico.
Fabflam, I've only ever been to Little Rock, and took some rather pedestrian shots of the famous library there and some bridges. You can see that set here. I hope to get back on a leisurely road trip.
Thanks Lainey
Thanks Stim, it is amazing to feel that contrast, thanks for picking up on that.
Mamoore, would that be Sherman WY by any chance? I have a standing invitation to play a round of golf at Pronghorn? I should follow up on that. Your world just changed drastically. Do you stay up there in the northern reaches till after the snow flies?
Lulu, I'm so happy you like the images. Traveling with Kinky was indeed a trip. I got these instructions when Kinky arrived:
The following instructions came with Kinky Troll:
How To Care For Kinky Troll
-Do not fall asleep before she does
-She prefers tea to coffee
-She loves blue cheese dressing on everything--and by "Everything", I mean Everything
-Do not put knickers on her (she gets ugly)
-DO NOT, DO NOT let her near the mini-bar
-Do lick her feet
-Keep the hole in her foot clean
-Don't mention lifestyle parties
-Don't let her see your nipples
Sandra, I sent you a private note to thank you. You're embarrassingly rich in your praise.
Zuma, thanks so much for the lovely words.
Sarah, I just read your piece. You really do get it. Thanks. Folks, you should all scurry over to Sara Pennebaker's blog and read the story about her grandfather. Seen here.
Thanks Silkstone. It's funny: My just previous post, the one about the Cadillac Ranch, took me days to complete when you consider all the work I also had to do with the photography and prepping them for that post, and this one I sat down and whipped out amid some serious distractions this morning...go figure. And thank you very much for the compliments.
kmb, of all the Verbal Remedy inspired avatars, I think yours is the best. I like that shot too. I have some good ones of the crater itself, I'll have to post those too.
Thanks Maria!
Emma, you are welcome, especially you. Thanks.
JRD, ha! yeah, I wish I got better mileage, but I love my little Honda, it's a great compromise and it does so many things very well.
(Don't give her my address)
Rated / Cool.
Beautiful!.....
Carol
Thumbed. Fantastic as always.
I adore that area up by Ouray.
And you do great sky, friend, as always.
Isn't America Beautiful?
xxoo
reminded me of:
"Dig a big pit in a dirty alley road
Fill it with madrone and bay
Stinks like hell and the neighbors complain
I don't give a hoot what they say
Turn that hog, roll him over nice
Baste him with a sweeping broom
You got to swat them flies and chain up the dogs
Cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog
cookin' up a Filipino Box Spring Hog"
- Tom Waits, Mule Variations
[checkitout!]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu-_7NHd3Oo