What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been....

(with apologies to The Dead)

I started my day sort of enraptured with the quality of the light and feeling much better after two days of general weakness and ick.  It was a perfect day for going out with the Nikon and trying to get some pictures.  I tried to figure out a local place I could go, and I settled on a park nearby where an old-fashioned waterpowered mill has been reconstructed.  I dressed myself for climbing over rocks and rills and scuffing around in dirty unheated locations and got in the car.

Driving in photo weather is wonderful, and I needed a road trip today if for no other reason than to knock all the bits and pieces around in my head some.  Sometimes I think best in the car with the music on with the highway unfurling before me.  Today was one of those days.  I have been feeling stagnant lately, and even though I didn't wind up anywhere revolutionary today, just getting some motion helped stir things up.

When I arrived at the park, I found its gates securely locked.  Apparently, it's open Wednesday through Sunday, thank you very much.  Of course.  I sat looking at the rusty padlock a few minutes, gauging my chances of just going over the chain link and getting caught by the people who apparently are the caretakers of the property in their trailer nearby, and I decided to go somewhere else.

I drove aimlessly through a couple of nearby small towns (more on this in a separate blog) before deciding to go to Plan B.  I intended to go to West Point at some point to shoot some of the signs and so forth that I'd seen during Prairie Arts.  As I was driving away from the last of the disappointing tiny scary towns, I headed north. 

Even though it was an hour and a half drive, I enjoyed the time I spent when I got there.  I even got to do a little junkin' at a great place I've only been able to sort of peek in when I've been up there for Prairie Arts.
I worked on the photos when I got home, and of course, I wish I'd taken one or two more, gotten a different angle on this or that, but taking them was fun.  I feel refreshed.  It was worth it.