On The Fly

In this episode - Goin' to California Prt. 2 . . .      "If you ever plan to motor west Travel my way take the highway that's the best Get your kicks on Route 66." If you remember, we left our heroes passing through Flagstaff, Arizona don’t forget Winona, we saw Kingman, Barstow, and San Bernardino . . . Our California trip included Los Angeles, Hollywood, then we cruised north - up Highway One, past Vandenberg Air force Base, through Big Sur, and across to Yosemite National Park. Stunning California landscapes with unparalleled photo opportunities. Smooth sailing until - we pulled into Oakhurst, CA. on Route 41. The Pinto’s tiny four-cylinder engine seemed to be losing power. “We better check the oil. Hmmm, a couple of quarts low.” “Hate to break the news, I’m thinking Yosemite and San Francisco are out of the question. Our California cruising days are over.” We studied the map for the most direct route home.   “How about Las Vegas? This trip has been a gamble ...

  Have you ever owned a “lemon?” An automobile that’s just a bottomless pit of money to keep it on the road. The car I’m talking about is best remembered for it’s propensity to combust in rear end collusions. Yes, you guessed it - the Ford Pinto. We named ours The Mean Green Booger Machine .  Back in the late 1970s my best friend, Nathan, and I decided we would embark on a road trip from Cuba, Illinois to California, to photograph the country. He had a clever idea, “I’m going to take the back seats out of the car and fabricate plywood beds.When the front seats are folded forward we will be able to sleep in the car very comfortably with a backpackers pad and our sleeping bags.” Brilliant! We would save hundreds, well maybe a few bucks, on motel rooms to California and back.  So the renovation began. Seats removed, plywood measured, cut, and 2x2 wood blocks screwed into place to keep the boards from sliding around. Nathan's father owned a Skelly Gas Sta...

In this episode – Over the Rim . . . Early dawn breaks in Arizona; with both arms frantically flailing, I grab to catch my hat. An enormous blast of wind snatched it off my head in a split second. My well-worn "Indiana Jones" style fedora plummets end-over-end hundreds of feet over the rim of the Grand Canyon. Flabbergasted - the moment felt ageless, like a scene from an ole' western movie in slow motion, "Well, there's no way I'll find that hat again!" Tenacity! photo by - Patrick Ball We've just crested Ooh Aah Point on the South Kaibab Trail in the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona. It's a cool crisp morning, and the wind whips through the canyon like a cyclone. You experience slight dizziness and are somewhat giddy from vertigo, afraid to get too close to the rim. The sheer drops plummet over 3,000 feet. But as time passes, you become accustomed to the wind and the comfort and security of the wide multipurpose trail. Magically you're dr...