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Progress to date:
Thursday – Tulsa OK to Oklahoma City OK
Friday – Oklahoma City OK to Shamrock TX
Saturday – Shamrock TX to Tucumcari NM
Sunday – Tucumcari NM to Santa Fé NM
Monday – Santa Fé NM
Tuesday – Santa Fé NM
Wednesday – Santa Fé NM to Albuquerque NM
Motel morning, Shamrock
Colourful, Santa Fé
Junk, Shamrock
Morning shadow, Tucumcari
Autumn near Taos
Workshop, Shamrock
We had all manner of good intentions for our rest day in Tulsa and ended up achieving almost nothing. The weather was wet and the temperature down by a good 10C over the previous few days, so a warm hotel room and some essential catching up was called for.
On Thursday our Toyota Yaris decided that Xmas was near and started lighting up its dashboard with festive looking warning lights signifying low tyre pressure, cold temperatures and finally, a servicing warning. Rather than risk a complete meltdown, we decided to head straight to the car rental office near Oklahoma City’s airport and seek advice as to what to do next.
The answer was a car change, affected by the extremely helpful guys at Hertz. The Toyota being taken off to get some TLC and us leaving only minutes later in a sIightly roomier Nissan. It was quite late by then and we agreed to head for our nearby hotel, rather than fight the mounting rush hour traffic 20 miles into town for some sightseeing. Good move – we checked-in, relaxed for an hour or so, then headed for the grillhouse across the road, a couple of drinks, a fine rib supper and an early night. Worked for me.
Abandoned diner, Newkirk
Yukon Mills, Yukon
Whatever, Chandler
Poster leftovers, Tulsa
Wilkerson’s, Newkirk
Yukon Mills, Yukon
Friday’s run was marked by a series of navigational problems. What should have been an easy exit from Oklahoma City, became an hour long nightmare of wrong turns and mounting marital frustration. Finally, the satnav decided it knew where we were and got us back on track. Just as well, I had twinges of Groundhog Day starting to appear.
Then the EZ66 guide book decided that it was going to be BloodyMinded66 and later still, FuckYou66, such were the misleading directions it gave us. Of course, several areas of roadworks didn’t help, just like in the UK, where miles of motorway (Interstate here in the US) had been coned off, but absolutely no workers were in evidence and even less work was actually going on.
By Sunday, we were both feeling frustrated by the guide book’s willingness to lead us into the unknown. In response, Mrs P set about Googling a solution and soon found a series of satnav routes derived from EZ66, but which didn’t end up in gravel roads going nowhere, or farm roads leading across private property. Wish we’d done this before leaving home.
Desolate, San Jon
You can get there from here, El Reno
Parkersburg
Wilkerson’s, Newkirk
The Blue Swallow Motel, Shamrock
Sculpture, Canyon Road, Santa Fé
Which brings us to Santa Fé, a favourite spot for the next couple of days R&R. I sense some fine food on the horizon…
And there was – fine food that is and all too soon our time in America’s arty pueblo was up and we were back on the road to Albuquerque. More of that next time.
Art Deco and old New Mexico, Santa Fé
Abandoned, Tucumcari
Moonset, Shamrock
Canyon Road, Santa Fé
66 ruminations
A few seconds of thought will probably provide a logical answer to this one. I’ve always found it weird how when driving in the US, a car/van/truck can be behind, filling my rear view mirror, often for a considerable distance, when the next glance in the mirror shows that it’s completely disappeared.
Yeah, I know it will have turned off, but it seems to happen so suddenly; one moment all you can see in the mirror are the chromed slats of a grille and the letters LIBRETE (ETERBIL in the mirror), the next moment, the road behind is completely empty. Even when I don’t recall passing any other roads, or turnings. Odd that.
While in Chicago, I made sure of the sunrise time and was on the streets well before 07:00, in good time to grab some early morning light. By the time we reached Cuba, that had inched closer to 07:15. In Oklahoma City, at 07:00 it was still pitch dark outside. Further west, Shamrock TX only sees the sun from 07:47 tomorrow (Saturday).
Sunrise in Santa Fé today (Monday) is 07:12 – we’re an hour later here as we’ve crossed into the Mountain Time Zone.
America’s road network is great and in the main well maintained. The byways of Route 66 unfortunately don’t enjoy the same level of maintenance and pot holes are everywhere. One I spotted this morning (while making yet another U turn) was so big that I did wonder whether it hadn’t been used to bury the car from the BBC’s drama serial One of us.
On the subject of road surfaces, many, many roads employ concrete slabs, with expansion joints between. Easy if you have an American car with soft springs and soggy shock absorbers, but a European (or Japanese) car generally has much stiffer suspension and so there is a lot of b-dum b-dum b-dum road noise and driving any distance can become a bit of a trial for driver and passenger alike.
Del’s Restaurant, Shamrock
Trump support, Shamrock
Autumn colour, New Mexico
Wind turbines – Route 66
About photographing Route 66; Philippe sent me a blurt after the last post, saying that I should produce more colour images. Well, I’ve done that this time. They are images that I think work well in colour and there’s still some b&w threaded through them all.
Pascal suggested a run up to Hernandez, with a view to recreating Ansel Adams famous moonrise shot. Well, we went to scout the location en route from Santa Fé to Taos yesterday, but it doesn’t look quite like it did in Adams day. Idea binned – see below.
Not quite how Adams saw Hernandez
Once again, most images have been shot with the Fuji X-Pro2, a couple with the X-Pro1. Favourite lens? Still the 23mm f1.4, with the 90mm f2 and 16mm f1.4 coming into use where appropriate – the latter at the Taos Gorge over the Rio Grande.
Junk yard, Shamrock
Breakfast friends, Santa Fé
Rio Grande – Taos Gorge
Rio Grande near Hernandez
Gone, Newkirk
Wilkerson’s, Newkirk
Tow truck, Shamrock
On Route 66
Window, McLean
Scrapyard bonnet, Shamrock
Session expired
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I hope that Trump wins and makes America great again; at places it looks pretty shitty. My 2c.
OMG – I was rather hoping Trump’s vehicle would break down & he’d take it off the road – forever. As one critic put it to me, Hillary is unlikely to set the world on fire if they elect her – but the problem with electing Trump is that he probably WOULD set it on fire!
I do agree with your comment on the appearance of the place, though – there’s too much “neglect”, all over the country, and it’s hard to reconcile those images with the image of America as the world’s strongest economy, the world’s most powerful nation, the world’s greatest democracy. Something is definitely wrong.
Paul’s turn – I am loving your photos, despite those views on a feeling of decay. Colour does do something for a some of them, while B&W works better for others – there’s no “one size fits all”, and that’s pretty normal, wherever you go.
How are you getting on with fine tuning your shots, Paul? – even with a laptop, it must be hard to whack all those photos through Lightroom or Photoshop before you share them. Cleverer people than me do it continuously, while on the move – I always leave it till I get home (I shoot with two cards anyway, so I have backup from the moment I press the shutter button).
It’s interesting seeing what the Fuji produces – the sensor is the same size as my Nikon D7200, but no doubt the processor is different – it’s astounding the quality of the images these cameras produce.
Thanks Pete. Fuji use much the same processor as Nikon, but no anti-moiré filter and a different pixel colour array, which accounts for the difference to the otherwise excellent D7200.
I’m not sure that I understand that last paragraph, Paul. The D7200 doesn’t have an anti-aliasing (moiré) filter, but the D7100 does. That was why I bought the D7200 – the image is sharper, and I rarely shoot anything that would benefit from a moiré filter. But I understand the Fuji produces the sharper shot, anyway – sharper than both the D7100 and the D7200, that is.
Oops. My bad. Not been following the Nikonsphere much recently – been taking crappy, derivative photographs with my Fuji according to one DS reader 😉
Paul, too many wonderful photographs to name them all. The Shamrock towtruck is one. And the moon in Shamrock is so evocative of Ernst Haas’ Route 66, Albuquerque !! Sorry Hernandes was a let down. It’s still interesting to see how things have changed in a few decades. You know where this is going, obviously. Now that you’ve mentioned going to Albuquerque and that I’ve mentioned Haas … you know, that photo history fetish of mine … maybe, you could … 😀 😀 😀
Cheers, have fun and keep the treasures coming ! And try Waze 😉
Paul
This is a standout series for DS. Partly because it is a series based on a road trip through varied social and physical environments, and thus quite different from most articles based in one area. In addition your articles just get better as you go.
I particularly like the way you have not emphasised the view from the car or of the road and have a good deal or grain and detail about where you have been (getting out of the car obviously)! Some of the articles on DS can be a little bit ‘pretty’ or ‘optimistic’ because they are about areas most people would like to visit, this is more warts and all honesty, without being undignified.
In this article your images of decay and past glories are neither overly nostalgic nor bleak, you have left plenty of latitude for the viewers to think and interpret for themselves. You have managed a honest balance and avoided an abandon spaces ‘porn’ style that is sometimes a bit like a built environment version of contemporary poverty exploitation street photography.
Thanks for the article and safe travels.
Thanks, I’m enjoying the drive, the photography and the writing. I said in one of the earlier posts that I wasn’t going to write “we did this, then we did that” and think that’s worked well.
What I do struggle with it the temptation to only shoot the degradation, mess, failure and the constant flow of cheesy shops and museums that come at us over the horizon. When I was in Calcutta last year, I made the point that it was necessary to understand that there is a point where photojournalism ends and prurience takes over. It’s a clear line and necessary to be on the right side of it.
Howzit Paul,
good work! I traveled along parts of this route in September – sure is interesting to see how our views differ, and how similar they are in places. And yes, Hernandez was a letdown. The church and the cemetery are still there, but they are completely surrounded by housing and barely accessible to the visitor. But even if there were no changes in the actual place, your and my photographs would probably not resemble the famous one, as it shows the place as Ansel saw and translated it into an iconic print with lots of work in postproduction (bleaching of parts of the negative, liberal dodging and burning etc) – and our images would reflect how we saw it.
Looking forward to seeing results of the last leg of your trip, ending at Santa Monica Pier!
Cheers,
Jens
Thanks.
I too, have really enjoyed this trip you are sharing. The photographs are great. The mix of black and white, whetting my sense of nostalgia and lost times, the color strikingly vivid of the hard reality of sun and heat. I was recently in Hernandez and equally disappointed. I didn’t stop or even consider a different perspective. Just let down, but not surprised.
In my world travels, I have noticed little incentive in the US to “clean things up a bit” after either personal or business failure. Scrap metal is almost worthless on the market, it is just left to decay. But, as illustrated so well here, it makes great photography at times.
The Fuji is proving its self very well here.
Thanks,
David
Thanks.
Cliched images by a photo tourist with fancy gear. Pedestrian post and images…at best.
I’ve been really enjoying your posts and photos from this trip and I admit I also feel a bit envious, someday I must do a road trip like this myself.
Joakim, it’s been great. Living in South Africa as I do, I’m used to driving great distances, but Route 66 has been quite difficult. Mainly because of driving on the RHS and our unfamiliarity with road signs and conventions. A good navigator, satnav, guide books and maps simply aren’t enough.
We’re off route in Page AZ for a couple of days sightseeing, then we’re back on to 66 on Thursday. Then there’ll be one more post when we get to LA. After that we’re off on the next (non-driving) leg – more about that shortly.
Thanks for the comments – it’s always good to know there’s someone at the other end who appreciates it.
I’m glad Philippe sent you something previously about ‘color’ because I was about to post a similar comment on your first post. IMHO, B&W doesn’t allow the texture and weathered & worn emotion to be felt the way color can. Your images have ALL been great, but I’ve particularly enjoyed the color ones.
Most of all, I hope your enjoying your time in the USA!
Hi Paul – just spotted your comment saying someone had accused you of taking “crappy, derivative photographs”. Take no notice – the world is full of critics – the correct response to them being, “those who can, do – those who can’t, criticise!” You, at least, are putting your photos up, for everyone to share – and judging by the response, the audience generally is thoroughly enjoying them and appreciating them.
Thanks, Pete. I did consider just binning the comment, but in a tiny way, that’s censorship.