Road Trip – Day One

Goodbye, Books © 2011 Bo Mackison

We are on our way.

Monday we packed the art show trailer, adding some of my Southwestern photographs to my Midwest collection. I’m thinking of calling my trailer the “Sardine can” – packed to the gills. Bad pun, hmmm? Only been on the road a full day and already I’ve caught the infectious pun bug from Sherpa.

We are driving the trailer that holds all the makings of an art booth to the Southwest in preparation for the upcoming Arizona shows. This year we decided to travel in November and hope for good weather. Last year the weather gods failed us in late January and we drove most of the 1800 miles in a mix of rain, ice and snow. An experience we’d rather not repeat in this lifetime.

Before I left, I grabbed more books than I’ll admit to, and stowed them in the car. Then I said goodbye to one of my many book cases. Sherpa doesn’t understand why I can’t go on a trip without taking a large sampling of my library. I don’t understand how he can go on a trip without taking a pile of books.

Goodbye, books.

Goodbye, My Bed © 2011 Bo Mackison

If there is one thing I miss when on a road trip it is my bed. My firm mattress, my bunches of pillows, my layers of soft blankets. I am not a fan of hotel beds, but then I’d rather deal with hotel beds than no bed at all.

Goodbye, bed.

On (the road) Wisconsin! © 2011 Bo Mackison

If you are a regular reader at Seeded Earth, you have already noticed that these photographs look nothing like what I typically post. After another photog introduced me to his iPhonography, I decided it would be easier to chronicle my travels via cell phone camera compared to my regular camera gear. So I packed my big camera safely among great piles of suitcases and boxes, and I’m having a great time taking photos with this wonky App called the Hipstamatic.

Since I have little idea how to use its many hidden features, I’ll let you follow my progress as I learn by experimenting. I think there is no better way to learn than by playing with all the buttons and looking at the results.

Others may read instruction manuals first. I find it much more expedient to read the instruction manual after I’ve used the product for a while. Then I have a better idea what the manual writers are trying, in their round about fashion, to tell me.

If you were particularly attentive, perhaps you noticed the title of the above photo, “On (the road) Wisconsin!” I don’t have to explain to my fellow Wisconsinites the meaning of the title. To anyone else, just know it refers to football and badgers and meat packers.

Dubuque, Iowa © 2011 Bo Mackison

I made up a few rules for my introduction into the world of iPhonography. As I already noted, no instructions. The other rule is no stopping for photos and no regrets.

Whenever we have been on the road on previous trips, no matter how short or long, our conversations follow this line of thought:

Me: [looking in the distance] Oh, that would make a great photo!!!
Sherpa: Do you want me to stop?
Me: [sad voice] Nooooo. If we stop for every photo, we won’t get to [fill in the blank] today.
Sherpa: [as we drive ever farther away from the un-photographed scene] Well, give me more notice and I’ll stop.
Me: [in deep confusion, not knowing how I can give him notice any sooner] Oh.

This conversation no longer exists. I snap away happily (with the touch of my finger pad against a tiny glass surface) and capture the mood of our trip. I am not going for classic photographs at this point anyway. And Sherpa gets to drive with as few stops as is humanly possible.

And we are both happy.

The Same Old Scenery © 2011 Bo Mackison

This is what the scenery looked like traversing the length of Iowa and much of Missouri. Enough said.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is on an extended explore with Sherpa. She is also adapting to on the road photography.