Blog Update - Winter activities and Spring Plans

February has been a busy month - the busiest month of the year in the RV Park, with numerous activities and plenty to keep me busy taking pics for the Park and updating the Park Blog. I have been remiss in updating my own blog...

So, I decided today was the day to update my activities. The past couple weeks I have been seriously busy trimming down the list of images for the gallery showing on the 24th of April at Nine Muses in Barberton. I am really looking forward to the opportunity and selecting the photos and staying within my budget it a huge challenge. More on that a little later in the post....

Can-Am Challenge- every year there is a golf challenge in the park the Canadians vs the Americans it is a big event and covers 2 days with 4 separate tournaments - 2 each day, morning and afternoon. Last year I struggled with how best to cover this event and this year decided to try something different, even though the golf is important, more important are the people, so I decided to shoot the "Faces" of the tournament. So armed with my new lens I was able to maintain a distance from the subjects and shoot candid portraits without them even knowing they were being shot. It turned out to be a huge success and some fantastic pictures, which I feel captured the fun and camaraderie of the event!

FACES!













Thursday a group of people headed off to Landers, California - 30 minute drive to one of the largest Orchid Farms in the United States - what an amazing collection of Orchids and a wonderful tour. I put on my macro lens for some colorful closeups...









Back to the Gallery Showing...



These are ordered and on their way to Ohio on metal for display!













I have my airline reservations made and tickets purchased - will be in Ohio - arriving on the 17th of April and departing on the 29th. I will be flying from Salt Lake.

When I return to Salt Lake I will head to Montana and put the RV in storage at my buddies house and then get ready to head to Yellowstone for the summer....I am excited to spend my summer among the animals and fish on Yellowstone Lake!

The Adventure Continues Stay Tuned!

Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

February 6th - King of the Hammers!

Last year while here in 29 Palms I was made aware of a week long event nearby in Johnson Valley, called the King of the Hammers - it is the ultimate Desert Racing / Rock climbing challenge...in fact that is how it got started - the Desert Racers challenged the Rock Climbers to a match race and the King of the Hammers was born!

There is racing all week - motorcycles, side by sides and then the ultimate challenge is the Ultras which was today and I was fortunate to be able to attend. These vehicles are custom built and can reach speed of over a 100 MPH and yet still have the ability to rock climb at 2 or 3 MPH. Amazing to watch!

I left early this morning for the 1 hour drive out into the desert and Johnson Valley. The cars were lined up at 6:00 am and the start was at 8:00 am - tons of traffic and a long line in, but was at my preferred location early enough to back the truck right up to the fence in one of the tougher rock climbing canyons - not early enough to get to one of the higher spots they were all taken, so my view was somewhat limited, but a great spot anyway! The race is 215 miles long and is a combination of flat (still rough sand) open desert and then three or 4 really tough rock climbing areas...and some real steep hill climbs.

It is amazing the "size of the town" that is created called Hammertown! Thousands of RV's tractor trailer and every off road vendor you can imagine!

Part of Hammertown from my viewpoint today!



A few of the spectators where we were!



The big screen in downtown Hammertown!



A few of the Racers!









Plenty of dust and dirt flying!



















Traffic Jam on the rocks!



It was a great day with perfect weather, warm sunny with a cool breeze! These were all taken with my new lens and I love it even more!!!

Stay tuned for more activity with the camera, my fill-in job as manager ends on Monday and I will be out shooting much more while this weather holds!

Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Blog Update - February 1st - non-photo info only!

Figured I would explain my absence for the past couple weeks! Two weeks ago while enjoying my coffee and reading emails in the morning - my coffee cup decided to tip over and dump coffee right on my laptop! Needless to say the laptop died a slow miserable death...took it to a local repair shop and they confirmed it would cost more to fix if it was even possible than a new computer.

So I did some shopping online and locally and found a super deal on Amazon for a Lenovo Think Pad with an Intel I-5 processor and room to transfer the extra ram from my old computer...so it was ordered on payday and arrived here in beautiful 29 Palms on Thursday. I spent some of Thursday getting Windows updated there were 188 updates, took most of the evening! Then Friday morning I realized that somehow all the drivers for the wireless and other accessories were missing and not installed. So Friday I took it to the office and hooked up to the hard wire connection and downloaded the drivers and all was well. Then I set about the task of re-installing all my software took all day and into the evening!

Luckily, I managed to get the hard drive out of the old laptop and put it in a USB Case and had access to all my files, which made things much easier.

I am back up and running!!

During this whole mess the manager here at 29 Palms RV Resort decided to make a quick exit and the owners asked me to fill in until a new replacement arrives next week. So I have basically been spending everyday working in the office and chasing down problems (maintenance issues) in the park! I will be filling in this whole next week!

It sure helps with a paycheck to pay for the new computer and other various expenses! Remember the lens purchase that was also out of my government check for this month! So short again for February! All is well now though.

Sadly I have not been out to take any pictures, but now that the computer is back up and running, the next clear night I will be in Joshua Tree National Park shooting some more star trails!

LIKE THIS!



Stay Tuned for more of these!

Last night I made 4 dips from my good friend KIMO'S DIPS! Click HERE they are great! For the Super Bowl Party in the clubhouse today!

This morning I put meatballs in the crock pot with my own special secret sauce and they will be ready by 3!


Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!