Capt Jim's Travel Blog

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Good Bye to Old Friends and Hello to New and a Day Trip!

Yesterday morning some great friends left the park for home - I hope Ed & Shirley have a safe trip. I said my good-byes early in the morning before driving 70 miles to meet an old Photography Forum friend for the first time in person.

Toni Ard and I met online in an Olympus forum years ago, but never had the opportunity to meet in person. She was new in photography and I helped her with some crtique and also answered many questions on processing in photoshop over the years. We both are no longer active in the forum, it has died a slow miserable death. Last year Toni decided to change camera brands and switched from Olympus to Canon and was kind enough to work a deal with me to purchase her nearly new Olympus E-5 camera body - the one I shoot now. Last year when I was in Twentynine Palms we attempted to meet up for a day of shooting, but never was able to make it happen.

Yesterday we both arrived at The Living Desert in Palm Springs at nearly the same time, perfect timing. We spent most of the day at the park and had lunch afterwards, it was great finally meeting someone in person who you had online contact with for a number of years.

Toni's photography skills have really matured over the past several years, she has become an exceptional photographer. I am happy to say I was around to witness her transformation.

It was a fun day and I took a few pics!

Ostrich Portrait!

Black Crowned Night Heron

Busy planning my trip to Ohio in a few weeks so stay tuned for more fun!

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Monday, March 21, 2016

Blog Update - Sunsets, End of Season and Trip Planning

I have had a busy past 7 days - filling in on night phone and patrol here in the RV Park while covering for a vacationing co-worker...during this time I have also been working on trip planning for my departure on the 21st or 22nd of April.

This week at the park has been a busy one, with the park almost full every night with what seems to be Northbound winter travelers. Also several of our winter residents have been pulling out daily, off on their own adventures on their way back towards home. Always a sad time to see so many friends leaving.

My trip to Ohio and my summer job will be a long one. I try to only travel about 300-350 miles per day when towing, although I suspect I will drive a little further than that if all goes well. The trip total is 2237 miles and I have it planned for about 7 days, hopefully will trim a day or so off of that once I hit the road. My intention is to arrive at Chatham Lakes Campground in Medina on or about the 27th of April, just prior to opening weekend.

The Map and Route!

Spring has sprung here in the Desert and we have been blessed with warm days a wonderfully cool evenings and some stunning sunsets.

My departure from Twentynine Palms RV Resort will be a little more emotional this year as I do not plan to return next winter, my plans are to head for Florida for the winter, then back out west the following summer and back here year after next, if all goes well.

Stay tuned - still a few more adventures before I depart a month from now!

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Friday, March 18, 2016

Blog Update - Joshua Tree NP - Spring has Sprung!

On Tuesday evening, just as I cracked a PBR - my neighbor and resident Ranger at Joshua Tree NP came by with her IPad and showed me some pictures of a section of the park having a wildflower bloom, Ranger Judy was happy to share the location...which happened to be 35 miles into the park...

So yesterday, I decided to make the trek and find the flowers...

The entire hillside is alive with color!

I only made one mistake - see the rock pile in the above photo - in my infinite wisdom I figured that would be a good spot to shoot the upper part of the hill in bloom, so I climbed up on the rocks, just as I was lining up my shot I heard a bunch of hissing and looked down in the crack in the rocks I was straddling and was greeted by a whole nest of rattlesnakes...well needless to say I jumped off of the rocks, damn near killed myself and missed the shot.

But did manage this one...before my departure.

Then I stuck closer to the ground with a wary eye out for snakes...

On the long return trip of 35 miles, found an Ocotillo in bloom...the Ocotillo is a very interesting spiny desert plant that looks dead most of the time...but when in bloom they are wonderful.

In Bloom!

There are also numerous cactus in bloom everywhere!

When I got back to the RV - time for a couple PBR's and my last piece of Halibut!

I hope to get into the park one evening for some star shots before I leave in mid-April.

Stay tuned!

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Wednesday, March 2, 2016

My Most Recent Books for Sale

I spent some time this fall creating a couple books for sale on Blurb. If you click on the picture it will take you to a preview and the ability to purchase.

After my gallery showing in Barberton last year, I decided to create a full sized hard cover coffee table book of some of my best photographs. The book measures 10 X 13 and is beautiful. It sells for $99.99 plus shipping.

At the request of several people, I decided to create a less expensive soft cover smaller version of the same book. It sells for $49.99 plus shipping.

I also decided to create a book of some of my memories from my time at Yes Bay Lodge in Alaska, this book is being used to help market the Lodge and also will be available in the gift shop. It is a soft cover book and sells for $42.74 plus shipping.

Since I will be spending my summer in Ohio this year - look for a Barberton Book this fall.

See everyone soon!

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Monday, February 29, 2016

Blog Update - Drive into Joshua Tree NP!

Yesterday I enjoyed my day off by taking a drive and a few short walks in Joshua Tree National Park.

Joshua Tree is a very beautiful park - it is High Desert with mountains and huge rock piles and of course a ton of Joshua Tree's. The park was very busy with all the campgrounds full and plenty of hikers and rock climbers.

Joshua Tree is a difficult place to photograph the landscapes are so far reaching it is very hard to show the perspective of how immense and rugged the area encompasses. My primary objective was to look for wild flowers in hopes they were beginning to bloom due to a little more moisture this winter and the recent warm spring days.

The wide expanse of Joshua Tree!

Chollo Cactus bud...

Chollo Cactus carcass the detail of the core is amazing.

Joshua Tree Bud!

Bee's at work on the few wildflowers I found!

Desert Daisy's!

I enjoyed my drive through the park, it gave me a chance to give the truck a good run after having all 10 coil packs replaced on Friday and the truck runs much, much better and according to the scan gauge shows about a 2 MPG increase in fuel economy and no error codes...made me happy!

It also got me back in touch with my camera as I have been remiss in going out to shoot. I have been very busy in the park taking pictures of all the activities and have missed taking my normal landscapes.

Now that the truck is running good I will be planning an evening in the park for some sunset shots and my goal this year of capturing the milky way over the rocks and Joshua Trees...I also have a trip planned down to the "Living Desert Zoo" in Palm Springs...that will have to be after the huge weekend event here at the park, it is Luau Time in the park....

Plenty of time for some good pictures before my long drive to Ohio in April. Stay Tuned!

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

King of the Hammers 2016 - some videos

Several friends have emailed me with questions about the racing at King of the Hammers - the past couple days a few great videos by the various sponsors and teams at Hammertown 2016 have posted some videos, I decided to put them in a blog post so anyone interested can see a little more of what goes on out in the desert....

This first one is about the winner - Erik Miller...

Some of the preparation of the top teams...including Erik Miller

Part 2 of the prep

Capt. Jim - "The Wanderer"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Saturday, February 6, 2016

King of the Hammers 2016

For the past 10 years a very large group of people gather near Yucca Valley in S. California to desert race in what has been called the toughest off road race in the world.

Johnson Valley and the dry lake bed gets turned into a thriving town of close to 40 thousand people in thousands of campers all to enjoy a full week of activities - the last day is the Ultra4 Race event. Ultra 4's are custom vehicles designed to run over a 100 MPH in the flat desert and also rock climb some of the toughest sections. All are custom vehicles most on a custom Bomber Frame with some having body parts to resemble their jeep ancestors while others choose to build custom sheet metal.

The race started as a challenge about 12 years ago - the high speed desert racers were challenging the off road rock climbers to a race - 12 years later the race now is the toughest off road race in the world. This year 104 vehicles started the race and 31 finished, just to finish is a win!

The dry lake bed is turned into a full town with thousands of RV's and Race crews for the motorcycle races, side by side races and this year they had a race what you bring race on Thursday - with tons of amateurs running modified vehicles in several classes. Friday the 5th of February the Ultra4's Race in the final event. The vehicles are unlimited with no real rules any size engine and as modified as you think will finish. Repairs must be made by the diver and crew on the course or in the pits only. So if you don't have what you need to repair you need to walk back to the pits to get the parts. Must have proper safety gear and the tools to cleanup any oil spills or hydraulic fluid etc on the car. The rock climbing sections have names like Waterfall, Chocolate Thunder, Jackhammer and Back Door. The race starts at 8:00am and the cars must finish all laps by 10pm.

Here is how they finished.
First Place - ERIK MILLER 4421
Second Place - JASON SCHERER 76
Third Place - RAUL GOMEZ 4483
Fourth Place - SHANNON CAMPBELL 5

HAMMERTOWN!