Goosenecks of the San Juan
Following is a description of what has become known as my "vacation" - a period of retrospective... a time to pause and reflect... to "take stock" of who I am and what I stand for, but mostly just to wander around aimlessly in the middle of nowhere, drinking beer and taking pictures. The photo above, one of several squiggly bends the San Juan River makes in southeastern Utah, represents an area that I find irresistible - wide open views, no noise, no people... but one I missed out on seeing during my vacation last year, photos of which I posted at "www.northbankfred.com/utah.html".
I chose the month of March for this endeavor so that it would (supposedly) be after the unpredictable winter weather but before the hordes of German tourists showed up, with their annoying habit of following you everywhere and stopping whenever you stop, assuming that it was a "scenic photo spot", rather than, in many cases, just an opportunity for me to take a leak. At one point in my vacation last year I went so far as to pull off on some un-remarkable turnout, then set the camera and tripod up, pointing at absolutely nothing. Inevitably, within minutes a shiny new rental car clone of mine (or two) would screech to a stop behind me, disgorging a group of disbelieving but nonetheless determined point-and-shooters, scratching their heads as they perused the "guidebook" for whatever "feature" was hidden from them in the distance.
The "focus" of the trip would be to more or less wake up every morning and, depending on either the weather (99%) or my mood (1%), figure out where I would go and what I would "do". Since my skills at setting up a "schedule" (and actually adhering to it) are almost non-existent, the idea of not having a schedule in the first place is rather appealing. There is a lot of open space in southern Utah and northern Arizona and hopefully my sporty little rental car would allow me access to a big chunk of it, as long as it didn't rain or snow, which it did...
Day 1 - Wednesday