The Great 2009 Springtime AsstroRun (tm)

tristessa · Post by **tristessa** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 9:45 pm

So .. feel like spilling the beans yet?

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:13 pm

Can't. Not allowed. Someone with a much higher pay grade than me has to clear all messages on this topic.

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 3:32 pm

I'm in Vegas, baby. Here, I pay for bandwidth, so I can upload at least one picture.

The western approach to Death Valley is one of the steepest grades I've ever climbed in a vehicle. Something close to 10%. The road to Dantes View in Death Valley this morning was posted at 15%. That is STEEP. Second gear for the 14-year-old Asstro.

Elwood · Post by **Elwood** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:08 pm

Death Valley is a very neat place, been there many times in my past off roading days. Must not change much.

Glad your tarpaper worked out, may even try it on El's back window

Post by **Amskeptic** » Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:28 pm

glasseye wrote:AND, for all ye of little faith: two days of 30C (say better than 90F) days and not outgassing smells from my tarpaper shack.

Say hello to my desert for me. Steal my piano.
Colin

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 7:59 am

Amskeptic wrote: Say hello to my desert for me. Steal my piano.
Colin

I thought about it, and you, as I drove through. Problem is, Pahrump's so changed now, I had no idea where I was, let alone any piano. Ten years since I've driven those roads and it's unrecognizable. Blue Diamond Road used to be total desert as soon as you turned off I-15. Now, it's Pet Smart, Home Depot and Walgreens halfway to Pahrump. Amazing.

Las Vegas is beyond description, as always. Quite possibly the best place to people-watch yet invented.

I really wanted to visit The Racetrack in Death Valley, but the Park Ranger took one look at my tires and said, "Don't do it" My tires are in good shape, but they're not "LT" rated. He described a Lincoln Navigator that shredded three out of four tires the day before. Estimated cost of his adventure, including new rims (he drove out with the tires flat) four new tires AND the tow out to Ridgecrest: several thousand dollars.

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:11 am

I loved this guy's setup. The pickup towed the Jeep and they slept in the tent behind. The flag was flood-lit all night, automatically switching off at sunrise.

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Sat Mar 21, 2009 8:41 am

Dantes View, Death Valley. One of the best places on the planet to just stand and stare.

It's also a good example of why a cloudless sky is a landscape photographer's worst nightmare. The stitching software can't cope with the darkening at the edges of the source images that results from lens imperfections. Clouds tend to hide this problem.

Guess I'll have to quit buying my lenses at Wal*Mart.

satchmo · Post by **satchmo** » Sun Mar 22, 2009 4:49 pm

For those of you following this thread (which is great, BTW, keep posting those fantastic pics, glasseye!) wondering what the 'Big Announcement' was, see this other thread.

viewtopic.php?t=6030

Tim

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:11 pm

So, in the comfort of a Santa Fe hotel, I spent the afternoon processing some images from the first few days of the trip.

WARNING: Extreme bandwidth hog follows. Lots of images.

Also, zero VW content, and some limited Asstro content.

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 4:38 pm

This one I shot just for Sluggo.

First exposure I made, somewhere just south of Crescent city.

Note the tarpaper shack work. Many times on this trip I blessed that hour I spent making the windows dark. "Pragmatism, Primarily", right?

Even for a British Columbia boy, these are friggin' BIG trees. I spent a quiet hour or so, wandering through this ancient forest, amazed.

My first view of the open ocean. Always a significant moment, especially now that I live so far inland. The simplicity of a seascape always resonates somewhere deep inside.

By Monterey, it was Springtime. This landscape was a sweet mixture of ocean and alyssum.

An illegal parking job scored me this pano in a south Monterey residential district.

A few miles farther down the coast, the highway along Big Sur.

Very happy cows, these.

An engineering marvel, this road. Wish I'd had a helicopter.

Good chance to practice focusing with my long lens.

How I got there.

The awful truth. How can he live like that?

On the dash, a digicam for shooting video of the road. Several pairs of glasses, necessary at my age, the GPS antenna, and my bullshit detector.

To the right of the steering wheel: the tangle of wires and connectors necessary to feed the cell phone charger, camera battery charger, laptop, MP3 player/transmitter and AA charger for my five LED flashlights.

Sunset at the end of a fabulous day along the California coast.

Westy78 · Post by **Westy78** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 8:07 pm

glasseye wrote:

This one I shot just for Sluggo.

First exposure I made, somewhere just south of Crescent city.

Ah the Trees of Mystery! Love that place. Did Paul talk to you? Used to be there was a guy sitting somewhere in a window of the main building with a PA that came from Paul's mouth and he would talk to the kids as they came into the park. Took a week long trip down that way along 101 in my first bus many moons ago.

zblair · Post by **zblair** » Thu Apr 09, 2009 10:07 pm

Sunset at the end of a fabulous day along the California coast.

This photo looks like a metallic version of an ultrasound of a pg womans tummy/womb. It has a very similar granular quality...

glasseye · Post by **glasseye** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:03 pm

23GB, 9 states, 8,000 kms, home again. Happy, tired and amazed anew at the incredible beauty of this planet.

Canada Customs guy at the border this afternoon: "Any repairs or improvements to your vehicle"?

"Nope. Didn't even add any oil"

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Sun Apr 12, 2009 7:54 pm

glasseye wrote:
"Nope. Didn't even add any oil"

Well that ain't any fun then!

Thanks for sharing the pics. A couple of those would look GREAT in a nice frame about 6 feet tall.

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

The Great 2009 Springtime AsstroRun (tm)