Florida road trip

On the road again

I feel blessed to have been able to make a transcontinental journey two years in a row. Last year's Maryland to Utah adventure was fun and so was my recent move to Florida from Utah. As usual we toured as much as possible, seeing the sights in the early part of the day, and making up the big miles through the early evening. I'm pleased to say that we live in a big beautiful friendly country that is just as quirky and eccentric now as it was when I embarked on my very first cross-country trek way back in 1979.

The photos end in Louisiana. The conclusion of the trip, along the Gulf coast, will be shared in another blog in the not too distant future. Remember: you can click on each one to enlarge.

Fall color in Dixie National Forest, Utah


Splendor of Zion N.P., Utah


Meteor Crater, Arizona


Holbrook, Arizona


Petrified Forest, Arizona


Connie gets a closeup


Badlands of the Petrified Forest


Ancient kiva in the Zuni country of New Mexico


Bandera volcanic crater, New Mexico


Prairie paradise


Cadillac Ranch, Texas


Red River, Oklahoma-Texas (left to right bank)


An East Texas welcome


Interstate through Cajun country


Mississippi River crossing at Baton Rouge, LA

Comic book covers unearthed

Batman #163, May 1964

While moving I have had to disturb some deeply buried treasure, which includes what is left of my comic book collection. I here offer some cool covers, from the Beamis archive, which I hope to unearth once again when I'm more permanently settled in Florida. There were many more nifty covers from which to choose, so let me know if you liked these and I'll gladly post more.

Captain Marvel #32, February 1944


Journey Into Mystery #112, January 1965


Young Love #62, July 1967


Plunge Into the Depths of Despair, 1969


Uncle Scrooge #15, July 1956

Georgia vs. South Carolina

UGA smiles sweetly

The 12th ranked Georgia Bulldogs will pay a visit to Columbia this Saturday to do battle with Steve Spurrier's South Carolina Gamecocks. After a 48-12 romp over non-conference opponent Western Kentucky this will be their first game in defense of their SEC title against an up and coming team on the rise.

Although Spurrier is known as an offensive mastermind, it was a tough defense that pitched a shutout in South Carolina's 15-0 victory over Mississippi State in the opener last week at Starkville.

This should be an interesting game with lots of hard hitting defensive play that I predict will come down to the kicking of the Bulldog's outstanding punter Gordon Ely-Kelso, as good field position will be an enormously important factor in such a tight contest.

I'd like to see Georgia quarterback Joe Tereshinski, who was a woeful 7 for 17, which produced a mere 90 yards against Western Kentucky, perk up and finally lead what is a fully loaded offense featuring great backs, blockers and receivers. We'll just have to wait and see.

Predicted outcome: GA wins 20-17.

Go Dawgs!!!

Steve Irwin R.I.P.

Naturalist Steve Irwin died yesterday from a freakish encounter with a sting ray off the coast of Queensland in Australia. Steve was a personal hero of mine who was able to make the natural world a fascinating and exciting subject for the masses. His infectious enthusiasm and unbridled love of God's great earth and all of its fantastically adapted creatures made him a giant among naturalists and someone who I have striven to emulate in my own work.

Steve you will be missed, but I'm sure you're up there in heaven right now wrassling with crocs and kissing pit vipers on the mouth. Thanks for the memories, you shall remain an inspiration to all who love nature and the great outdoors. Rest in peace my friend.

I is always working on Labor Day

It has been a very long work day as I finish off a Labor Day weekend Saturday night shift at das Bit und Spur, after a 6:30 (it was still dark, dambit) alarm bell for a full day of touring Zion's with the American Orient Express, for the very last time.

Hoooooooo---rahhh!!!

I'd like to thank my creative partners and friends Maria, Vanessa, Barb and Lin for a job very well done. Y'all made me look good by satisfying our clients and giving them a meaningful experience. Cain't ask for much more'n that.

Next year the AOE will offer Zion as an optional flyover trip by scenic air charter from Las Vegas. A fleeting glimpse from 10,000 feet above. Whatever dude.

It is ONLY two more short weeks till I yam a moving to Flooooorda. Ohhhh yess lawd I really is!!!

Friday's supper consisted of pulled pork bbq w/slaw (Carolina style) on an open faced Wal-Mart (Great Value brand) enriched white flour bun. The sides are fresh roasted corn & bean salad with finely diced red serrano pepper and home fries w/red onion sitting atop a tangy puddle of Bit & Spur chile ketchup.

This first day of September repast was downed with a liter of chilled Shasta seltzer water, and all I could say was mmmmmmmmmmm.

Desert Garden

King Fleance

Hopefully our tomatoes will turn red by the time Connie arrives in Cedar Valley. I shore does hope they do, I really does.

The very last peach

Bill asked me to photograph the last peach of the season hanging from his tree by the pasture.

Which I did.

Then I picked it.

Old pictures from the attic

Beamis in Dinosaur National Monument, CO 1981

As I begin packing up for my move to Florida I've been encountering old photographs taken a long time ago when I fancied myself a decent photographer.

It has been fun unearthing them so I decided to share a few which ya'll.

See how young Beamis looks.

He was in fact.

Jenkins County, GA 1984


Jenkins Co., GA 1984


Arches National Park, UT 1981


Arches N.P. 1981

Martin, SC 1982


Philomath, GA 1983


Young baby Beamis, Los Angeles 1980


Congragee Swamp, SC 1983


Dust storm, St. George, UT 1987


Store front church in Jackson County, GA 1983

Another walk with Kirby

Where are we going now? Huh? Huh? Huh?

Knowing that these are some of the last days I will be spending here as a resident I have been keenly aware of how the landscape has been showing off for me these past few days, constantly reminding me of why I sought out this country in the first place. Into this colorfully phantasmagoric scene Kirby and I took a walk at dusk on Wednesday.

This has been a great place to peacefully reside and grow. A wonderful land to reflect upon and hopefully help illuminate for others. I used to read a poem by Carl Sandburg, at the end of one of my favorite campfire programs when I was a Zion ranger, which still speaks volumes about why I sought out this particular territory and why a part of it will always remain deep inside my soul.

March of the Hungry Mountains

Across Nevada and Utah
Look for the march of the hungry mountains.

They are cold and white,
They are taking a rest,
They washed their faces in awful fires,
They lifted their heads for heavy snows.

White, O white, are the vapors,
And the wind in the early morning,
White are the hungry mountains.

The tireless gray desert,
The tireless salt sea,
The tireless mountains,
They are thinking over something.
They are wondering, "What next?"
They are thankful, thinking it over,
Waiting, sleeping, drying their faces from awful fires,
Lifting their heads into higher snow,
White in the early morning wind.

"Come and listen to us,"
Said the marching, hungry mountains.
"You will hear nothing at all,
And you will learn only a little,
And, yet listening, your ears may grow longer and softer;
You may yet have long, clear, listening ears.
Come and listen" said the mocking, hungry mountains.

It's now time to put these long clear listening ears to good use for the next chapter in this wonderful life of mine.

Winding down the road with Kirby

Tonight finds me baby sitting Kirby the Dog Who Thinks He's A Human in Springdale. We decided to take a stroll in the blessed darkness of the new moon after both spending the day trying to hide from blistering 100+ degree heat.

Our usual routine is to take the truck and drive the mile to the Bit & Spur, so Kirby can get petted by all the local girls who adore him more than most of the boys in town and for all the tourists who miss their pets at home. He serves a unique and necessary ecological niche in this lonely tourist village perched on the edge of nowhere. We then walk northward to the park boundary and back, about a 4-mile round trip, with more petting for Kirby as the walk progresses.

Tonight I took along my old Mavica camera to record some of the sights we might encounter and, sure enough, interesting subject matter materialized, including the largest rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes rhinoceros) I've ever seen. It was just a promenading its bad self on the sandstone steps of the Bit & Spur, attracting a crowd, much to the delight of this here nature photographer.

This member of the Family Scarabaeidae is supposedly the strongest animal in the world due to it's proportional strength. Scientists say that it can carry 850 times its own weight! Can you imagine an elephant carrying 850 other elephants on its back? Boogles the mind really. God makes some pretty spiffy stuff.

It was also great to run into David Ayala, former Bit & Spur bus boy, who is now in his second year of graduate school at Stanford studying theoretical mathematics. He was in town visiting his very lovely and charming mother Helen. He's been gone for six years? Lawd a mercy time is a shore flying by!

It's always refeshing to be with young people who help restore your faith in the future and David you are certainly one of them. Best of luck in the rarefied air of Palo Alto. I'm very proud of ya dude.

Bad red eye from the flash prompted me to convert this shot into an art photo. Cute guys, huh? Only one 'em is still unspoken for. (Hint: it's the one who lives in the Bay Area.)

Pee-wee reaches for his beverage.

Sergio & Omar working late, again.

The current and former house marionettes convene behind the bar.

Random scoot

Beamis sets for a spell.

Today Bob and I took a random scoot out into the great beyond that is the Utah desert. We headed west on Hwy. 56 towards Newcastle with a vague notion to go swim in the reservior above town. We decided to alter our route just a bit and ended up, as is normal on these trips, in an exquisite junkyard of desert artifacts. A museum of specimens that would have otherwise vanished long ago without the preserving qualities of extremely low humidity. God bless the desert and the junk it preserves!

Raditor with buck

Our best find was a 1920's Bekins moving van that was mostly made of wood. It had been sitting in the same spot for so long that the wheels and axles had sunk more than two feet into the ground. It was a wonder to behold.

Bob drives for Bekins.

Front view


Closeup of wooden cab

Hwy. 56 heading west towards Nevada.


"Are you ready for the country?
'Cause it's time to go!"