How I spent my MLK weekend....

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Mike B in OKlahoma
Posts: 1048
Joined: Fri Aug 04, 2006 10:32 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

How I spent my MLK weekend....

Post by Mike B in OKlahoma »

Last week I was having a marvelous time doing (mostly) landscape photography over in Tom's turf in Arizona (he and I had hoped to link up while there, but it didn't work out, alas). The weather was only moderately cooperative (either no clouds or else totally socked-in with high altitude cirrus clouds, neither of which is usually good for landscapes), but I'd still got some tolerable landscapes and even a few macro shots of petrified wood. I'd heard there was an ice storm coming to Oklahoma, but it was supposed to hit Friday and Saturday and be gone by the time I drove home on Monday (today, as I post this) so I wasn't worried. Thursday the weather in Northern Arizona turned nasty--I took my last photographs of the day in wind gusting up to 55 mph (seriously!) and the weather man said substantial snow was on the way even in Arizona. I was afraid that if I didn't get home immediately, I might be several days late getting home--Something my employer wouldn't like much! So I cut my trip short and headed for home, leaving from Flagstaff Thursday night. I dabbled with driving all night and getting home Friday morning, but decided that wasn't a safe thing to do. I could stop in Albuquerque and get six hours of sleep and beat the storm's forecast time of arrival in Oklahoma City.

I still think pulling an all-nighter wouldn't have been wise--Leaving for a 13 hour drive after doing a twelve hour day of photography and driving wouldn't be smart. But boy, was I wrong about beating the storm home. Instead of arriving in Oklahoma City at 5 PM as predicted, the storm got there about 10 AM. I managed to make it to Amarillo before stopping at lunch time after driving the last hour or so on treacherous icey roads. I got a room in a Motel 6 there--The room had a refrigerator and microwave, and I was able to go to a grocery store and stock up on frozen dinners before the storm hit in earnest.

Amarillo didn't get the brunt of the storm, but it was bad enough. Except to walk to the ice machine, I barely left the hotel room for three days! Very dreary motel setting, I couldn't even find any nice icicles to photograph! I thanked my lucky stars for the microwave, tv dinner, and even the limited cable tv system. I saw as much as I care to of Harrison Ford and Stephen Segal the last three days.

The Texas and Oklahoma highway patrols reported this morning (Monday) that the roads were slick and hazardous and travel was highly discouraged, but from my hotel I could see that the Interstate highway (America's equivalent of the Authobahn) was almost free of snow and ice, and traffic was moving at normal speeds, so I drove for home despite what the cops said. I was able to drive the speed limit all the way from Amarillo to Oklahoma City, only nail-biting part was driving the half-mile or so on icey surface streets in Oklahoma City to my apartment!

At least I had time to go through my photos some--I will post some general photographs in favorite locations in a minute, and some macro photos in the appropriate gallery here in a couple of days.

I feel the urge to post a "moral" here, but can't think of one other than thank goodness for microwave ovens and cable tv!
Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

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