Day Fourty-Two, One-Oh-Four AM

The object of my affection.

IN ALL ACTUALITY it's already the 29th of May. But through the magic of sleep, it's still just the 28th in my world. 21 hours or so before Kristen arrives home from her big trip. Back to our life together! It will be nice to have her home. Only one thing stands between me and her now:

Cleaning the house.

Better get off to bed then!

-F

Day Fourty-One, Eleven Twenty PM

AND SIX WEEKS winds down to an end. Only about 48 hours now til Kristen is home! I'm excited to see her and touch her finally. In retrospect, it went fast, but at times it was painfully slow and she was far away. But now very soon, she'll be here.

The hectic work schedule is winding down to an end, and will soon be over. I can't wait. I'm exhausted. But made some cash and once again, rent is in the bank before it's due. Been a good year from that retrospect.

That's it for now. I leave you with a self-portrait from work today...

-F

Days Thirty-Eight, Nine and Fourty, Twelve-Oh-Five AM

Chatsworth. Outside, slightly windy... And we replicated what we did in studio.

ITS NEARLY OVER. The long stretch of days that is. Classic example of why in this industry, you never count your eggs before they're hatched. Or discount them, as may be more appropriate in this case...

Booked to work the 25 & 26th of May, I got called to work the 27th. I said yes, knowing I would get paid early on the first of June. I figured I wouldn't work the 25th and 26th, I hadn't been contacted. There were rumours of the crew having contacts in LA they might use, so I safely opted to take the 27th full well knowing I could clean house for Kristen's arrival on the 29th on my off days.

Wrong.

Not only booking the aforementioned days, I also added the 24th to the same gig. Well, it's all over now. Delightful crew, talented people and another fashion superstar to add to my belt. The man who rebirthed Dior turns out to be a amazing artist and photographer as well. If he wasn't so nice, and so inspirational, I might become depressed... but walking away, he's quite the gentleman, and an accomplished photographer too.

He posts some of what he does here; soon perhaps what we did will appear there as well? In any case, it was a joy to see someone so talented work on such a great project. Lucky bastard!

-F

Day Thirty-Seven, Eight Fourty PM

Downtown at a rainy dusk, May 23rd, 2008

JUST A QUICK little post to highlight an enjoyable evening. An evening that capped a crazy day of shuffling jobs, paperwork, estimates and billing. The kind of stuff that bogs you down and makes you heart pound with the stress of getting it done.

The finish line was making it out to El Segundo in time to meet my father-in-law for dinner. Just the two of us, at the bar. A few drinks, dinner, and conversation. He's a good man, who raised an exceptional daughter. He's also talented at what he does- and a good storyteller. In short, it was a good night.

Coming home, I was struck by how sometimes, when you let go of the lifetime accounting columns, you realize you have it pretty good. Sure, maybe not all the things you wanted to do by now are done, but all in all, life is beautiful.

Wrapped in that warm thought, with the stereo playing Phoenix, I drove home. I even indulged my inner photographer- and illegally took the car pool ramp onto the 110 north to take in the sweeping vistas of central city, wrapped in the unseasonal rainy skies. Nothing like risking a $271 fine for a good view...

-F

Day Thirty-Two, Twelve-Nineteen AM

The Drive... but faster. Only the clouds stay the same.

ALBUQUERQUE COMING DOWN. We had accomplished all our trip would let us. John and I set out to shoot the Durango Train one last time early in the am- we captured what we could and drifted back downgrade to Durango and the last ride home.

Scott likes the Snacks.

It was a classical roadtrip in all the senses possible: Miles to travel (too far), snacks to have (too many) and a random stop on the highway (Continental Divide... which side are we on?). And, finally a rough train ride to home. I think the images best honor the travels...

In Bloomfield NM, a clerk is still wondering why I took this photo. So am I .

In the end, no one wanted to get into the car. Not to leave, anyway.

Scott, looking into the Rio Grande (East) Drainage. We think.

No more pictures, please. Oh, and this is the West drainage. To the Colorado?

Moonrise, Amtrak style.

Yeah, we're not driving but I'm bored!

The end of the Trip, The end of the Day.

-F

Day Thirty-One, Ten-Oh-Seven PM

Is it the sun or the safety yellow making him squint?

SATURDAY WAS THE come-down day. We had traveled thousands of miles (at least a thousand anyway) to pay respects to the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge RR, and now it was over. We woke up lazily and went looking for breakfast burritos. John's craving hadn't subsided.

A few wrong names and directions later, we settled on a decent Mexican joint called Nyarit. Not a bad choice after all. Breakfast / lunch accomplished we set out to climb over Molas pass on US-550 and wander about northeast of Silverton.

Dan on the drill. Drill, Dan, Drill.

We had seen in the ubiquitous pamphlets at every hotel a working mine exhibit called "Old Hundred". Maybe I should be more clear: the mine made more money for the construction workers than the owners. Not much ore was pulled out, but they built such an impressive facility it made an easy switch to running tours with working machinery. As for a "working" mine, it hadn't been mined since the 1970's.

Your very own Old Hundred tour. In 13 seconds.

Our guide Dan was a 17 year veteran miner of the San Juan Mountains. He knew all the gear in the mine, and how it worked. Less interested in the inner working of the compressed air rock drill, I wanted to sit down with Dan and pepper him with questions of what it was like to work 10, 12 hours underground. But I didn't have the chance.

Paydirt!

The tour was fascinating, but quick. We wandered back into the daylight and tried our hands at gold panning from the trough out front. Salted heavily with silver pellets, it wasn't hard to feel like an old hand. We became so engrossed that one of us managed to expel air from his derriere. We'll mention no names but I'm pretty Sure the people panning Just to our right know who iT was.

Panning for solder pellets is fun.

Finally we quit the Old Hundred and headed back towards town. At the juncture in the road we took one last drive northeasterly. A Porcupine stopped the car (John wanted to shoot a photo) and we all tumbled out near a stream. The water drew our attention, and Scott cast the first stones. First hundred probably. As the sun slipped behind the ridge, we worked feverishly at damming the creek.

Dambuilders.

The creek won out, aided by the sun. It was getting late. We turned around for Durango, and eventually, home. The trip was coming to an end.

-F

Day Thirty, Ten Twenty-Three PM

"Thru the San Juans, not around them."

WE CAUGHT ABOUT the last bar open on a Thursday night in Durango to have a well deserved beer and dinner. My sleeves and pants were still covered in the mud from being stuck; my finger nails we stained rust red. No matter! We had a more important discussion at hand: when to ride the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.

Scott returning to the Silver Vista in Silverton. Note see-through roof.

Fighting off a will to sleep in after our ordeal, we decided to ride the next day after all, leaving our last full day to relax and wander. But the best decision we made that night was to pay a bit more to ride a first-class car: the Silver Vista.

Good times, good times.

Two things you should know: Glass roof, and snacks. We climbed aboard Friday and spent the next 6 hours staring at the gorgeous scenery of the Animas River gorge. This ride was why we came to Colorado, and it was worth it 100%. Ask for Bob, and even indulge in a drink or two. You won't regret it.

480 starts out the 8am trip, May 16th, 2008

-F