A WEEKEND OF SHOCKING DISCOVERIES, A WORLD OF BLACK AND WHITE, AND ROAD TRIPS
As the title for this post implies, it has been a rather interesting weekend. Saturday morning at the office was spent in valiant efforts to find amicable solutions to real problems with unreasonable customers. A portion of the afternoon was spent rectifying a shocking oversight.
For the umteenth time I was going through the text for the Route 66 encyclopedia to satisfy my paranoia about having transposed a date and to find a way to sneak in more information without adding to the overall word count as a promise had been made to send it to the publisher on Monday. As it turned out the paranoid was justified, I had inadvertently skipped writing the entry for Boise or Washburn in Texas.
After resolving this problem I wrote the acknowledgements, the bibliography, dedication, and authors biography. Now, on Monday morning the whole package can be sent to the editor.
That leaves me a full week to finalize the illustration file. With that complete I can send a copy of the text file and a copy of the illustration file to the publisher. Then, with the exception of final edit and caption writing after the photo selection, I can take a deep breath and set my eyes on promotion of the final product.
This morning, with storm clouds looming and a cold desert wind blowing, my dearest friend and I set out to gather a few final images for the project. The goal was something to illustrate the entry on Lt. Beale, Beale Springs, and the Kingman Army Airfield.
On Monday afternoon, if time allows, I will post a few photos from our endeavor. As I have been playing with black and white photography a bit lately a few might have dramatic overtones.
The header photo for the blog is from last weeks excursion into the Black Mountains. Here is another from that odyssey.
Upon our return we replied to an inquiry requesting additional photos for evaluation. This is for a proposed Arizona centennial project chronicling Route 66 in Mohave County for the tourism center.
Then it was time for Sunday dinner with my son and his family. The grandson, now one year of age, has discovered the joy of food and wants to try everything. The granddaughter, age four, wants to skip dinner and go for the pie or cake. It makes for a lively dinner table.
This evening I compiled a dozen or so photos that exemplify the modern era on Route 66. These are to accompany my interview tomorrow morning for a local tristate cable television program.
The afternoon should be rather exciting as well. The pipe dream of taking to Route 66 in promotion of the new book and the road itself behind the wheel of a vintage car is on the fast track to becoming a reality.
On Monday, I will be discussing this with a couple of potential sponsors, composing a program to be pitched to schools along the road, and checking on two vehicles that fit the bill quite well, both Nash built products, one in 1948 and the other in 1950.
As they say, stay tuned for details. If you are interested in tagging along perhaps we can turn this venture into a veritable convoy of automotive history on America’s most famous highway.
Another exciting development pertains to a permanent gallery location. We took another step forward with this and hope to have an answer before Christmas. This would for allow for development before the 2012 season on Route 66 kicks off.
And that about sums up my weekend. As for the rest of the week, well it looks as though it be just about as busy.
Before I forget, be sure to check out my annual Thanksgiving post. This one will be a bit different and as a result the “America is a secular nation” crowd and the rabid Christian community may very well find common ground in looking for rope, a tall tree, and my address.