what's up?

a weekend | pt 1

1940 mercury

quick post—on my lunch break and then gotta drive back to the office. breaking the tale over several posts, so i’ll start at the beginning, though posted pics won’t be in any particular rhyme or reason.

from the assortment of car shows this past weekend, i ended up back in san diego, after missing the show at chicano park last year.

left work promptly on friday, and headed to the train station. just easier than paying to park, and san diego has the local red trains to get just about anywhere, unless you don’t mind walking. i mean we’ve hoofed across downtown before...really ain’t a bad bit of exercise. but this trip, i’m on my own; better half staying home with his mom. >>side note to angela...hope you come back sometime, i’d like to go out with my hubbie once in a while, though he’d probably just sleep.<<

train was standing room only until the next stop. one of the double-decker surfliners. really a challenge for me to haul my heavy camera bag and rolling backpack bag up those tiny stairs while the train got a-rollin’. got on toward the front car. had to walk back three or four cars, ending up at the very back of the train, banging quite a few knee caps with my tripod, that was hanging off the side of my bag.

next stop two peeps disembarked, so i scored their two seats to myself the rest of the trip. arms were tired, and it was tough for me to lift the camera bag up into the overhead, weak women upper strength and all. did it with no help, so there.

...to be contined...back to work i go...

make a choice

1962 chevy bel air wagon

asked my boss about going to a conference, if there was any budget for training. yes, he said to pick one and get him an estimate for travel, etc.

so, i need to decide on new orleans, orlando, boston or los angeles. here's the thing: the useful one is in new orleans, and i really have no interest in going there, so i'll wait until next year and hope they move it somewhere else. the other one i want to go to ends on the same day as the uptown whittier car show. sort of rather go to that.

i could skip the last day, and fly home the night before. i'll have to think about it.

this car was the last one i shot at the chino show. owner said i'd need to see it in the sun to really appreciate the paint job. the roof has some faint airbrushing going on.

i can see it. true, it would be more vibrant in the sun, but it may also be more glare-filled, because of the glitterizing in the paint.

still, pretty cool car. lots of engraved chrome.

club guys were friendly too.

sunday sunday sunday

harley davidson heritage softail

spent the day at home, watching my mother-in-law, whilst the better half ran to the market(s), and playing with pictures. ordered some more business cards for my non-business...one hundred new ones...collect the set.

here's a motorcycle for a change. it was highly detailed, with etched chrome all over, airbrushed and pinstriped, custom leather-worked seat. well worth a look.

cornfeed run

1942 chevy special deluxe

early light makes getting out of bed in the dark worth the trip. out to chino, for the cornfeed run. heard they had maxed out at eight hundred cars, and were turning them away. saw quite a few random, beautiful cars parked on the residential streets because of that.

better than last year, when it was overcast and started to sprinkle.

when the sun gets going, you really just have to get in front of a car and start shooting, or it's gone. this will do.

i think i was there for about four and a half hours, before i started to overheat, and felt the need to chug a bottle of water and get something to eat.

really only went around to all the route of cars and parking lots once this time. the light changed, and it wasn't fun anymore.

pretty sure i'm going to need to get a new ball head for my tripod pretty soon. i've pretty much worn it out, and it's a bit on the loose side. so, one camera repair, one new ball head—time to dip into the rainy day money, i guess.

looking forward

1950 chevy deluxe

a shot from last year's whittier car show. been seeing the flyers posted uptown for june second...on my calendar...on my street. i think the owner of this car stopped polishing it long enough for me to get a picture.

always up and out early, before the crowds. later in the day, it just gets packed, and typically really hot, so i'm done by ten. head home, download pics, then head back, with the macro lens, looking for hood ornaments and detail shots—at least no need to bring the tripod.

planning out my weekend, assuming all the elderly peeps in the family stay healthy and out of the emergency room. my dad has been there several times in the last month; patch him up, send him home, not really solving the problem. really frustrating.

mom just sits there, quietly supportive, not really challenging the doctors with questions. i usually don't pipe up, but it's getting kind of ridiculous, so i'm asking for second opinions, other options, tests.

my dad has his own theories, and it's interesting to hear him telling the doctor about anatomy and how things work, the cause of his issue, and how they could fix it quick. doctors really have a lot of patience for their patients...don't know how he kept a straight face.

but anyway, hoping to get out to the chino cornfeed run on saturday, and if i have any energy left, up early on sunday to pomona swap meet. we'll see.

waiting

1948 chevy fleetline

sitting in hospital er, waiting on my dad. i think he will be ok soon. probably going home soon.

had just driven an hour home to whittier, and got the call they were going in. so, packed a bag and turned around drove an hour back. oh well.

———

here’s a lovely fleetline to contemplate while i wait. better than pondering my navel.

back to real time

1963 cadillac

vacation days are officially over. back to a normal weekend, back to work on monday. wonder if i'll remember my password.

i used to check work emails while on vacation. they blocked that ability, unless you have official work-supplied phones or computers, so, now i can actually forget about work. kinda nice, i suppose, not knowing what minefield i'll return to. whatever. just another day in the life.

back end of a cadillac from the hillco fasteners show. i liked the color of the car, the fins of the car, and the shadow play back there.

week off

1946 chevy truck

i got back from my road trip two days early. caught up on some sleep today.

i should go for a walk, but i've only been out of the house to drive somewhere to pick up lunch. so tired of the food places uptown, but i don't know what else i'd have. kinda craving a salad right now. one out by house, not here in whittier. maybe when i go visit my parents...

i noticed some bananas getting over-ripe in the kitchen, so i guess i'll make some bread. way to spend some free days, right?

truck from the veteranos' kick back at in-n-out...was just a week ago now? two? haven't seen one of these models in a while.

kid is back

1952 buick eight

pretty sure i saw this one last week at in-n-out, before my trip. figured i just post this one from last year’s uptown whittier show, since i just saw a flyer for this summer’s show in a store window recently.

so highly polished, like they poured liquid shellac all over it.

———-

so i drove over one-thousand, one-hundred miles over the last two days. i’m feeling that i should have split it over three. today i get to unload the rental truck, but that somehow sounds easier than loading it was, though my arms are pretty tired from just holding the steering wheel on the truck.

of course, the worst part of the drive was going through los angeles. traffic could have been worse, since it was easter sunday, later in the evening, but it was moving, even if it was slow. thank goodness the dodger game had already started, so we weren’t stuck in that traffic.

knew we were back in california, just by the sudden decline in the road quality. washington and oregon seem to actually spend money on their highways. maybe because the weather up there makes it critically important, but california roads are just shit all the way down. sure there are stretches of road that are smoother, and maybe those counties cough up the money for it. but the majority of the way, especially in the right hand travel lanes, are bumpy, potholed, tire eating grinders.

i am surprised that none of the kid’s tarantulas or spiders died from the stress of all that bouncing. she had the snakes in pillowcases, and when she had to leave the dog in the car, would put them in the truck, so the dog wouldn’t stomp or chomp on them. they creep me out, even in the bags, and i only imagined them getting out and slithering around my feet while i drove, so i always made sure i gave them back before we got going again. i can only wonder what we looked like handing bags back and forth between truck and car.

had to hold up the line at the cali inspection stop, to open the back of the truck and have the inspector peek in. no fruit, or drugs, or guns, or whatever they look for, but at least he was nice enough about it.

i also had to drive through a weigh station at one point. never had to do that before, and that guy was a little snippy because i didn’t know i needed to drive three miles an hour while they weighed in motion. got yelled at by the invisible office worker via an intercom.

otherwise, i think every other weigh station in the state was closed for the day, so what was the point? i could have loaded up a shit ton of bricks, drove a lot, ruined the roads, and they’d never know. or what is the point of those stops anyway? guess i’ll have to ask the one trucker i know.

i do remember seeing someone northbound in norwalk, with a broke down white thirty-nine master deluxe. tow truck was there, and with all the road construction on that part of the freeway, i know that was a pretty tight place to have to take care of that type of thing. but really, my first thought was whether i’ve taken a picture of it before...

at your service

have you ever thought about the best taco you ever had, while sitting in taco bell, thinking about the best taco you ever had? ya, that happened. but, my fault for wanting something quick.

sometimes i shoot cars that aren't my favorite, because something catches my eye. this day, the paint was it. fresh, shiny, detailed work here.