Beyond the Boundaries of Time - a photo on Flickriver

In November 2012, we left Vallejo, California on a Thursday evening to begin a three-day marathon road trip across the United States to western Illinois. I was driving a Corvette convertible and my son was following me in our family four-door sedan. We chose the southern route along Interstate 40 desperately hoping to avoid snow.

We left the San Francisco Bay area at 6:00 PM head south and after driving all night, my son and I pulled in to a rest stop just west of Fenner (in the Mohave Desert of southern California) around 4:00 a.m. We tried to get some sleep in our cars. I found that trying to sleep sitting up in a bucket seat that won't recline to be rather difficult. After an hour, I woke up and realized that the sun was beginning to rise. There was an awesome cloud layer over the mountains in the distance and we were surrounded in every direction by some incredibly stunning scenery (which I hadn't been able to see in the dark).

I got out of the car, pulled on a coat and got out my tripod and camera... and spent the next hour taking shots in every direction. Then, we headed back out onto the highway again to drive another 24 hours non-stop before catching a couple more hours of sleep in the cars the next night. Because we were in a rush to get to our destination in time for my son to catch his return flight, this turned out to be the only time on our 2,300 mile (3701 kilometer) trip when I took any pictures.

Until now, I haven't really known where this picture was taken. When we were at the rest stop, I asked a custodian where we were at. He simply said, "Fenner." Thinking we were already into Arizona or New Mexico, I never found it on any map. This evening, however, I used Google Earth to "drive" the route from the Arizona/New Mexico border back into California and I located the rest stop in the Mojave Desert of southeastern California. Looking at photos that other people have posted on Google Earth, it is apparent that we drove through some stunning scenery in the dark. It is unfortunate that it wasn't in daylight, but if I had stopped even a couple of times, we wouldn't have made it in time.

On the following night, we again got only a couple of hours of sleep in the cars. We had driven through a huge sand storm and some torential rain storms. The forecast called for snow (the wide tires and power of the Corvette simply could not cope with that). My son and I even got separated for a couple of hours (which was really scary since I was buying our food and the gas for both vehicles).

When we finally arrived in Colchester, Illinois, we went into the house and couldn't figure out what the strong odor was... until I discovered that someone had left a gas burner on the stove open... it is a good thing that we weren't smokers! By the way, we were there only an hour or two before having to drive a couple more hours north to the airport. On the way, I think I fell asleep for a moment as we were passing a car on a narrow road (and I was flying down the blacktop at a high rate of speed). That really scared me so I woke my son up and asked him to help keep me awake (which was fruitless--he immediately fell back to sleep, leaving fate in my hands). It was daylight when I dropped him off at the airport only minutes before they closed the gate. I drove straight to the nearest hotel and slept for four hours before making the return trip to the house. When I pulled the Corvette into the pole barn out there in the country, it had just begun to snow.

PS: Sorry to be so long winded... Also, I've replaced the original image with this version that has reduced noise in the shadows and reduced blowout areas in the cloud layer. To achieve this, I used the method discussed by Blake Rudis of EverDayHDR in his tutorial at everydayhdr.com/tutorial-fixing-shadow-noise-and-highligh... (thanks Blake!). There are still some blown out areas in the mountains--but that's the way it appeared because the early light lit them up very brightly. Also, the original scene was more white than yellow, but the "artist" in me felt that this was more "dramatic."

IMG_9260 v4

© Stephen L. Frazier - All of my images are protected by copyright and may not be copied, printed, distributed or used on any site, blog, or forum without expressed permission.

Looking for Steve Frazier's main photography website? Visit stevefrazierphotography.com

Contact him at stevefrazierphotography@gmail.com

Taken on: November 9, 2012

Tags:

landscape

scenery

dawn

morning

rest stop

Interstate 40

I-40

USA

United States

America

sunrise

Canon EOS 60D

scenic

vista

sky

clouds

beautiful

November

winter

California

Mojave

Desert

arid

timeless « less

Sets appears in: • Other Personal Favorites • Sunset & Night Photography more » • Mojave Desert, California « less

Groups appears in: • Temporarely closed - sorry • Rural Excellence ~ Nature Landscapes ~ 20+ Faves more » • Lovers of Landscapes / Post 1, Award 2 • Best of Lovers of Landscapes/ Admin invite only. • **Optical Excellence Level 1 ~ Admin Moderated « less

Camera: Canon EOS 60D, f/11.0, 1/60 sec, 200mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 60D
Lens:	EF-S18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	200mm
ISO:	100
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Spot
White Balance:	Auto
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2015 (Macintosh)
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