The Great Smaug

[imiceman44]

True. Plenty of kid pictures get taken, but few of those get posted online. Perhaps a more accurate statement is that we're still taking plenty of pictures, but fewer of them are intended for public consumption.

I rarely post pictures of my family.
I post pictures of work or something I see that could interest people here like cars.
I also only take pictures because my wife wants me to.
I lost all my pictures up till age 25 in a fire.
Then I lost all my pictures during my dating year with my wife and the honeymoon.
I decided to enjoy life instead of worrying about taking pictures of it

 

[campfire]

I decided to enjoy life instead of worrying about taking pictures of it

Good mindset. I used to spend large amounts of time finding and framing interesting shots. Now I let the kids dictate the photographs, and spend minimal time worrying about framing. The shots come out however they come out.

Sometimes that means they're useless, blurry messes.

 

[campfire]

Looking back, I wish I had some pictures of the rebuild process that went into my stepside. I learned a lot from that. But I didn't own a camera back then, so I just have my memories...

Adventures with Big Blue

This is the story of a blue truck and its adventures. TOC: Purchase and Initial Repairs 1600-Mile Test Drive to Lake Superior (Duluth & da U.P.) - Summer 2012 Fall-time Along the Mississippi River (Fall 2012) Cassville Wisconsin (Fall 2012) Dubuque & Mt. Pleasant (Fall 2015) Northwoods...

ck5.com

 

[shady]

Distance-wise, Jackson & Jones counties are just fine. Farms, trees, & bluffs make for pretty scenery, and we've already started our touring season (yay for having an extra month of summer every year!)

My experience with Iowa offroading has just been b-grade roads and mud (and I'm not a fan of mud).

Clearly we need to meet up for a trail ride sometime.

I'm off work until like the 9th or so. Shouldn't be that muddy at the moment.

A lot of the level Bs around here are just a straight semi flat dirt road yeah.
But then areas I mentioned have all the hilly, bluffs and valleys stuff from being at the edges of the driftless area. So there's some technical (ISH) stuff with hills and rock outcroppings and zig-zags that make em less boring.

Like I said, I haven't explored joes really. But there's whole jeep off roading clubs and such around like Dubuque, so there has to be more fun stuff to do.

We could meet up and I could run you through some of the Jackson stuff at least. It's all real close to maquoketa caves too.
Bet the kids haven't went through dancehall cave yet..
Kaz has been asking to go back through lately too.

 

[campfire]

Swan song for the SmaugTruck. Took the truck out on a short exploration of some slightly-swampy trainyards.

First up, I finally hooked up the pyrometer. I'm not pushing this engine hard enough to really need one, but it's still nice to see it functional. Finally.



This region doesn't have real woods, but it still does have a few trees here & there (as long as I frame the shot correctly).



No more ratchet strap.



Across the road it's just flat cornfield. Shatters the woodsy illusion cultivated in the shots above.



Heading down to the trainyards, this road leads through low swampy areas. The signs read "impassable during highwater" and "do not enter when flooded."





Hidden in this small cluster of trees is a cool old bridge.







A pleasant creek.





I managed to mess up the lighting settings on the camera. Oh well, it just makes everything look dark and shady.





This bridge is nearly useless for traffic, as it's wedged between two busy rail yards that routinely block access from either direction. The locomotive horns and slamming of couplings effectively shatter the peaceful tranquility otherwise found here. An interesting juxtaposition. The view from one end (train is by the power pole):



The view from the other end (the train is in those trees):



Trains, trains, trains. The engineers here spend all day building and rearranging consists. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to cross both yards this day. I've tried and failed to pull this off in the past (eventually giving up and turning around).

There are also a couple main lines that see faster pass-through traffic (but those only block the crossings for minutes instead of hours).







This yard is quiet at this moment, but it had been busy while I was at the bridge. I just happened to catch it at a lucky moment (though the headlight in the distance tells me it won't stay quiet for long).








A fun adventure exploring a cool old bridge. Finally made it all the way through this time!