there and back again, an itinerary

Finally finished up that first roll of 120 film for the TLR. Twelve frames in two weeks, I'm a speed-demon. That's one of the nice yet frustrating things about shooting film. The cost of the film and processing combined with the low frame-count on a standard roll of film turn most people into meticulous and thrifty photographers.

So my inaugu-roll is sitting on the counter at Thompson Photo on Middlebrook and 21st, awaiting enough brethren to merit firing up the processor and mixing the chemicals. The negatives and a CD containing the images will be waiting for me when I get back from Texas in a couple weeks.

Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I'm going to Texas. Eventually.

The Great Roadtrip of Summer 2011 starts on Friday with a short drive up to Mammoth Cave National Park in central Kentucky. I have an 11:15am Grand Avenue tour slot reserved. Unfortunately the tours are the only way you're allowed to explore the gargantuan cave system, but the Grand Avenue tour is supposed to take about 4 hours (over 4.5 miles), so it should be worth it. Probably gonna go find a backcountry site once I finish up with the tour and camp out Friday night.

Saturday I drive up to Indianapolis to meet my family for an old friend's wedding on Sunday. For the 2nd time in 2 years all 5 of us are finding our way back together from 3 continents. Should be a bunch of old friends from Senegal at the wedding, so it'll be a reunion of sorts.

Sunday night/Monday will find us caravaning up to Iowa, stopping periodically in Illinois to see extended family (whom I still only see every 4 years or so, even though I live in the same country now...). Cedar Rapids, IA is a home-base of sorts for my parents and where one of the sisters lives, so I'll hang out up there Friday which happens to be Dad's birthday.

Next I'm off to the minuscule town of Menno, South Dakota, where the first Aisenbreys to America decided to park their wagons and set up camp. I've always been enthralled by my family's genealogy, and lucky enough to have a name rare enough that the lines can be traced back to 1600 (and maybe earlier, which I hope to find out if I can track down the family historian in Menno). My great, great grandfather, Christian Aisenbrey, whose name I borrow for my middle, is quoted describing the area, "When we came in this region in May 1874, it was a bare open prairie. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but green grass and above it, the blue sky; no trees, no bush. On occasion, one could see small herds of antelope and a few buffaloes, prairie wolves and coyotes."

So after a day or two on the "bare open prairie", It's a straight line south, about 700 miles, to my next designated stop in Denton, TX, about 30 mins north of DFW. Friends and friends-of-friends, good food, and Texas heat for three or four days before making the slow and muggy drive back to Knoxville on I-20 (I-40 is just too monotonous).

So look forward to posts and pics and travel-logs and whatnot, and say a prayer for safe but adventurous travels.