Along the Mojave Trail

[cagney123]

After nearly a year and a half of inactivity on this site, due to health issues, I’ve finally

gotten to the point where I think I can participate again. I didn’t want to comment on

others’ work when my head wasn’t clear, and I didn’t want to post shows for the same

reason. Either I was in discomfort and might be negative, or I was on narcotics and

too positive. Either way it wouldn’t have been honest feedback. I’m just saying this

to let anyone who cares know that I will be around more frequently as long as my

health holds steady.

This show is more of my usual stuff…if you don’t like scenery from odd spots in the

Southwestern U.S. you won’t care for my shows. Karen and I love camping, and so

does Sammy, our Akita. We both love photography, Karen not Sammy, and we combine

these two great activities on holidays. Lately our schedules have conflicted, so I take

trips with Sammy while waiting for Karen to free up a week. I stay away from the National Parks

because they are too crowded for me. We have a lot of BLM land in the Southwest and most

of it hasn’t been over advertised in magazines and TV.

We can still find spots where we are all alone.

One last comment and then I’ll get off the soapbox. I received a couple comments

a while back about my dog Sammy. People think I let her run wild and terrorize the

wildlife or cattle in the area. To date Sammy has never hurt anything and being 8 years

old I doubt that she will in the future. She is big boned and can’t catch anything, and even

when she does find something close to camp she just looks at whatever it is and then looks at me.

No real terror going on. She did approach a cow one time.

I hadn’t seen the cow on the open range and had let Sammy off leash.

She ran in front of the cow and tried to play with it.

Of course the cow didn’t understand dog body language and I got Sammy back on leash

quickly. If a rancher had come along and thought Sammy was attacking his cow and

shot my dog I would have had no argument as it was totally my fault.

Also, we don’t make new trails as there are plenty out there. I guess I’m making

a long winded comment that really means, we camp responsibly.

That is a lot of words off topic, so now, on with the show. Nearly a week in

The Mojave Desert area of California. There is a readme file with the show.

Comments are always welcomed. I hope you enjoy the show…it is in

1920x1080 format.

Thanks for listening.

Jeff Lunt

Link: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/downloadfile.asp?id=1731

[mhwarner]

Glad to see you back with us, Jeff! Hope you are on the road to recovery.

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. We drove through that area last spring to see the wildflowers. While somewhat desolate by many people's standards, I think the area still has a great deal of beauty. Even though the weather was not what you were hoping for (or apparently expecting), the snow and the lighting made for some spectacular pictures. I really enjoyed the photography and the sequence of clouds and textures at the beginning and end were nicely done. I also enjoyed Sammi's encounter with the spider.

Thanks for sharing!

[Ken Cox]

JEFF

GOOD STUFF

keep well

ken

[d67]

That is a lot of words off topic, so now, on with the show. Nearly a week in

The Mojave Desert area of California. There is a readme file with the show. Comments are always welcomed. I hope you enjoy the show…it is in

1920x1080 format.

Thanks for listening.

Hi Jeff

Despite bad weather conditions you had chance to take some great and unusual shots !

I enjoyed much this pleasant trip story.

As attested by your aft right bumper, you made some unattended encounter !

Thank you for sharing

Patrick

[dpeterso]

That is a lot of words off topic, so now, on with the show. Nearly a week in

The Mojave Desert area of California. There is a readme file with the show.

Comments are always welcomed. I hope you enjoy the show…it is in

1920x1080 format.

Thanks for listening.

Jeff Lunt

Link: http://www.beechbrook.com/pte/downloadfile.asp?id=1731

Jeff –

It’s good to hear from you again. We seem to like the same sort of things, that is, poking around in the great outdoors with our dogs. So, it’s always good to travel with you and Sammy, even if it is vicariously.

I liked how you worked with the many different sky and earth textures. It demonstrates that there is plenty to see where there appears to be nothing. Your opening titles were cleverly done; I’ll have to try that technique myself. And the school bus, wow, it reminded me of Chris McCandless from “Into the Wild” book and movie. Now there’s a story about a guy who took what we like to do to an extreme. You mentioned the unfavorable weather, yet the snows gave the desert a special quality that really brought it to life. Lastly, the James Horner music was superb; a perfect mood match for what I feel when in the wild with my dog Trixie.

I’ll end by saying that there was something that I enjoyed more than the show itself, and that is knowing your health is improving and you are on the road again. I look forward to many more shows from you Jeff.

Best regards,

Dave

[cagney123]

Mary, Ken, Patrick,

Thanks for the kind remarks.

Mary...where did you come from when you visited the area last spring? That spider was a tarantula. They were all over the place, migrating I suspect. The next day it snowed.

Ken...I have no idea how you get around so much with your computer. You are everywhere!

Patrick...that fender bender happened in the city near my home. Like they say...most accidents happen within two miles of home.

Thanks so much. I am definitely getting back in the swing of things and enjoy this site very much.

Jeff

[cagney123]

Hey Dave...I was just writing a reply to the others who posted. I guess we crossed paths in cyberspace.

I agree. We share similar interests. And I did see the movie Into the Wild recently. I actually liked what he was doing to a point. The scene where he is parked in an Arroyo was exciting. To sacrifice all

those friendships and travel on was a bad choice. Some folks are just too driven and don't see all the flowers passing them by. I used to hit the road for a month at a time when I was younger...and did it

every other year for many years. It was wonderful, but I had a job to return to, so I never went too crazy.

Horner composes some sweet airy themes that are beautiful without being too intrusive. I put him near the top of my list always.

And thanks for the get well remarks. I am feeling like getting out there and that means I must be better. Last year I knew I was very ill when I just didn't

want to leave the house, or even my bed. Now that is just awful. I started looking at some old video from 1990 to about 2006 and realized

I'd seen so much and enjoyed it so much that I needed to make a real effort to walk and develop and keep an upbeat attitude. It really helps.

Thanks Dave.

All the Best,

Jeff

[mhwarner]

Mary...where did you come from when you visited the area last spring? That spider was a tarantula. They were all over the place, migrating I suspect. The next day it snowed.

Jeff

Jeff,

We live in northern Arizona just north of Seligman (between Williams and Kingman). Last March we drove up through Vegas to Pahrump, NV, then to Death Valley, down through the Mohave Preserve (past the Kelso train station) to 29 Palms and spent a day in Joshua Tree NP. The wildflowers were just gorgeous everywhere. One of these days I'll get around to putting some of the photos into a show. However, while we were avid tent campers many years ago, we upgraded to a 28-foot RV a few years ago. We tow a 4-wheel drive and are accustomed to "dry camping" so we do get into some pretty remote places, but we aren't quite as flexible as you with only the car and a tent or cot. We do bring along both our dog and cat, but the cat doesn't go outside and the dog is a small sheltie we keep on a leash and close by due to the danger of coyotes out here.

And I did recognize the spider as I often see them on the road near our house while I'm out walking. One of the benefits?? of remote high-desert living.

[LumenLux]

Jeff, I found your presentation enjoyable and well done. If you were able to sleep dry at night, I'd consider the snow a photographer's blessing. How many visitors can have the snow on that route. I think your scrolling textures were a very nice start and good reprise at the tail end. Your special effects added interest and did not over-rule your photography. Glad your getting the feeling back!

[cagney123]

Mary...It's nice to know you have a great place to live, with good proximity to so many great places.

Thank goodness you can still get to some of the off the beaten path places with being able to

take along the 4x4. Traveling light is very difficult as time passes. I'm just hanging by a thread

and before long I too will get a trailer...a very small one.

I've always gone with big dogs as my sister's dogs always killed my cats as a child. The first dog I got as an adult was a Great Dane. I had no idea why I always got big dogs until my wife, Karen, pointed out the childhood trauma.

Funny about the spider. I never know where people are from. We have a ton of Black Widows here.

Robert...good to hear from you. It has been a long time since I've been in the swing of things, but

it is coming back now. I was going to go in an entirely different direction with the show, but I just wasn't getting a good feeling about it all and then I changed the music radically. With the change in

music and a different tone altogether, I just changed everything with the beginning and end and think I got a better result. I bet you know all about that. You get stuck with an idea and just can't let it go.

I just keep on doing it over and over again. I'll learn one of these days.

Jeff