Beyond the Fog

I was going through the gigabytes of photos I have amassed in the past few years.  It is slow and laborious, looking at each photo and deciding should it go or should it stay.

I came across this one taken in the Spring of 2008 at a Civil War Reenactment. I had forgotten all about the shots taken with the D70.

I can imagine myself right there behind the fog of war tramp-sing though the brush. The landscape where some of the skirmishes happened is very similar to those around the sutter by pass. The trees are different but still . ..

I spent a week in Jacksonport,  Arkansas hunting around the old sites.  The Black and White Rivers meet there and control of the area went back and forth between the Confederates and the Union. Walking through the back woods I came across old ammo, a few odds and ends – reminders of the social and political battles. I spent hours in the museum there years before it became a popular park and the ladies minding the history were so excited to have someone to share the wealth with.

This trip was an exciting one. When we crossed into Tennessee I got to experience a tornado as it passed by tossing cars up and bathtubs down.  Hugging the weeds along side the freeway was quit an experience for this California Kid. Then while driving through the backwoods of Georgia a small trickle of water turned into a ragging stream, My buddy finally convinced me that driving the rental car up a brush and tree covered hill was the only solution. Next the roadways in Arkansas were so covered with water that the only way to stay on the road was to keep one set of wheels on the shoulder so you could feel the edge of the road. The rental car company dinged me for a lost hub cap at the airport turn in – not bad considering all the poor car went through.

The strangest thing that happened (for me at least) was we were chased out of a town in Mississippi by a bunch of ya hoo’s because I drank out of the blacks only water fountain at a gas station. I so could not wrap my mind around it – segregated fountains in the 80’s?  go figure. I did get a super neat pair of cowboy boots farther toward the coastal area.

The photo also has me thinking it resembles the way my life is some days. Looking through a fog at the action going on around me.  I want to get in to the action but hiding behind the weeds and the smoke – it eludes me – waiting just beyond the fog.