Weekend Road Trip

This weekend I was able to spend some quality one on one time with Che. It was great and the first chance we’ve had to do so in weeks. Our original plan to visit our favorite river was canceled due to the river being higher than it’s been in years. So instead we decided to take a road trip to a flea market near Tahlequah. The weather has been amazing lately so a road trip, windows down with the music up sounded great. We stopped to shoot a few fun things we noticed in downtown Muskogee. I definitely want to go back there soon and shoot more. We ended up taking a wrong turn and went 20 minutes the wrong direction from our original destination. But like usual we looked at each other and with a big "oh well" headed down another road. It is so nice being with someone with the same laid back attitude about life. 

We found a few other cool places to shoot on the way including a burned down road side biker bar and an abandoned barn. I don’t know why I’m so drawn to these places but I am for sure. Along the way we also had a brief encounter with death. We were driving along and I suddenly felt cold, very cold, for a brief few moments. At the same time Che says “whoa did you see that?” A semi had swerved around a car coming in the opposite direction of us; a near miss that surely would have taken all of us if the driver had not been so skilled. I was shaken but not freaking out. Moments like that make me appreciate the life I have and the people around me that I love so dearly. Che is intimate with death and says he can actually see him follow people around. His history with Timmy has given him this ability. I think he was definitely a passenger in our car for a few moments and I’m glad to rid him goodbye for now.

A few more stops at road side flea markets and this great bridge made for a wonderful afternoon. Driving along without aim just waiting to see what’s around the next corner is one of my favorite things to do. I love it that Che enjoys it as much as I do. We both have that desire for adventure and new experiences and sometimes we’re limited to what we can do to get that on a Saturday afternoon. 

 

Saturday evening we got to go to Roger Water’s the Wall. It was so great on so many levels. That album is permanently burned into my soul. My mom tells stories of me sitting in front of one of those big floor speakers when I’m just a toddler swaying back and forth to comfortably numb. As a teenager I listened to it almost nightly on my record player in my room; flipping the album every other night. So to hear it live and with all of the amazing visual projections was just incredible. We were literally 12 seats over from where the wall was being built throughout the show and probably 30 feet from the stage. The music stepped me back in time to a place where I felt so separated from everyone, so alone in life and hiding behind my own emotional wall. It’s nice to reflect and see how far I’ve come in my life. I loved how Roger has turned the concept of the wall into a more communal idea instead of just a self-loathing diatribe. The concert had a huge anti-war theme and it moved me deeply to see the pictures and stories of fallen soldiers projected onto the giant wall. I am in total agreement that as overwhelming as all of the death and loss is, we cannot just sit back and hide behind our walls. We have to tear them down and stand up for what matters.