I've just had reprints made of all the photos I shot in July, 1989, when Brian and I moved to San Francisco. I'm planning to re-do that photoalbum, using all the nifty state and travel related doodads that are in the craft stores. Looking at the photos has been an amazing trip down memory lane. Many of them were shot through the window of our U-Haul, as we crossed state lines. It took about 10 days to make our way across the country. I didn't take many photos of the first leg of the journey, which was between Brian's parents' house in New Jersey to Indiana. There are some of Brian's old neighborhood and house near Pittsburgh, but that was about all.

This is probably one of my favourite photos ever.

We were about halfway between Indianapolis and Terre Haute when we stopped to get some gas at Koger's Kountry Mart. As we approached the cities, we'd turn on the radio in the truck to listen to music or the news, and as we were passing through Indianapolis, we heard that there were several tornados in the area. I remember how black the sky looked north of the city, but the weather had settled down by the time we stopped. That was a long day. We'd left western PA at about 7:00 a.m. and we pushed through a sliver of West Virginia, all of Ohio and Indiana, before stopping just over the line in Illinois at around 5:00 p.m. I toyed with taking a quick detour up to Fairmount, IN so that I could pay my respects at James Dean's grave, but when I checked the map, it would not have been a "quick detour" and would have taken us several miles and hours out of our way, so we pushed through to Illinois. Someday we'll get back up there.

By the way, if you ever find yourself in the Ohio/Indiana area, do stop at a restaurant called Bob Evans. The food is amazing!

I'd wanted so much to take a picture of a barn with "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco" on the roof, but apparently those don't exist anymore. I think I saw only one barn in Ohio with an ad painted on the roof. Not to knock the heartland, but there isn't much to see when you are on the highway slogging through farm country. So, virtually no photos exist from most of that first day, other than "Welcome to Ohio" or "Welcome to Indiana" signs, shot from the cab of the truck.

When I look at the photos now, I can't help but think of the lyrics to one of my fave songs, called "On the Road":

Today may be a never ending highway

And yesterday a half-forgotten smile

But I can hear tomorrow singing from around the bend

It's just another dusty mile

And I've got dreams to spare and time to spend

Time to spend

So I'm the road

Travelin' free and easy (travelin' on)

Gotta get on (well I gotta get on)

Gotta fill my life with livin'

Just tell everyone I've gone

On the road

The morning whispers follow me, come my way

By noon I'm on the far side of the sun

And I can't keep these wheels from rollin' into one more town

There's so much to be seen and done

To settle up before I settle down

Settle down

(Chorus)

See the countryside unreeling

Watch it all unwind

Nothing I know beats this feeling

Of not knowin' where you're goin'

Or what you're gonna find

(Chorus)