On the Road Again

Traveling again.

If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard from me here in a while, it’s because I’ve been traveling. I’m doing one of my Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventures in northern Arizona, accompanied by a video crew and staff writer for a respected travel magazine.

The goal of this trip is to gather about 90% of the video needed to create three individual broadcast-length videos, each of which will be made available on DVD. It’s a huge project and, so far, we have at least 20 hours of raw video footage to wade through.

I’m flying with a door off and a video guy on board taking glare-free video images of what we fly over. He also has at least two POV.1 cameras mounted inside the helicopter at all times. The other video on the ground is “chasing” us — actually, he’s getting a big head start each day to drive to the airport where we’ll land before we arrive — and taking video of us landing. Then there are cameras whirring all over the place on the ground.

Wild HorsesThe writer is sitting up front beside me, taking notes and using my Nikon D80 to shoot images of what she sees. Although a good portion of the shots have some unfortunate glare — not much you can do about that when shooting through Plexiglas — many of them are really good. Like this shot she took of a herd of wild horses we overflew on the Navajo Reservation two days ago.

It’s been a busy week so far. Although I’m trying to demonstrate to the writer what my Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure is all about, I’m also working with the video crew to make sure we capture all of the footage we need for our three videos. I’m hoping she understands that my usual clients won’t be rushing around like nuts all day.

Antelpe CanyonI’m treating myself to a few of the activities my excursion guests get to enjoy. For example, on Tuesday, I joined the crew for a boat ride on Lake Powell that visited the “business side” of the Glen Canyon Dam before squeezing about a mile up Antelope Canyon (see photo) and gliding up Navajo Canyon for a look at the “tapestry” of desert varnish on some cliff walls. I skipped the Sedona Jeep tour and Monument Valley tour to work with one of the video guys or just rest up. Normally, while my guest are touring, I’m scrambling to get the luggage into their hotel room and confirming reservations for the next day. You might imagine how tired I am after 6 days of playing pilot and baggage handler.

At this moment, however, I’m sitting at the dining table of a double-wide mobile home near Goulding’s Lodge in Monument Valley. (Long story; believe it or not, the only lodging we cold get here in MV was in a pair of mobile homes that are part of the lodge.) I have the front drapes drawn aside so I can watch the eastern sky brighten for what promises to be a classic silhouetted butte sunrise. I always enjoy my dawns here at MV. Seeing the famous buttes outside my window is always surreal.

Today, we were scheduled to fly down to Winslow for lunch, then tour Meteor Crater and the Grand Falls of the Little Colorado River. Normally, the Southwest Circle Helicopter Adventure takes this route on the way to its last overnight stop at Flagstaff. But today we’ll probably go straight back to Page. I have four aerial photo shoots at Page starting on Friday morning; the money I make doing them will pay for this video excursion. We’ll do more video between those flights. Then we’ll hit the Crater, Falls, and Flagstaff on our way back to the Phoenix area on Sunday.

It’s a big trip and a bunch of huge projects. Just the kind of thing to keep me busy between flights for the winter season. But if all works well and as planned, I might be flying this route weekly in the coming spring and fall — with real paying passengers to take care of along the way.

A[nother] Trip to Lower Antelope Canyon

I finally make time to do a photo walk in the sandstone canyon.

For the past month and a half, I have been living less than two miles from Antelope Canyon in Page, AZ.

Lower Antelope CanyonIf you don’t know what Antelope Canyon is, you’ve probably never read Arizona Highways or seen any of the “typical” Arizona photos out there on the Web. As Wikipedia states, “Antelope Canyon is the most-visited and most-photographed slot canyon in the American Southwest.” Its reddish sandstone walls glow with direct and reflected light at midday, emphasizing the texture of the swirling patterns on the walls.

There are actually two Antelope Canyons: Upper and Lower. Most people go to the Upper canyon, which is upstream (south) of the other area. Upper Antelope Canyon is a short 1/4 mile stretch of slot canyon cut into a huge sandstone rock in the middle of Antelope Wash. It features cool, swirling sandstone walls and hard-packed, almost level sandy floor. I’ve written about it at least twice in this blog: “Antelope Canyon” (September 2006) and “Four Tips for Great Antelope Canyon Photos” (April 2007).

Entrance to Lower Antelope CanyonLower Antelope Canyon is downstream from upper. It has far fewer visitors. I think it’s more spectacular — with corkscrew-like carvings and at least two arches — but I also think it’s harder to photograph. It’s also far more difficult to traverse, requiring climbing up and down iron stairs erected at various places inside the canyon, clambering over rocks, and squeezing through narrow passages. For this reason, the Navajo caretakers don’t really limit your time in Lower Antelope Canyon. You slip through a crack in the ground — and I do mean that literally (see photo left) — and are on your own until you emerge from where you descended or from the long, steep staircase (shown later) that climbs out before the canyon becomes impossible to pass.

Lower Antelope CanyonI went to Lower Antelope Canyon with my next door neighbor and fellow pilot, Robert, today. It had been a whole year since my only other visit. After paying the $26/person entrance fee, I told the woman in the booth that I’d been there before. She told us to go on down, without waiting for a guide.

I had a few things with me that I didn’t have on my last visit. First and foremost was a tripod. I’d left my tripod behind on my last visit, thinking the light would be bright enough not to need it. Wrong. This time, I had a sturdy tripod I’d borrowed from Mike just for this trip. The only problem was, the tripod was old, its legs could not be spread independently, and the tripod was stiff from age or disuse. I also had two lenses I didn’t own last year: my 10.5 mm fisheye lens and my new 16-70 mm zoom lens. I packed light, bringing just the tripod and the camera with those two lenses. Rather than use my camera bag, I put the lens that wasn’ ton the camera in a fanny pack, along with a bottle of water and a lens brush.

Lower Antelope CanyonWe arrived at about 11:20 AM and the place was unusually crowded. But Lower Antelope Canyon is large and everyone spread out. Most folks only made the walk one way, taking the stairs up and hiking back on the surface. We would have done the same, but we ran out of time. We were in there until 2:30 PM; Robert had to be at work by 4 PM.

Robert in Lower Antelope CanyonWe made our way through the canyon slowly, stopping to take photos along the way. Positioning the tripods was extremely difficult sometimes, as the canyon floor was often only wide enough for a single foot to stand in it. My tripod really hindered me, but I made it work. I think Robert (shown here) had an easier time with his. We were two of dozens of photographers, most of which were very polite and stayed clear of other photographer’s frames. This is the biggest challenge at Upper Antelope Canyon. I find it stressful up there, as I told a trio of photographers from Utah. Lower Antelope Canyon is much more relaxing.

Lower Antelope Canyon StairsNear the end of the canyon walk, I was worn out. It wasn’t the hike as much as the struggle to find the right shots and get the tripod into position. I felt as if I’d had enough. So when we reached the last chamber before the canyon got very narrow (and muddy) and I laid eyes on those stairs, I realized it would definitely be better to take the easier route back. I took this shot with my fisheye lens, which was the only way to get the entire staircase in the shot. If you look closely, you can see Robert’s head poking out near the top.

Lower Antelope CanyonI took about 95 photos while in the canyon. Some of the better ones — along with some to illustrate the story — are here. There’s a better collection in my Photo Gallery’s new Arizona section. I’ll probably add others — as well as shots I’ve taken around Lake Powell lately — soon.

If you’re ever in or near Page, AZ, I highly recommend taking the time to visit one of the Antelope Canyons. Even if you don’t take a single photo, a walk through the canyon is something you’ll remember for a lifetime.

George Washington at the 76

Am I the only one who thinks this is funny?

On Saturday, on my way back from Ellensburg, I stopped off in George to buy a quart of milk. George is 5 miles south of my camper, and despite the fact that I’d driven past the town a half dozen times, I’d never stopped there.

The cleanest looking place in town to buy milk was the 76 gas station. I pulled in and parked. That’s when I spotted the bronze bust of George Washington. Moments later, I realized I was in George, Washington. (Duh-uh.) And then I realized that the 76 (as in 1776) sign was right behind George’s head.

So I took the photo.

George in Washington

Am I the only one who thinks this whole thing is funny?

Night Photos

A few night shots.

Sorry about sharing so much photography lately, but I’m going through my photos and adding the best ones — or at least the ones I like best — to my Photo Gallery. Along the way, it seems logical to write something about them.

I made these about a month ago, during a nighttime photo shoot around the Colockum (formerly Quincy Valley) Golf Course. I thought I’d put them online already, but I can’t seem to find them. So here they are: the three best from that shoot.

Quincy Valley Golf

The Quincy Valley Golf Course and RV Park was built a number of years ago by a now semi-retired man named Chuck. It started out with nine holes, built on a farm field. Chuck later added another nine holes and developed some extra land as RV lots in an “adults only” community. (The small RV park near the pro shop is where I’m parked for the season.) According to Chuck, who now handle the RV park irrigation and landscaping, the golf course was well-maintained and featured ponds and landscaping. For various reasons, he sold it to a man who was a golf-lover. Over the course of not very many years, the man drove the facility into the ground. He went bankrupt and eventually sold out to the Port of Quincy. When I arrived in June, they were busy fixing the place back up. They’ve done a nice job in only a few months and I think the Colockum Golf Course — it’s new name — has a good future here.

Quincy Valley GolfBut this sign, which is lighted at night, remains to remind us of the golf course’s past. It’s a great old-style sign that may not be in the best condition, but still calls out to passersby on busy state route 281 as they drive between Quincy, five miles north, and George, five miles south. My favorite part? The silhouetted golfer is wearing knickers. During the day, the sign is rather nondescript and not very interesting.

Night Tractor

Night TractorThe golf course is in the middle of farmland. All around are fields growing wheat, feed corn, potatoes, alfalfa, and other crops. There are all kinds of farm vehicles all over the place.

This tractor is parked in front of a metal building not far from the Quincy Golf sign. It’s illuminated by a single tungsten light fixture over the door to the metal building behind the camera. The camera picks up the greenish hue of the night, emphasizing the green of the tractor. The photo was taken not long after sunset, when there was still a bit of light in the sky.

I like the photo because the tractor makes me think of a sleeping monster — powerful, yet peaceful at rest.

Stop

StopThe golf course and its RV park are on the corner of a busy intersection. State route 281 runs north/south between Quincy and George. Road 5, also known as White Trail Road, is a sort of Quincy bypass, that runs east/west and then north/south, west of Quincy. Because it bypasses the traffic light (and minor traffic) in town, its popular with truckers traveling between I-90, five miles south, and Wenatchee, 35 miles northwest.

There’s no traffic light on the corner. Instead, Road 5 has a stop sign. To make that sign extra visible at night, it has a pair of blinking red lights on it. This time exposure was long enough to catch both lights on, illuminating the sign. This must be enough — in the nearly two months I’ve been here, there hasn’t been an accident at the corner yet.

If you like these photos, I hope you’ll check out my After Dark photo gallery.

Enterprise Customer Service

Confused, at best.

I had an unsatisfactory customer service experience with my car rental from Enterprise in Wenatchee, WA this past week. Although I normally would have blown the whole thing off, item number 5 in the list below really pissed me off and prompted me to send the following e-mail to Enterprise’s customer service. I’ve omitted the names here out of the goodness of my heart.

I was extremely disappointed with the service I received this past week at your Wenatchee location. Specifically:

1) On arriving at the airport, I called for a pickup to your location. I was told it would take 5 to 10 minutes. The pickup arrived 25 minutes later.

2) It was necessary to go to the downtown location to complete paperwork that could have been done in advance. This wasted even more time.

3) On the way to your location, the driver, who is apparently a new recruit right out of college, hit me with a barrage of questions about my business. What brings me to Wenatchee? Where am I from? Etc. These questions went far beyond simple conversation. The things he asked me were none of his business. And even one-word answers didn’t send him the message that I wasn’t happy about being grilled by him.

4) This same rental guy marked on my agreement that the car had 3/4 tank of gas. The car, in fact, had less than that. So I was obliged to return it with more gas than I got it with.

5) After returning the car to the airport the next day, I began receiving phone calls from someone named [omitted#1]. He left two messages on my cell phone’s voicemail system to say he was calling “about the car.” No specifics. I had no idea why he was calling and I kept missing his calls, since I was traveling and attending to other business in California. I began to worry that something had happened to the car after I dropped it off, but I had no time to return his calls to straighten the matter out. When I finally got through to the office this morning, [omitted#2] said that [omitted#1] had probably made a courtesy call to follow-up on the rental. What’s so courteous about leaving two cryptic messages on my voicemail with a callback request? Do you people think I have nothing better to do than to chat about my rental experience?

I will NEVER rent a car at your Wenatchee location again. And frankly, I’m unlikely to rent at any Enterprise location that is not based at the airport of my arrival.

The only positive thing about the experience was the car itself: the small Ford was comfortable, practical, and easy to drive and park.

You have no idea how items 1, 2, and 3 pissed me off. If it had taken 5 minutes more to complete the rental, I would have gone ballistic on the spot. I hate having my time wasted for no real reason. And being grilled by this kid right after the long wait really got on my nerves. I could have spent an extra $20 on a rental from Hertz at the airport and been out of there without any bullshit.

Postscript: after speaking to the Enterprise office in Wenatchee this morning, [omitted#1] had the nerve to call back. That’s three calls to waste my time. What is it about these people that they just don’t get it?

Update, May 27, 2008: Over the weekend, I received a bill from Enterprise charging me for 1 day plus 1 hour of rental time. I had the car less than 24 hours. So I had to waste more of my time calling Enterprise customer service to clear this up. Turns out, the idiot who checked me in swiped my credit card improperly, so they had no credit card on file for me. For some reason, they decided to bill me for 25 hours of use rather than the less than 1 day I had the car for. (They claimed I returned the car at 1 PM when, in fact, I was in Seattle getting on another plane at that time.) But my complaints to the main office seem to have made an impact. I was told to disregard the bill and that Enterprise would pick up the cost of this rental because of the screw-ups throughout. At least someone there understands customer service. But no, I’m not likely to rent from Enterprise again anytime soon.