I guess there are a few benefits to being the signifigant other to a freelance photojournalist - you get to travel to exotic locals, enjoy meeting new and exciting people, assist in photoshoots and gathering information and sometimes you may even have your picture in the magazine. What no one realizes is the hardship you undertake as well, at least if the photojournalist is the Rover Chick!
First is offering to take your own Range Rover to an event because of how long of a drive it is to get to the off-road area and your '02 is a smoother ride then the Chick's old '91. Shouldn't be a big deal really until you are driving along in mud and your wheels slip out from under you, slamming your driver's door into a stump!
Then, while driving through a big mud puddle, both your fog lights are broken...oh, and did I mention the giant rock that hit the windshield in Charleston, WV?
Damage = one new windshield, two new fog lights, a new door handle and the time to take the dint out of the door!
And, when you do finally spend a weekend at home instead of driving all over the country, you are forced to repair not only the bits and pieces on your own rig but also the Chick's old Rangie! This shouldn't seem like a big deal either but with 250,000 miles on the old girl (the Rangie, not the Chick), the repairs seem endless. Plus, to add insult to injury, old oil leaks and lot's of dirty miles have made the job much more grimy then it should be! Notice the before (right side of the photo) and the after (left side of the photo) - much better! The list of repairs he has done on my old Kelsey in the last seven weeks is crazy - she is a new rig and should make the trip home to BC much more comfortably then the drive down here to Texas in April!
So don't think its all glamour when your partner is a photojournalist - a lot of time its just plain work!
And thank you, Jon! You are the very best!
Who remembers watching 'Dallas'? Miss Elly, JR and the whole sordid lot? Great show from the late 70's and early 80's that revolutionized prime time soap operas and coined the phrase 'who killed JR?'
Well, I watched it religiously and the fact I was in elementary school, well, it taught me a ton about the oil industry and dinking scotch. Too bad I don't like scotch and although I may have some stocks in various oil companies, they have yet to make me rich.
Long story short - we drove past Southfork today on the way to McKinney. It was amazing to see how small and normal the house is in real life and nice to see they are still keeping it as the oh-so-famous Southfork.
McKinney was a rare treat as well. I would have liked to have spent the whole day there shooting and exploring but time always seems to be an issue.
We went from McKinney to Delaney's Irish Pub to meet with a group from the Texas Rovers. Had great conversation and as usual, some of the guys ended up under the Rovers - I think they are all more comfortable there then pretty much anywhere else.
On the way home, Jon decided to take Kels (my Rangie) up a nice steep pile of dirt off the side of Highway 75. There are a few pics - she looked great up there. Too bad she decided to blow a gasket on the way home and is incapacitated yet again until we can get some parts.
Considering the heat of the day, we had a wonderful time sightseeing and visiting with friends - the perfect Sunday afternoon!
Sunday afternoon Jon and I decided to take the girls (his two Boxers) for a walk at White Rock Lake in Dallas. Beautiful big lake with a 10 mile running/cycling trail around its circumference. It was a spectacular Sunday afternoon so the whole place was packed with people enjoying picnics and getting their exercise.
The most interesting part pertains to this picture to the left. It is a 'perching park' to encourage birds to the area. Neat concept and there are definitely a ton of birds there! For pics, click here!
2200 miles in five days...we must be nuts! Well, I am and poor Jon just gets brought along on these crazy adventures of mine. We left Dallas Thursday morning and headed east. We made it as far as Nashville, TN that night without any trouble. We arrived at North Bend State Park Friday around 5pm est, set up camp, changed to the off-roading tires and hit the trails with the Blue Ridge Land Rover Club at 7pm for the night run. The night run was very entertaining - lot's of playing in mud puddles. Around one in the morning we made it back to camp and crashed still with no dinner. Nine am we were back on the trails for another day of playing in the mud - great fun! The banquet that night was delicious and the club had rounded up enough raffle prizes that everyone received one which was a neat trick. For more details on this event, read the August Land Rover World for my trip report.
Sunday morning we broke camp and got back on the road home. We made it almost to Little Rock, Arkansas that day - 870 miles. We were bushed and the dogs were happy to get out of the Rangie. The next morning we headed to Texarkana on the Arkansas and Texas border to visit friend and Land Rover nut John Monahan. He showed us around his amazing old house, the town and his own personal LR museum - cool stuff. Very nice collection! We made it home by 2:30pm and were happy to finally get out of the rig for good!
Click here to see the pics - warning they were mostly taken through the Rangie window so they are not my best work but they give an idea of the area. The first few are of a police chase and take down we got stuck in the middle of just outside Memphis, TN. Too bad that we didn't think of sending them to a newspaper or news channel until it was too late - would have been fun to have a byline!
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