More Widelux & Panoram: Route 66

Hi all,

 

More shots from the July 2007, father-son bonding trip down the length of Route

66 in a Jeep Wrangler.

 

I used the Widelux almost as a point-n-shoot, so when I returned home there

were many shots that absolutely thrilled me.

 

Enjoy!

 

Doug Grosjean, NW Ohio<div></div>

Next...<div></div>

The most interesting spot, once upon a time. Real Indians..!<div></div>

Geronimo's Trading Post, eastern Arizona, Route 66. Lots of hardwood, none of it even chained down....<div></div>

Wigwam Motel, inspiration for the "Cozy Cone" Hotel in the movie "Cars." Holbrook, Arizona. Kodak Panoram.<div></div>

Grand Canyon, from below the rim. Interesting hike. Take water, and your time....<div></div>

Hackberry, Arizona. Inspiration for Lizzie's "home" in the movie "Cars."<div></div>

Route 66 to Oatman, at Schafer's Fishbowl. Widelux.<div></div>

Oatman, Arizona on old Route 66. Kodak Panoram. The new Harleys on the left were being ridden by a group of Norweigians, who would ship them home to Norway when the trip was done.<div></div>

Roy's, at Amboy, California. No gas, no food, no guests, little traffic. 110F in the shade, and we meet a man bicycling to the West Coast. Not for the fun of it, I'd guess... that bike was probably everything he owned.<div></div>

Ludlow Cafe; Ludlow, California. Widelux.<div></div>

Finally, the West Coast. Santa Monica and Ocean Blvd., the western end of Route 66.<div></div>

An unusual Widelux portrait, taken in a roadside rest outside Indianapolis, Indiana. My son, asleep, after we'd driven from Crystal, Colorado to Indianapolis over the past 1.5 days in the ragtop Jeep.<div></div>

Doug, I've been to those places. That's an outstanding piece of work you've done with that camera.

Gene, coming from you, I'm very flattered. Thanks!

 

I think the most surprising one is the last one, my son asleep. Man, it's got every detail - the rumpled blanket, our gear stashed willy-nilly in there, stuff dusty and dirty, and just exhausted.

 

I've got to put together a slide show of the pics, as I'm going to do a talk on 66 at the local (Clyde, Ohio) library towards the end of February. At the same time, I'll have some of the panos on display there as well, to help drum up interest in the talk.

 

It's voluntary, but the librarians are nice there, and it's a way of sharing / giving back to the community.

I also really like the shot of Roy's. I'd never been to Cali, and to cross from AZ to CA in the heat, and see the land get even more empty... felt just like the Joads in the "Grapes of Wrath."

These are great. Thanks for posting. Very inspirational as I still waiting for my No.1 Panoram to return from the repairman.

Thanks for sharing these Doug, a real Cooks tour indeed.

 

Tony

Very nice photos. A slice of history. I like the Sitgreaves Pass shot.

Karl: Thanks! What's being repaired on your Panoram? Who works on them? Mine hangs up on the left-to-right low-speed exposure. I can work around it, by never starting from the left at low-speed, but if it can be fixed I might do so.

 

Tony: Thanks! Am curious - what is "cook's tour"? Is that like a "busman's holiday"?

 

David M: Thanks! Sitgreaves Pass was hot as (fill in the blank). But the reason for the stop there was a little spring in the cliff called Schafer's Fishbowl, about the size of a hand-washing sink. The spring had some bricks laid in place around it to create a reservoir, rather than just seeping down the side of the cliff. I'd been through there in 1984 when I saw it for the first time, and recalled it having fish, but back then I didn't know why or what it was called. A Google search prior to the 2007 trip gave the name and a story about somebody putting fish in the spring, creating an instant tourist attraction back in the old days. Sadly, the fish are gone. Probably cooked during a drought would be my guess, or maybe they die off each year and people quit re-stocking the fishbowl. But lots of evidence of cows (dung) getting drinks at the spring. Anyway, by the time I walked up to the fishbowl and looked around, the scene below was just perfect. The fishbowl is just out of the frame on the left.

 

The trip down Route 66, if you're into commercial archeology, is pretty amazing. 80% of the route still exists and can be driven, but I'd guess that 90% of the infrastructure is gone. Small towns will have 3-4 motels at each end, and all are closed. Gas stations and diners, almost the same thing, but a few have hung on by servicing locals. The really old alignments of Route 66 are now dirt ranch roads, and now and then there'll be a motel behind barbed wire, no doors anymore, cattle using it for shade / shelter. Several small towns had subways so the kids could cross under a Route 66 that was bumper-to-bumper with traffic, but now you read the plaque and hang out a bit, and there's just a handful of cars in 10-20 minutes' time.

 

Punch line is that I didn't think I'd like a trip down Route 66. I wanted to go to Alaska for the father-son bonding, but my son wanted 66 because of the movie "Cars." After the fact, I've no regrets.

 

We took 2 weeks to go the 2300 miles from Chicago-to-LA, but somebody else shooting more and savoring the experience and waiting for just the right light or weather, could easily double that time.

Here's a link to a pic of the fishbowl. The photo isn't mine, hence the link instead of uploading it to the site. It exists on a neat page about Route 66.

 

http://www.bygonebyways.com/66AZ-Sitgrieve's%20Pass-Shafer%20Spring%20&%20Road%204.JPG

Great pics, topically as well as technically, but captions make the day!

I sent it to Ken Ruth at Photography on Bald Mountain.

 

www.baldmtn.com

 

Mine had a couple of tears in the bellows, fairly erratic lens swing, missing red window on the back, and a dry bubble level. On the plus side it is quite nice in terms of cosmetics and it has a Goerz Doppel anastigmat lens (i.e. early Dagor). It wasn't a cheap fix but still just about the cheapest way to do 6x17cm hand held.

Karl,

 

Thanks for the info, re: Ken Ruth. I've been meaning to send him a Kodak Medalist that has a "stiff when cold" focus.

 

I'd love to see how your Panoram turns out. A decent lens grafted onto a Panoram would be the cat's meow.

Should be fun. It'll be the first swinging lens camera i've used. I picked up an Xpan a while ago and that made me want to do more panormic shots on bigger film.