You are welcomed to a special Journey series of NESTER posts featuring Jerry and Keith Olson’s car trip around the circumference of the United States. This Journey series features scenic vistas, and Keith’s artist’s eye captures unexpected images. Jerry’s & Keith’s added narratives and family photos add context to the journey! You will enjoy the entire series!
Greetings!!!!!!!! Jerry and I welcome you to join us on a car trip for the ages! This journey took the Grampie’s 63 days, 10955.5 miles and completed a circuit of the US border and included an unknown number of stops to snap an unknown number of photos.
After my “perfectionist” packing, the car was gassed, tires agreed to behave, mail held, hotel reservations pre-booked, etc.…we were off!!!
We sought PERMISSION from anything/anyone that might have been camera shy!!!!!
So, all you NESTER fans, we will begin by leaving NC and we’re off to enjoy our border states!!
Will begin with the map!
Keith
Among the things that originally brought Keith and me together was the pleasure of travel. We married late in life, and a lot of our travel was to get acquainted with each other’s past. Keith’s family arrived in Virginia in 1622. We had gone over Virginia and North Carolina. Since we were now retired, we thought about visiting family and friends outside our immediate area. So, we made a list. Then we added various sites near those family and friends. We put them on a map to prioritize or combine some of them. The next step was taken with the understanding we are not getting younger and had best get all of it in one grand tour. Jerry
GULF STATES
“So long to retirement” (YIPPPPPEEE) so, why don’t we “hit the road?” Keith
Leaving home we went south to the Florida Panhandle and then crossed the Gulf Coast through Louisiana. Visiting family and friends was our goal. What really struck us was the reality of the long-term damage from Katrina. This area was familiar having lived there. So, the damage two years later in Mississippi and Louisiana struck home.
I know that “the eye” is VERY necessary for the professional photographer which I could never claim to be! Snapping photographs is truly addictive!!!
In our travels we each brought something that gave us a different but complementary perspective to our trip.
Keith told me early on that she was an addicted photographer. She wanted to photograph almost everything she saw. For example, we were walking across a wet muddy parking lot, and she was taking a picture of what I saw as a mud pool. The sun was coming through clouds and what she saw was the reflection of a nearby tree with gnarled limbs. So, I did not mind waiting on occasion for the sun to move to get the right angle of some shadow. She was being the artist as a photographer.
NORTH TEXAS
Leaving the Gulf Coast for North Texas the goal was family time. We had been separately in the past to the Alamo, so it was on to New Mexico and Arizona.
Keith and Jerry Olson’s UNITED STATES ODYSSEY will continue the journey to New Mexico and Arizona with highlights including Santa Fe and the Grand Canyon.
CREDITS:
Photographer: Keith Olson
Writer: Jerry Olson, Keith Olson
Graphic Designe:Tim Olson
Editors: Lorelie & Tim Olson
NESTER url: https://notesfromanester.com
To view Keith’s post of WINTER SNOW IN NORTH CAROLINA – click here
