gone to look for america

disclaimer: the following photo-journey contains photographs of nauvoo, il.  readers who may find such images uncomfortable are advised to proceed with discretion.

given that some of my writings of the great cross-country trek were a little long and given that some readers here a) have offspring tugging for their attention near-constantly, b) may be illiterate, and c) just might not like me enough to bother reading whatever it is i write, i have chosen to put up a whole buncha pictures from the trip with brief captions.  because, in light of the a) through c) possibilities, there's also d) i just had a lot more that i wanted to show.

here's what we did:

day 0: the pre-show

here we are, together at one edge of the continent.
in four days, we'll be at the other side.
....provided we don't get abducted by aliens in nevada.
(the sun is in my eyes.)

my feet, the atlantic.

i think we were all a little sad that jess was
going the other direction--across the
atlantic--rather than with us.  still,
it was great to see her before she left.

day 1: A to C

so this is what new jersey looks like....

counting the cars on the [pennsylvania] turnpike...

this is one of my regrets of the trip: how boss would it
have been to have a picture of every "welcome to
[this state]" sign that we passed?  very.
lamely, i'd usually forget about it until we were almost
there.  as a result, this is one of my better shots....

i had a red door, God has a green door.

jaime, master of the self-portaits.

hello, cleveland!

 day 2: C to E

legit typography

by comparison, this is very modern nauvoo....

any place that looks like this just HAS to be good.
...except that they were closed, so we ate down the street.
still, seriously awesome marquee...

no ruby red squirt here.

o-ma-ha!

day 3: E to F

it's a museum built OVER the interstate.
even if it's lame inside, it's still awesome...

truck stop technology: you choose the
ice cream and the thickness, the
machine makes you a milkshake.
what more could you want?

how about a whole chicken?
thank you, bro-tisserie.

"potter," as in "harry potter."
we also saw signs for "jack (something)", "jeffrey lake,"
"peterson", and i think there may have been a "caleb"
and a "jessica" in there somewhere, too.

ok, wyoming, you're prettier than i remember.
the fact that you aren't a snow-blown death
trap helps, too.

I-80, the third member of our journey.

day 4: F to G

jaime, walking on water.

mexican "death star valley"?

A to G.
not counting the additional two hours to the pacific.

it was an amazing trip already, but let's
drive across the golden gate bridge,
just for good measure.

we made it!! coast to coast!!

my feet, the pacific.

the reality: it was absolutely freezing out there!!
i think it was around 50 degrees out.

somewhere out there is the house from "full house,"
and one day i'll see it.

did you know san francisco had a place
like this?  i didn't.  i just recently saw this
in a clip from hitchcock's "vertigo":
jimmy stewart walked where i walked.
yeah.

the sacramento temple.  : )

the parting of the fellowship at
the phoenix airport.

so, check off yet another thing i completely wasn't expecting when i said that i looked forward to the unknown adventures of 2011.

all the way to reno (and then some)

saturday, may 28, 2011
6:00 p.m. northern california

we're here, essentially.

NOT the ocean

we made it to jaime's dad's house, which is our official destination, since the point of the whole trip was to get jess's car from there to here. but jaime and i decided we were going to go coast to coast, which is why we're in the car for two more hours: i'm going to put my feet in the pacific ocean, dangit! ...or at least take a picture of us at it.

today was our shortest drive: 9 and some hours, i think. and it's certainly felt short. honestly, it's felt like a three-hour drive. after three days of driving 12-14 hours, 9 is a breeze. we're just numb to it all now, i think.
i played dj for the morning, spinning (can i say that, even though it's on an ipod?) r.e.m.'s “new adventures in hi-fi” because this guy i knew in college told me it was really good music for driving west on I-80. worked for me. that was followed by arcade fire, the decembrists, and any other hipster fodder i could find on my pod.  yesterday jaime consented to let me play kraftwerk's "autobahn" because we're on a road trip and i wanted to.

I-80 goes right past the salt flats and jaime had never been on them before, so this definitely justified a stop. rather than being a white desert, however, it was a lake. whether from rain or snow melt, i dunno, but water doesn't drain quickly (or at all?) out there, and so until it evaporates, it's not going anywhere. so, when life gives you a lake, walk on the water!  one gnarly feature of the salt flats is that it's completely level, so the water is three inches deep at the “shore” and three inches deep 50 yards out. i suggested jaime trounce out there for a rad picture and she, being a good sport, took off her shoes, rolled up her jeans, and walked straight out. even watching that was nearly an optical illusion, as it seemed like she should've been getting deeper, but never did.

while she was standing out there, a lady yelled, “you're famous!” as jaime was putting her shoes back on, the lady walked over and said she took her picture and was going to show it to her friends in new hampshire (i instinctively wanted to ask to see her car until i remembered that we had new hampshire). i explained to her that this wasn't the great salt lake and that normally it was a desert.
back on the road, we saw a “hawaii” plate. and got excited.

nevada was prettier and more interesting than i remember (i confess: so was wyoming), we listened to talks by elder maxwell, oaks, uchtdorf, and bednar, and stopped at the in-n-out in reno. as i mentioned a few days ago, one of our rules for this trip was to eat at local places as much as possible; in-n-out counts because a) there isn't one anywhere in the big ol' state of texas and b) it's awesome.

it turned out that the reno in-n-out was actually in sparks, nv. i know sparks because that's where my mom grew up. i've always pictured it as a small little town on the outskirts of the world's biggest little city, but apparently that was then. it's pretty big, boasting casinos and seemingly a part of reno. between new jersey, iowa, and here, it's been nice to drive through a bit of my family history.

excepting the rainstorm in indiana on our first night, we've had good weather this whole trip. until california: snowstorm.
yeah.
nothing like wrapping up a four-day road trip with a snowstorm on a winding mountain road.
but we're here now, less than two hours from the pacifc.
i'm hoping some families from vermont or rhode island are enjoying that same beach.

you gotta fight....

in my readings on interviews with great directors and cinematographers, i've again and again people say that the best advice they've received was "don't back down when you know you're right," or attributing a great director's success to their determination to their vision, their refusal to back down.

and yet the global fundamental of working in a collaborative art form like film making is the grand art of compromise.  we all know that.  we all know that it's important to work with others, to listen to their ideas, even if they aren't your favorite.  not to demand that it's only your ideas, but to listen to others' opinions.

so i've been wondering about that this past week, as we've been going in circles on the story for our summer animation.  we've gotten tired, frustrated, and exhausted with the story and even with each other.  (in a twisted way, i kind of like this, because it think it'd be pretty rad to work in story some day and i know that this is absolutely what it's like in the big leagues....)   further making things difficult, there's no director here, no one with any greater weight or voice than any other.  so we just go in circles, almost coming to a solution then everything falling apart again in dissent.

by nature, i'm one who likes to include everyone, to try to listen to every voice and address them all.  and yes, that's a very good quality (no, i'm not perfect at it), but over the years i've been learning, too, that there are times when it's important and necessary to be decisive, to look at the options, and then make an executive decision.

i don't have that power or option here, but it's something i've been thinking about this week, and something i've been trying to be better at in my life.

days of heaven

friday, may 27, 2011
4:05 p.m. passing cheyene, wy

one unanticipated fun thing about traveling with jaime is that i'm guy with the pretty girl that all the guys get jealous of at the truck stops.

it's like the ocean!

we grabbed lunch at the ta truck stop just outsde of cheyene. jaime went for taco bell, i chose a whopper and remembered that burger king's fries aren't that good. we still check for the elusive ruby red squirt at every stop, precisely because it is just that—elusive--i suppose. there's something really interesting about the truck stop culture; i'd like to do a documentary there or at least listen to a “this american life” show about it. although the visual look of the guys is a definite part of the experience, so maybe radio wouldn't be the best medium.

we stayed last night at brady's parents' house. they were great, very welcoming and happy to have us there. i talked movies briefly with brady's dad then we went to our rooms. as i was lying in bed, enjoying the comfort, jaime sent me a text: “this bed is awesome!” i smiled.

this morning we spotted montana, wyoming (yeah, didn't see that one until about a hundred miles from the state), and louisiana, which i didn't see but jaime spotted. we're down to three license plates: vermont, hawaii, and rhode island. due to some road construction, we were merged to a two-lane highway, which had me pressed up against the wind shield, trying to spot the one-foot plates on front of the cars moving at a relative 160 mph past me. i thought i saw vermont and hawaii, but couldn't confirm them. it's even trickier when each state has several variants. who knows, maybe some rhode island family is vacationing at wendover?

somehow, my road always
leads me back here

yesterday jaime noted how everyone mentions how boring nebraska is to drive through, but she said she thinks it's pretty; she compared it to the ocean: green extending as far as you can see.  i like that and agreed with her, even as i got a text from a friend this morning commenting on how dull nebraska is. irrespective of nebraska however, she, i, and, most vehemently, my brother, dislike wyoming.


we're on disc 15 of 17 on hp7, the trip odometer says 1,932, and we're staying in salt lake tonight.  today we have no planned sights to see except the country around us.
the road goes on.

saul, paul, and me

one of the most notable characteristics of the lds church is that of personal revelation: of receiving divine guidance in response to questions and choices in my own life.

i really started to learn about this as a missionary.  my branch president in the mtc gave us a lesson on the different ways that we receive revelation with more clarity and reality than i have ever heard before or since.  it drastically altered the way i tried to live each day, and as we would learn more about following those spiritual promptings and impressions during training meetings in japan, i tried to apply that into my life.

like most determined returned missionary byu freshman, i worked to live my life in accordance with the Spirit.  i prayed about things.  i studied them out in my mind.  i went to God in humble prayer for guidance on all manner of decisions, choices, and paths.  i waited.  i listened for what i should do, looked for answers and signs.

and i think i did alright at it.  i remember my mission president telling me something during my final interview with him.  he asked what i'd learned most during my time as a missionary and i replied that i learned about the guidance that comes from the gift of the Holy Ghost.  he compared it to a fiber optic cable, saying that people could look at it and think, "oh, there's light," not realizing that in that light is information.  likewise, he said, the feeling of the Spirit isn't just to give us a warm fuzzy feeling, it's to teach us something.
then he told me something that has echoed with me in all the years since.  "there are some decisions in our lives that the Lord feels very strongly about," he said.  "and there are other things that He says, 'you decide.'  and those decisions," he wisely noted, "can be maddening."

sincerely wanting to following Heavenly Father in all things, it can be very easy to sit, at your bedside or simply in your life, and wait for the correct answer.  we want to do what is right and we don't want to make a choice that is displeasing to God, and so we don't move until we see it (to borrow a line from searching for bobby fischer.)

i've thought about saul.  he persecuted the heck out of the members of the church of Jesus Christ of former-day saints.  he was an absolute terror to them.  and, if i'm not mistaken, he believed he was doing God's work.  then, on his way to damascus one day, he had a vision from God.  his heart was changed, he was baptized, and he became one of the greatest special witnesses of the Savior to ever walk the earth.

he wasn't sitting around his home when the vision came to him.  he was out there, going in a direction and moving with all his might.  yes, he was certainly going in the wrong direction, but he had a goal and was at it with inertia.  when a moving ball bounces up against a wall, it will go in a new direction with (about) as much force as it carried in its initial direction.  a ball that is hardly moving at all won't show much of a change if it bumps against the same wall.

as i've sat in spots in my life, totally willing to do whatever God wanted me to do, just straining hear what He would tell me, i started to think about this.
"for behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.  verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;" (d&c 58:26-27)

i don't remember praying a lot about coming to a&m.  i knew i needed to find a career that would allow me to support and family and still creating amazing art for all the world to behold and this computer animation thing sounded like a good choice.  i don't think God has decreed that unless i am a computer lighting artist that i will be damned and go to hell.  i do think He knows me pretty well and would agree that i'd probably enjoy this more than i would selling insurance policies, and He will direct me to those things which will bring greatest happiness.  but for so many choices, there are plenty of great options and it's our choice.

becoming like God requires we learn to follow Him in all things, but using our gift of agency also means taking the scary risk of making choices for ourselves.  even if we make the wrong choice, He'll nudge us to the right one.  i've seen this in my own life.  but we won't see that until after we make the choice.

personally, i sometimes wonder if i've gone too far in that direction and i'm trying to counsel with the Lord a little more these days.
i'll get it right, someday.

fields of dreams

thursday, may 26, 2011
7:46 p.m. somewhere along the plains of iowa

driving through iowa at sunset, i think this is the most beautiful part of our trip so far.

this morning we left our hotel in indiana, took I-80, crossed I-94, and passed by chicago. I-80 leads to utah, I-94 leads right to my parents' house in minnesota, and chicago is my old temple district. so this is kind of a junction of my life.

i'd never been to kirtland before, but i've been to nauvoo twice and, apart from going to the temple (which we wouldn't have time for), i wasn't really sure what i wanted to see on our stop there. we stopped by john taylor's house, where a somewhat nervous sister missionary gave us a tour. unlike a fair amount of buildings there, the john taylor home is the real deal, so that was cool. cooler still is the story the sister told us about the rocking horse in the upstairs bedroom: when they left nauvoo, their son was crying for the first few days. when they learned that it was because he was missing his beloved rocking horse, john taylor went back, and, in disguise, recovered his son's toy. most of the pictures i've seen of president taylor have him looking somewhat gruff, so it was fun to hear about the compassionate side of him.

next door was the printing shop, where john taylor was the editor of the town paper (i had no idea....) the senior sister missionary gave us a demostration of how printing was done back in the day. we learned that “mind your p's and q's” was a saying that came from making sure the apprentices put the correct letters back in the appropriate boxes, and that “upper case” and “lower case” designations are because capital letters were kept in the upper cases and the, um, lower cases were kept in the “lower cases.” i don't have as fervent of a fascination with old timey printing that some readers here do, but i still think it's pretty dang cool and took some pictures of it all.

we wandered around town aimlessly for a bit, not really sure what we wanted to see. i've always liked the red brick store but wasn't really sure where it was, since all of the streets and brick buildings look the same to me. jaime said she wanted to see where joseph and hyrum were buried, so we headed to the cumminity of Christ section of town.
we found the smith family cemetary, where not only are the prophet and his brother are buried, but also emma and several of their children and other relatives. located next to a small house and on the bank of the mississippi river, it's a beautiful spot. we took a moment to read the plaques posted around and appreciated what it all meant.

just down the block was the red brick store. why do i think the red brick store is so cool? well, first of all, it's where the temple endowment was first given. that's a pretty special pace. it was also where the relief society was organized. and i realized that the times i'd been here before, i'd never been inside (although i've filmed an interview with one of joseph smith's decendants in front of it). but the sign said “open for business”, so we went inside.

it's set up like an old general store, which joseph initially ran (but wasn't a very good businessman, due to extending credit to so many people). and today it sells old fashioned candy, harmonicas, dishes, sun stones, and replicas of the original copies of the book of mormon, book of commandments, and other such things. the man working the counter offered to answer any questions and, after a few minutes of browsing the wares, i asked him to tell me what he could about the history of the red brick store.

i learned that the store was also joseph smith's office, that he gave his final instructions to the quorum of the twelve upstairs, talked with his son, joseph smith III about succession in the church there, that bishop newell k. whitney also kept an office there (he took over management of the store, i think), and that upstairs was where the community nominated joseph for u.s. presidential candidacy.

jaime and i explored upstairs. she noted the beautiful view outside of the office window, something i hadn't bothered to notice. we took some pictures in the main room then she went back downstairs. i took a few moments to lean against the door frame and think about where i was.

we found a new mexico license plate (still holding out hope for vermont and rhode island), passed sidney rigdon's nauvoo home (saw his place in kirtland yesterday, where an old lady peered out from behind the curtains at me), and spent some time taking pictures of the temple.

we had lunch at dottie's cafe, where we each got the day's special: country fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, and corn, all for $5.50. it was arguably the most home-cooked meal i've ever had in a place of business; even the plates looked like they came from a grandmother's kitchen and not a diner. however, we were crestfallen when our waitress's confession that they were out of ice cream dashed our hopes for a root beer float (jaime) and a chocolate shake (me). still, i was enjoying the small town diner atmosphere and the gaggle of old farmers sitting at the counter, talking and watching a john wayne movie made everything better.


before we left town, jaime suggested we go check the sinclar station for ruby red squirt.
i guess i should explain that. i'm not sure when, but since sometime around high school, i've associated road trips with ruby red squirt and hostess snowballs. i don't know why, but when i'm on a road trip of any substantial size (more than a day, i guess), i feel a need to get myself a bottle of ruby red squirt and some hostess snowballs. i rarely drink pop, nor do i go for gas station junk food much, either, but it's a special food for a special occassion, not much different than cranberries at thanksgiving.

the hostess snowballs are pretty much ubiquitous across the country, but i can't remember the last time i bought ruby red squirt (probably when brady and i drove to fargo two and a half years ago) (jaime just spotted an idaho license plate!), so i didn't know if it was even made any more. so far, every gas station we've stopped in hasn't had it. and, unsurprisingly, this sinclair station wasn't any different.
next door was a local grocery store and, while i was heading for the car, jaime went to the neighboring store and so i followed her. inside, the small drink coolers held the elusive red drink. i was pretty dang excited. jaime decided to try something new and bought a drink called “big blue.” i've seen “big red” in texas and heard some texans talk about how great it is, but i've never neen interested to try it. she rightly described “big blue” as tasting like a melted slurpee and i was glad that she's picked it and not me. i'd forgotten how good the ruby red is.

we just put in disc 12 (of 17) from the deathly hallows, are scheduled to get to brady's parents in nebraska a little after midnight, and as the sun gets lower in the sky, the green rolling hills of iowa just get more and more enchanting.
dad, this is for you:

[well, i was hoping to have the "is this heaven?" "no, it's iowa" scene from field of dreams here.
youtube fail.]

easy riders

author's note: i kept a journal during the trip, hoping to post as our adventure was unfolding.  but our stops were rarely longer than enough time to sleep and eat, and internet was as little scarce at times anyway.
so, pretend it's really happening, 'k?

wednesday, may 25, 2011
1:20 p.m. somewhere on the pennsylvania turnpike

i forced myself to wake up by 7:17 this morning. that's 6:17 a.m. texas time, and 5:17 a.m. on utah time, where i was just a week ago. the girls had been up for a while before then.
as inevitably happens when planning to leave for a road trip, we left about two hours after we'd planned. as long as we get to stop and look at the kirtland temple, that's really all the time i need at our stop today, so we're still plenty good for time.

jaime brought harry potter 7 on cd for our trip. we're already on disc 3 (of 17.) on my end, i loaded up my ipod with a few david sedaris audio books, about a dozen episodes of "this american life", and did my best to make a playlist of songs that would be recongizable to jaime (i kicked our trip off with the obligatory "life is a highway.")

we've got fruit cups and fiber one granola bars and a 24-pack of bottled water. my tire pressure guage that i brougt along "just in case" has already proven useful (nothing serious; we were just checking the car at the rest stop (named "a-plus: the official pit stop of nascar!") and the air pump's pressure guage was broken). and the pennsylvania countryside has gotten increasingly beautiful as we've driven along I-76. i've been sticking my point-n-shoot camera out the window at lush countrysides and rolling hills with mixed results.

my view

we're having our fun, too. we hold our breath during when we go through tunnels and make wishes and have started playing the license plate game (with a four-day road trip from coast to coast, how could you not?) i even found an app for my phone that keeps track of that state plates we've seen.  so now both of us lean to get a closer look every time we pass a car. we've traveled 225 miles out of 2,900 (or so) and have seen 27 out of 51. as long as we can still pick up new hampshire, massecheusetts (i suspect i saw one but couldn't confirm it), and d.c. while we're still in the eastern time zone, i think we'll get them all.

2:24 p.m. i told jaime i really hope to find a d.c. plate. she questions if there even is a d.c. plate. i show her the picture of it on my phone. she says we likely won't see one. i fretfully wonder if she's right. it's just a city, not a state, so there aren't a lot of people there. and families are the ones who usually take raod trips, and they probably live in maryland or virginia.

2:27 p.m. i recongize the plate we're closing in on. i confirm it's d.c. i start cheering. jaime gets a slightly worried look at me then comments how crazy it is that just a few minutes earlier we were saying how we probably wouldn't see it.

2:36 p.m. ginny is giving harry his birthday present on our audio book.
there's a tunnel coming up.
they're kissing. i'm holding my breath in the tunnel. this one's really long.
dang, i can't see the end.
jaime usually drives faster so we can make it, but there's a lame car in front of us.
i made it.


8:53 p.m. we're about 30 miles past cleveland.

stopping in kirtland has added about three hours to our trip but was definitely worth it. i felt the Spirit as we drove up the hill toward the temple and found myself grinning automatically. we got there around 6:30. the lds sites are open until 7:00, but the temple is owned by the community of Christ and the tours end at 5.
 still, jaime and i walked the grounds and took some pictures. i called my sister because we always call each other when we're at the top of mountains, and i figured that the temple is the mountain of the Lord. she informed me that that generally refers to the salt lake temple. thank you, sister.

one of the credos of our trip is to eat at local places. staying on interstates isn't as rich of an experience an cruising on the highways with alton brown, as we're releagated more to the suburbs, but jaime and i found a place called "eat-n-park" that worked for us. i'm pretty sure it's an east coast chain analogous to village inn, but we'd never heard of it, so it still counts. we both got the "pittsburgh turkey" sandwich. toasted bread + turkey + cole slaw + french fries = the sandwich. i quite liked it. jaime was more lukewarm towards it.
we're in a nice rainstorm now, we passed a really cool and creepy old abandoned building in cleveland and are looking to be at our hotel around 1:30 a.m.