This image shows what the weather was doing in South Dakota as I contemplated heading through on my way to Minnesotta. Screw that! I headed back down to Denver to wait out the weather.
Rachel Morr, who you read about in last week's entry, grew up in Denver with her family. I stayed with them for 4 nights and during the days I was working on my website and the website for Last Descent River Expeditions. ( I have promised that I would build a website for MesaMedia.org a Hopi language revitalization non-profit orginization, and I still have not done that.) This was a great time for me to pause and get some work done.

Rachel was in her last few days of Denver life and work before heading off to New York to work for Habitat for Humanity in Brooklyn. Rachel worked at an Italian restaurant with lots of people that love her and support her seasonal stints as employee. They threw a very nice going away party for her on Saturday night before she flew off to Brooklyn. I am very grateful to Rachel's family for putting me up for such a long time. I hope that I wasn't too much of a nusiance. During the days, I would go down to this cafe named Tenn Street. They had free wireless and it was a good place to listen to the cure and read photography tutorials. I did get to see Denver a little bit. On this night, Rachel and I went out downtown to see the new DAM (denver art museum) designed by _______. The photo oportunities were slim because of all of the chain link fence and construction trash. I like this photo of the public library. This is a photo of Rachel's house. (very nicely detailed and perfect size) This is a picture of a tree that had grown around a telephone line and then had been cut down around it. I did not take many pictures while I was in denver. I was going through a time of non-productivity. I suppose I keep coming back to that state. Julia Cameron would point towards fear and I would agree with her. I don't know what I am affraid of when I don't work on my art or when I don't write in my journal. It has also been a long time since I have writen any poetry or prose. This needs to change. As I catch up with this documentary process, I feel more able to collect my thoughts and maybe more able to express myself throught photography and poetry. My post-processing has been very rewarding and of the pictures that I have taken I feel that there are some really good ones. Look ahead at some of the Omaha Zoo photos. Oops. You don't know how I got there yet.

When Rachel left, I also gathered my things and planned on heading out that afternoon toward Kansas. I made it down the block and to the Starbucks at the Denver REI. I was there for quite some time working on photos and my website (sometimes i don't really know what eats up my time behind the computron). I spent a fair amount of time perusing a website called couchsurfing.com looking for a place to stay that night without leaving denver. (I know that I could have called you Linda and Steve. I was looking forward to new experiences and meeting new people. I hope that you are not insulted. I really enjoyed the time that we had spent during the previous week.) I camped on the lawn of Heidy Spaly's house that night. It was a lovely night and the first one that I spent on the ground. I have a bivvy sack and a great sleeping bag and pad.

The next day, I STILL didn't leave Denver. I really think this had something to do with fear. On a general basis, I don't really aknoledge what scares me. I just ignore it and kind of walk right over the top. Or I just let the fear control me, and still ignoring it, I let it push me around. This is an example of the latter. I have never really been east of Denver. I was heading into a big unknown with no place to stay. I suppose the real failure for me wouldn't be the sleeping in a cornfield or getting arested or some other mishap; the failure would be in not recognizing the beauty and just rushing past willy nill.
so, I froze. I went to a coffee shop and I went to a kinkos and worked on other things that I had been neglecting. I really got a lot of stuff done that night. I bought a new lens and made business cards and worked on the website for Last Descents. I stayed up until 4 and then found a parking lot to sleep in next to my bike. I wish that I had gotten a photo of my bed that night. And so here, my appologies to everyone that I know in the Denver area, but it was good for me to stay where I did.

And so, in the morning with snow flurries to send me off, I left for the plains. That night, I made it to North Platte. These photos are of the Northfork of the Platte river at dusk. It was really nice to be in a river bed and tromping around in the sandy water. This is me in my motorcycle boots standing in 7 inches of water. Its about 34 degrees and I was warm and toasty in my dry boots and heavy coat.

The next day I drove to Omaha and stayed at a big row house called Hotel Frank. It isn't really a hotel but the people who live there have people staying over pretty often. Alexander ___________ is who I contacted via couch surfing. He doesn't even live there, as i found out on the eve of my departure. Alex lives in a tent down a couple streets and is working at a print shop to save up money. He is then spending a couple months in Buffalo this winter (also in a tent) and then on to who knows where. He is a traveler and on the road. He sure gets around and I have to give him a lot of respect for going to the places he wants to go to. Super nice guy.

Some highlights of my time that I spent in Hotel Frank: Pumpkin carving and drinking Pabst. (ah. Pabst.) eating PK and Mike's faces made out of cake and frosting. Going to the Omaha Zoo and seeing some really cool animals. Trying to sleep in the basement during a huge yelling at strangers bout. Seriously, I had a great time at Hotel Frank. Great people.