US Route 50
View allAll Photos Tagged blacktop
"Where are we going?
I don't know.
When will we get there?
I ain't certain.
What will we find?
I ain't equipped to say.
But who gives a damn boys,
We're on our way!"
-"Paint Your Wagon"
-Alan Jay Lerner
Wandering the two lane blacktop along the Point Reyes Peninsula, the patchwork of colors as vivid as an artist's palette, white cliffs beckoning in the distance. If man could choose his moment to fly--this would be mine.
Point Reyes Peninsula CA
It's a wet leaf on a blacktop sidewalk that has been pressed down by ice and snow. The snow and ice had melted by the time that this shot was taken; a few particles of salt and/or ice melt remain.
HTT
Welcome to central Iowa, friends, on a foggy, late summer morning. . . a highway detour re-routing us through the middle of the most fertile farmland in the world -- rich, black soil the colour of chocolate cake -- so quiet and stilled, no field thrush sang or cricket peeped, and for the moment. . . it seemed the world had stopped. . .
This thin strip of blacktop runs uphill from the local cemetery to the top of an adjacent ridge. It bisects fertile farmland among the way, and opens onto wonderful vistas of the landscape. The road has been here as long as there's been a village, and a cemetery to bury its dead. I think about this history every time I come here. The place is literally steeped in history, but also in the marvel of present day living. It's an anachronism in some ways. Like other old farm roads that have persisted with minimal improvement into the modern era. Unlike most roads I walk, cars seem out of place here, but not me. That's the complete opposite of most highways these days that are decidedly pedestrian hostile. There, cars belong but people do not. My dream would be to some day see this road closed to traffic and left to dreamers like me. Fat chance, but that's what dreams are for.
Anyway this is the aftermath of a summer thunderstorm. More accurately the storm is still in progress. The adrenaline part of me observing the approach and photographing the ominous clouds is over. We're in the me walking home, getting soaked in rain stage. But as the storm races east, the sky begins to break to my west spilling a glow of golden sunset over the landscape. This is why evening thunderstorms are my absolute favorite. The ones that strike in the hour before sunset when low angle sun and storm clouds coexist. At this exact moment, rain is still falling, and thunder is booming, but each clap seems a little more distant than the last. The storm is full of energy, it's just moving away. I can relax a bit. I'm already soaked so there's no point running. I can't be any wetter than I already am. And there's something purifying about being soaked with rain water on a summer day. Or in this case on an idyllic summer evening in July. Walking Cemetery Road.
I imagine 150+ years ago, long before any road, this 400 ton, 2 story tall, glacially deposited massive boulder was a solitary landmark in this otherwise empty expanse.
People would see it from afar as they were riding along on their horses or pulling their wagons and go to it out of curiosity or to get out of the sun.
Eventually, it was used to help in directions for pioneers journeying though the area. A path started wearing into the ground east to west going past it, which eventually turned into a pioneer trail. From this, it progressed to a dirt road, into a gravel road and eventually into the lonely stretch of blacktop that it is currently.
All the while, this monstrous boulder sits, watching the years go by, suffering the indignity of teens' graffiti and thinking, "if only I hadn't been so dang large."
empire-press.com/2012/03/mansfields-yeager-rock-featured-...
This is from 2016. . .An old shot that I played around with. It was a very hot day in August 2016. . .The temperature seemed as hot as this Shelby GT350 Mustang. . .Today this annual car show is no longer held outside. Too bad. . .It was more fun walking around taking photos outside than inside an auditorium with artificial lighting!
West Homestead Pennsylvania
The Homestead Grays Bridge, also known as the High Level Bridge, was built in 1936 and spans the Monongahela River between Homestead Borough and the southernmost tip of Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.
Fresh raindrops on fresh blacktop. Sun coming out after a summer shower. That's June in Toronto for you.
A sight to make at least one of my Flickr friends happy.
I remember when I was a child growing up in the fifties that these rural roadside automotive lube and repair joints were as common as dirt. Now it seems they are but a fading memory just like cheap gas. Locally owned, usually by a single proprietor who was also the chief mechanic on duty, they were there to help you when you were traveling the old two lane blacktops and your car wasn’t feeling well. The old cars of the era weren’t the most reliable things but they were simple and easily fixed by almost any shade tree mechanic. You didn’t need to be an automotive engineer to repair one. Often times you just needed the points filed, the spark plugs cleaned, a thermostat replaced, or a tire inner tube patched. It could all be done right here while you waited. I can still remember those old fellows in their cotton coveralls all soiled and greasy smelling with motor oil and lithium lube. I’m sure their wives complained about the bathtub ring each night. I miss those times. Even today when I catch a whiff of chassis grease, I’m transported back in time to a day when cars had a straight six engine, a three on the tree shifter, and the transmission whined as you shifted through the gears. Hats off to all of those roadside mechanics that kept our cars on the road and helped us make our destination. They are the unsung heroes of this nation. Cheers.
The road to Shiel Bridge and Glen Shiel from Ratagan, with the mountains of Kintail in the background..
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The Blacktop Nationals a few years ago set up shop both inside and outside the Century II Performing Arts and Convention Center in downtown Wichita. . .The outside display that year was along Douglas Street in front of Century II. . .That part of Douglas has retained some of the old brick pavement from years ago and is visible here. . .Kind of a nice historical touch in the heart of downtown. . .
Setting sun through bur oaks (Quercus macrocarpa, Fagaceae) with a brightly lit blacktop road west of Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin.
NO305871m
Cracks in the blacktop - Cracks in the cherry leaf.
Defined, seemingly random edges invite closer attention to these two disparate objects now united into an oddly new scene.
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702 Front Street
Grand Tower, Illinois
Photo taken on January 14, 2023
Great River Road
Winter scene of the the Mississippi River at sunset. A blacktop road depends down the levee for access to the Mighty Mississippi river. A beautiful sky displaying many colors at the end of the day.
fineartamerica.com/featured/road-to-the-river-at-sunset-l...
Two Medicine road, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. The clouds at left are caused by the strong winds coming from the Rockies.