UWOL Long Form - Glacier National Park - A 100 Year (and then some) Retrospective

Chris Swanberg · May 18th, 2009, 11:05 PM

Freeware with a developer intent of making it perfect.... "he" just keeps fiddling....I am making a donation, and suggest others who use it do likewise.

Now, for a full screen version <g>.

Chris Swanberg · May 19th, 2009, 12:21 PM

Per: Thank you for taking the time to view my submission this round. With the encouragement I have received I think maybe I WILL do the VO for the final piece. You raise some good questions about matching sound and sound levels, as I progress I will pay more attention to that. Also when possible I will try and use the same microphone set up the same way.

Marj: Thank you for your comments. In less than 2 weeks I will be able to make significant progress hopefully. I am not sure how much actual Park footage I will be able to capture. I checked the Park website today to see how they were coming on getting the road over Logan Pass plaowed out... here is what it said, with minor edits for brevity:

Road Report: May 18, 2009
Present Locations:
West Lakes Road Crew: Has completed the plowing …full width of the road surface up to the Loop; …the crew is encountering a lot of rock and tree debris on road surface with snow depths around 15'-20' in the slide areas 5'-10' out of slide areas. Cut lifts of snow down to rotary plow depth from Grouse Point to Bear Grass. Weather temperatures were between 35-40 degrees with some fog in the early hours of the shift.
Hudson Bay Road Crew: …encountering snow depths of 25 feet. No progress today because of avalanche conditions. Avalanches were sighted in the Siyeh Bend area early afternoon today.

Mother nature hasn't quite yet decided summer, or for that matter, spring, is due quite yet.

Mihali: Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have definitely taken to heart the comments regarding to a little more up beat inflection and emotion in the narration. We'll see how I do. I may in fact post something before the next submission just to garner some feedback, if the contest permits that and the participants don't mind.

Jeff Hendricks · May 30th, 2009, 08:00 AM

Hey Chris,

Glad to see your focus on the people aspect of the park. I really think that that is a good choice, I am a firm believer in "people are interested in people" (even wildlife lovers seek out what they can learn about themselves in watching the behaviors of other species)...just my opinion. So I applaud your decision. Like I said before I am really interested in the short era of mountain men in the US and I really perked up when you started talking about and showing the images of them and the traders. I firmly believe that once you have this entire film put together that you will have a piece that will be of interest to a great many people…hopefully PBS or some other station will show interest as well.

Do you plan to use any live footage aside from the astounding intro in your film?

I think your Ken Burns effect is coming along nicely. What program are you using to do that? After Effects?

One suggestion is that you might want to enlarge the map a little more or start the zoom in earlier so we can read it. I did not watch it in HD so that may have been the problem but in sd I could not read it at all until you started to move in closer.

Looking forward to more...nice job

Chris Barcellos · May 31st, 2009, 05:05 PM

Jeff:

Chris is off to Montana doing looking for material. Perhaps footage may be in the works this tiem, and Chris will be going back at least one more time after this to shoot more footage. Right now there is alot snow clearing to be done in the passes where he intends to shoot....

Chris Swanberg · June 4th, 2009, 08:12 PM

Jeff: Thanks for your comments. I know about the awful looking graphic at the small resolution... I recommend youwatch it on vimeo, it looks good the whole time. I am PLANNING to use live footage, but at the moment am being told I need a permit and insurance, even for this contest. I am engaged in diplomacy with the very nice folks there, but while they clearly want to work with me, feel constrained by NPS rules. (ARGHHH)

Meanwhile I spent 2-1/2 very productive days with the park Archivist, a remarkable lady named Diedre Shaw. I have a little over 100 images on order. Tomorrow I will be visiting the Montana State Historical Society and State Archives.

The Park is open, but only for a short ways in, as the road through the park is not yet plowed and for whatever reason they are keeping people well away from the Going to the Sun Highway where the work is progressing (I thought it was silly not to let us part way up to a turnaround miles from where they are working). Even down low where the snow is gone, wildflowers have not yet bloomed, and the landscape is mostly grass, weeds and brush coming back to life.

As is to be expected water is running everywhere, so I spent a few hours today trying to capture water.... beautiful turquoise "glacial flour" carrying water that refracted that unbelieveable shade you often see in photographs and don't believe. From rivulets, to waterfalls to roaring rapids..I'll put something together on my return home and throw it up on Vimeo.

USGS is on site in the Park with their glacial comparison project and more or less said "If we have it it is yours"... and "how can we help?". Terrific folks. I may do the chapter on the disappearance of the glaciers and put it up early too.

So, the trip has been a bonanza for the early portion of the film, but mostly bust for any moving images of lasting impression.... I do have an hour of HDV tape though.

Chris

ps. I was not aware but Ken Burns is working on a 9 hour series on the National Parks, and was apparently there before me <sigh - me, Mr. Day late and a dollar short>.

Chris Barcellos · June 4th, 2009, 09:21 PM

He lives....

Kevin Railsback · June 5th, 2009, 04:39 AM

Chris.
Ran into the same thing with Yellowstone. $200 for a permit plus the NPS named as an additional on my liability insurance.
Ok, then the kicker was they wanted to charge me $65 an hour to have a ranger follow me around because my tripod was a "tripping hazard." Didn't matter that I was going with a bunch of professional photographers and somehow "their" tripods were not tripping hazards.

There's a bill that will allow us to only have to pay $200 a year to shoot on federal lands but it never seems to go anywhere.

Sad that you can shoot for a cover of Nat Geo magazine for free but if you roll video even for a UWOL contest it could cost you thousands!

I ended up not going to Yellowstone to shoot and lost several thousand in non-refundable fees because I couldn't afford to pay the permit fees for such a long trip.

Ok, back to your film! :)

Chris Swanberg · June 5th, 2009, 07:55 AM

Kevin... I actually thought of you as the nice young lady put in charge of these permitting issues at GNP HQ sweetly told me that they would waive the "location" charge - I was remembering your problems with Yellowstone. Glacier is not hostile, just feeling a little hamstrung by the NPS rules I think. The personnel were to a fault both polite and courteous.

And frankly, I can swallow the permit fees (while acknowledging the idiocy of making me pay and not a dime required from still photographer who could be standing right beside me) but in my case it is the insurance that is going to be the problem. I had priced insurance earlier this year, and was told that a few hundred dollars a day, or maybe a thousand a week or so, and $1500 to $2000 a year was probably the range I would be looking at. Since I will be shooting at various times that means an annual policy - and that is prohibitively expensive at the moment. If you know of something more reasonable for a solo videographer I'd love to know.

I backed down from a fight on the "internet" issue - fearful I could galvanize them into defending an illogical position.

Kevin Railsback · June 5th, 2009, 02:53 PM

Chris,

Sorry to kind of hijack your thread on the film but I guess this is kind of related to it. :)

I have a million dollar liability policy that costs me about $600 a year. I can add an additional insured anytime for $35 or when the policy renews I can do it for free.

It also covers all my gear for replacement cost as well. I can hunt it down and see who the policy is with. Not sure if being in CA makes a difference vs. Iowa.

I talked with Ken Block the head ranger at Effigy Mounds NM. The parks and monuments have great latitude in how they administer these fees. I could get a permit to film there for $50 and they could write it as a multi-year permit. They had been waiving the fees altogether but figure they better tow the line and charge a little something just to be "legit."

I don't have an issue with paying for an ANNUAL permit. But if I were to go to Yellowstone, there's $200. The Tetons would cost me another $100. Glacier will cost me another $100. If I want to go into Shoshone National Forest, there's another $100+ there.

So there's like $500 right there and if they want they can tack on monitoring fees as well.

Look at the Tetons fees....Upon approval of the application, you must present certificate of insurance and a $100 permit fee. If it is deemed that a monitor (NPS employee) is to be assigned to your project, there will be a minimum fee of $154 per monitor for the first two hours and $50 per monitor per hour thereafter. A minimum of $154 per monitor will be charged for any assignment, including the cancellation of a given project, regardless of the reason.

You could go broke pretty quickly trying to shoot on land that you're a part owner.

Chris Swanberg · June 6th, 2009, 03:21 PM

Saturday: June 6.

Finished at State Archives... pricey but well organized. Will have most of what I need for the 1st half.

Snowing today. Big fat flakes. Ahhh Montana.

Chris Swanberg · June 15th, 2009, 09:35 PM

Oh and, Kevin.... I cannot think of a better place or time to be having this discussion after reading of Bob Safay's issues. (realizing they are half a world away... but let's deal with OUR own country).

Feel free to discuss this issue here and now, it affects us all. Some may be unaware.

Might be an interesting interlude in an otherwise quiet time...

I am editing some water stuff.... maybe in a week I'll have it up.

ps. As I was leaving the State Historical Society Archives in Helena, Montana that day in the snowstorm I heard a guy say to his girlfriend.. "Montana... Bi-polar weather"... I liked that thought. That's my Montana.

pps. Kevin mail me your ins company name when you have time ?

Geir Inge · July 7th, 2009, 02:39 PM

Hi Chris.
You have some beautiful scenery there.
Your VO was fine and understandable, as I am a foreigner to the english language.
I guess there will be natural sound/background sound together with your VO and music, in the final film?
Here at UWOL I think it's best that audio is in stereo (both channels), but if your film is to be shown on TV, I'm sure they want the audio mix to be standard for television.
Anxious to see your ULF 3.

Geir Inge

Bryce Comer · July 19th, 2009, 09:34 AM

Hi Chris,
How's the edit on the water stuff going, do you have it up on vimeo yet? I would love to see it when it is.
Have all the roads been cleared yet so you can get up into the park? It's really summer here in the Kootenays & filming is restricted to the hours early & late in the day. Such a magical time to be in the mountains though.
Can't wait to see some more of your film,
Bryce

Chris Swanberg · July 19th, 2009, 03:04 PM

Bryce... the water piece should be done in the next day or two. It's so hot here I may just stay inside the rest of today and work on it. (Nearly done with rough edit and music, will need to finish the edit, polish the soundtrack and record a VO track - this one isn't going to have any color correction, image stabilization etc... to be honest I do not plan to use any of this in the final entry, and will do a "proper" post after my return - Meryem is ok with this btw...)

I am headed back to Glacier in a week. While I will be in Montana for several weeks this time, I am not sure how my Glacier time will work with various other demands on my time while I am there. (One task is to start a layout for a small test vineyard in the family cherry orchard, another is a High school reunion..)

However I am hoping for at least 4-5 days in Glacier this trip (and an overnight in the "backcountry"). Already working on a shot list. ( My last trip after this and before the deadline will be in October - weather permitting.)

I'll let you know when the Ice and Water segment is up on Vimeo. Soon.

Chris

ps. The Going to the Sun Highway opened the 3rd week of June this year. Very late.

Chris Swanberg · July 26th, 2009, 04:22 PM

Bryce... sorry, but much as I tried, the process of work and getting ready for this trip prevented me from finishing the piece. I wanted the VO to be "just right" and it wasn't... so once I return mid August there will be the water piece followed by my next submission.

A double whammy.

I drove up this trip... a long 1000 mile day but I enjoyed all of it. 80 across Nevada to Highway 93, north to Twin Falls, across 84 and 86 to Pocatello and thence North via I-15 thru Idaho Falls, Dillon MT and Butte and on to Helena and my GF's home. Beautiful scope of country I witnessed. I said hello to Lorinda as I passed thru her digs, but I doubt she heard me at 75 mph with the windows rolled up.

One should treat ones self to a road trip now and then to remind them what a beautiful country we live in - something you miss at 30,000 feet.

I saw history every which way and also indescribable beauty. I imagined countless documentaries... intercontinental railroad, the California trail, the Oregon Trail, even around Dillon MT imagining Lewis and Clark and using 53 days to go from the Gates of the Rockies to what is now present day Missoula Montana, only to have the Indians (with horses) tell them it was about a 4 day ride...using a more direct route.

I have limited (very) internet access this trip and no editing capability, so I will watch with interest other's submissions for now. Meryem graciously allowed me to post a little later due to the trip and the above issues (Thank you Meryem) and so I will try even harder to make this one more polished and watchable.

Chris S.

May 19th, 2009, 12:21 PM	#47
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Per: Thank you for taking the time to view my submission this round. With the encouragement I have received I think maybe I WILL do the VO for the final piece. You raise some good questions about matching sound and sound levels, as I progress I will pay more attention to that. Also when possible I will try and use the same microphone set up the same way. Marj: Thank you for your comments. In less than 2 weeks I will be able to make significant progress hopefully. I am not sure how much actual Park footage I will be able to capture. I checked the Park website today to see how they were coming on getting the road over Logan Pass plaowed out... here is what it said, with minor edits for brevity: Road Report: May 18, 2009 Present Locations: West Lakes Road Crew: Has completed the plowing …full width of the road surface up to the Loop; …the crew is encountering a lot of rock and tree debris on road surface with snow depths around 15'-20' in the slide areas 5'-10' out of slide areas. Cut lifts of snow down to rotary plow depth from Grouse Point to Bear Grass. Weather temperatures were between 35-40 degrees with some fog in the early hours of the shift. Hudson Bay Road Crew: …encountering snow depths of 25 feet. No progress today because of avalanche conditions. Avalanches were sighted in the Siyeh Bend area early afternoon today. Mother nature hasn't quite yet decided summer, or for that matter, spring, is due quite yet. Mihali: Thanks for the vote of confidence. I have definitely taken to heart the comments regarding to a little more up beat inflection and emotion in the narration. We'll see how I do. I may in fact post something before the next submission just to garner some feedback, if the contest permits that and the participants don't mind. Last edited by Chris Swanberg; May 19th, 2009 at 09:53 PM.

May 30th, 2009, 08:00 AM	#48
Jeff Hendricks Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: The Carson Valley, Nevada Posts: 248	Hey Chris, Glad to see your focus on the people aspect of the park. I really think that that is a good choice, I am a firm believer in "people are interested in people" (even wildlife lovers seek out what they can learn about themselves in watching the behaviors of other species)...just my opinion. So I applaud your decision. Like I said before I am really interested in the short era of mountain men in the US and I really perked up when you started talking about and showing the images of them and the traders. I firmly believe that once you have this entire film put together that you will have a piece that will be of interest to a great many people…hopefully PBS or some other station will show interest as well. Do you plan to use any live footage aside from the astounding intro in your film? I think your Ken Burns effect is coming along nicely. What program are you using to do that? After Effects? One suggestion is that you might want to enlarge the map a little more or start the zoom in earlier so we can read it. I did not watch it in HD so that may have been the problem but in sd I could not read it at all until you started to move in closer. Looking forward to more...nice job __________________ www.tahoestarr.com

May 31st, 2009, 05:05 PM	#49
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	Jeff: Chris is off to Montana doing looking for material. Perhaps footage may be in the works this tiem, and Chris will be going back at least one more time after this to shoot more footage. Right now there is alot snow clearing to be done in the passes where he intends to shoot.... __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

June 4th, 2009, 09:21 PM	#51
Chris Barcellos Inner Circle Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Elk Grove CA Posts: 6,838	He lives.... __________________ Chris J. Barcellos

June 5th, 2009, 04:39 AM	#52
Kevin Railsback Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Posts: 1,544	Chris. Ran into the same thing with Yellowstone. $200 for a permit plus the NPS named as an additional on my liability insurance. Ok, then the kicker was they wanted to charge me $65 an hour to have a ranger follow me around because my tripod was a "tripping hazard." Didn't matter that I was going with a bunch of professional photographers and somehow "their" tripods were not tripping hazards. There's a bill that will allow us to only have to pay $200 a year to shoot on federal lands but it never seems to go anywhere. Sad that you can shoot for a cover of Nat Geo magazine for free but if you roll video even for a UWOL contest it could cost you thousands! I ended up not going to Yellowstone to shoot and lost several thousand in non-refundable fees because I couldn't afford to pay the permit fees for such a long trip. Ok, back to your film! :) __________________ --==Kevin==-- http:naturephotostudios.com.com

May 18th, 2009, 11:05 PM	#46
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Freeware with a developer intent of making it perfect.... "he" just keeps fiddling....I am making a donation, and suggest others who use it do likewise. Now, for a full screen version <g>.

June 4th, 2009, 08:12 PM	#50
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Jeff: Thanks for your comments. I know about the awful looking graphic at the small resolution... I recommend youwatch it on vimeo, it looks good the whole time. I am PLANNING to use live footage, but at the moment am being told I need a permit and insurance, even for this contest. I am engaged in diplomacy with the very nice folks there, but while they clearly want to work with me, feel constrained by NPS rules. (ARGHHH) Meanwhile I spent 2-1/2 very productive days with the park Archivist, a remarkable lady named Diedre Shaw. I have a little over 100 images on order. Tomorrow I will be visiting the Montana State Historical Society and State Archives. The Park is open, but only for a short ways in, as the road through the park is not yet plowed and for whatever reason they are keeping people well away from the Going to the Sun Highway where the work is progressing (I thought it was silly not to let us part way up to a turnaround miles from where they are working). Even down low where the snow is gone, wildflowers have not yet bloomed, and the landscape is mostly grass, weeds and brush coming back to life. As is to be expected water is running everywhere, so I spent a few hours today trying to capture water.... beautiful turquoise "glacial flour" carrying water that refracted that unbelieveable shade you often see in photographs and don't believe. From rivulets, to waterfalls to roaring rapids..I'll put something together on my return home and throw it up on Vimeo. USGS is on site in the Park with their glacial comparison project and more or less said "If we have it it is yours"... and "how can we help?". Terrific folks. I may do the chapter on the disappearance of the glaciers and put it up early too. So, the trip has been a bonanza for the early portion of the film, but mostly bust for any moving images of lasting impression.... I do have an hour of HDV tape though. Chris ps. I was not aware but Ken Burns is working on a 9 hour series on the National Parks, and was apparently there before me <sigh - me, Mr. Day late and a dollar short>.

June 5th, 2009, 07:55 AM	#53
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Kevin... I actually thought of you as the nice young lady put in charge of these permitting issues at GNP HQ sweetly told me that they would waive the "location" charge - I was remembering your problems with Yellowstone. Glacier is not hostile, just feeling a little hamstrung by the NPS rules I think. The personnel were to a fault both polite and courteous. And frankly, I can swallow the permit fees (while acknowledging the idiocy of making me pay and not a dime required from still photographer who could be standing right beside me) but in my case it is the insurance that is going to be the problem. I had priced insurance earlier this year, and was told that a few hundred dollars a day, or maybe a thousand a week or so, and $1500 to $2000 a year was probably the range I would be looking at. Since I will be shooting at various times that means an annual policy - and that is prohibitively expensive at the moment. If you know of something more reasonable for a solo videographer I'd love to know. I backed down from a fight on the "internet" issue - fearful I could galvanize them into defending an illogical position.

June 5th, 2009, 02:53 PM	#54
Kevin Railsback Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Cedar Rapids, Iowa Posts: 1,544	Chris, Sorry to kind of hijack your thread on the film but I guess this is kind of related to it. :) I have a million dollar liability policy that costs me about $600 a year. I can add an additional insured anytime for $35 or when the policy renews I can do it for free. It also covers all my gear for replacement cost as well. I can hunt it down and see who the policy is with. Not sure if being in CA makes a difference vs. Iowa. I talked with Ken Block the head ranger at Effigy Mounds NM. The parks and monuments have great latitude in how they administer these fees. I could get a permit to film there for $50 and they could write it as a multi-year permit. They had been waiving the fees altogether but figure they better tow the line and charge a little something just to be "legit." I don't have an issue with paying for an ANNUAL permit. But if I were to go to Yellowstone, there's $200. The Tetons would cost me another $100. Glacier will cost me another $100. If I want to go into Shoshone National Forest, there's another $100+ there. So there's like $500 right there and if they want they can tack on monitoring fees as well. Look at the Tetons fees....Upon approval of the application, you must present certificate of insurance and a $100 permit fee. If it is deemed that a monitor (NPS employee) is to be assigned to your project, there will be a minimum fee of $154 per monitor for the first two hours and $50 per monitor per hour thereafter. A minimum of $154 per monitor will be charged for any assignment, including the cancellation of a given project, regardless of the reason. You could go broke pretty quickly trying to shoot on land that you're a part owner. __________________ --==Kevin==-- http:naturephotostudios.com.com

June 6th, 2009, 03:21 PM	#55
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Saturday: June 6. Finished at State Archives... pricey but well organized. Will have most of what I need for the 1st half. Snowing today. Big fat flakes. Ahhh Montana.

June 15th, 2009, 09:35 PM	#56
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Oh and, Kevin.... I cannot think of a better place or time to be having this discussion after reading of Bob Safay's issues. (realizing they are half a world away... but let's deal with OUR own country). Feel free to discuss this issue here and now, it affects us all. Some may be unaware. Might be an interesting interlude in an otherwise quiet time... I am editing some water stuff.... maybe in a week I'll have it up. ps. As I was leaving the State Historical Society Archives in Helena, Montana that day in the snowstorm I heard a guy say to his girlfriend.. "Montana... Bi-polar weather"... I liked that thought. That's my Montana. pps. Kevin mail me your ins company name when you have time ?

July 7th, 2009, 02:39 PM	#57
Geir Inge Trustee Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Larsnes, Norway Posts: 1,343	Hi Chris. You have some beautiful scenery there. Your VO was fine and understandable, as I am a foreigner to the english language. I guess there will be natural sound/background sound together with your VO and music, in the final film? Here at UWOL I think it's best that audio is in stereo (both channels), but if your film is to be shown on TV, I'm sure they want the audio mix to be standard for television. Anxious to see your ULF 3. Geir Inge __________________ Geir Inge B. Brekke Visit me at: https://vimeo.com/gibbfilm

July 19th, 2009, 09:34 AM	#58
Bryce Comer Trustee Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Rossland, British Columbia Posts: 1,024	Hi Chris, How's the edit on the water stuff going, do you have it up on vimeo yet? I would love to see it when it is. Have all the roads been cleared yet so you can get up into the park? It's really summer here in the Kootenays & filming is restricted to the hours early & late in the day. Such a magical time to be in the mountains though. Can't wait to see some more of your film, Bryce __________________ There's never enough hours in the day!

July 19th, 2009, 03:04 PM	#59
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Bryce... the water piece should be done in the next day or two. It's so hot here I may just stay inside the rest of today and work on it. (Nearly done with rough edit and music, will need to finish the edit, polish the soundtrack and record a VO track - this one isn't going to have any color correction, image stabilization etc... to be honest I do not plan to use any of this in the final entry, and will do a "proper" post after my return - Meryem is ok with this btw...) I am headed back to Glacier in a week. While I will be in Montana for several weeks this time, I am not sure how my Glacier time will work with various other demands on my time while I am there. (One task is to start a layout for a small test vineyard in the family cherry orchard, another is a High school reunion..) However I am hoping for at least 4-5 days in Glacier this trip (and an overnight in the "backcountry"). Already working on a shot list. ( My last trip after this and before the deadline will be in October - weather permitting.) I'll let you know when the Ice and Water segment is up on Vimeo. Soon. Chris ps. The Going to the Sun Highway opened the 3rd week of June this year. Very late. Last edited by Chris Swanberg; July 19th, 2009 at 07:45 PM.

July 26th, 2009, 04:22 PM	#60
Chris Swanberg Major Player Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Sacramento, CA Posts: 904	Bryce... sorry, but much as I tried, the process of work and getting ready for this trip prevented me from finishing the piece. I wanted the VO to be "just right" and it wasn't... so once I return mid August there will be the water piece followed by my next submission. A double whammy. I drove up this trip... a long 1000 mile day but I enjoyed all of it. 80 across Nevada to Highway 93, north to Twin Falls, across 84 and 86 to Pocatello and thence North via I-15 thru Idaho Falls, Dillon MT and Butte and on to Helena and my GF's home. Beautiful scope of country I witnessed. I said hello to Lorinda as I passed thru her digs, but I doubt she heard me at 75 mph with the windows rolled up. One should treat ones self to a road trip now and then to remind them what a beautiful country we live in - something you miss at 30,000 feet. I saw history every which way and also indescribable beauty. I imagined countless documentaries... intercontinental railroad, the California trail, the Oregon Trail, even around Dillon MT imagining Lewis and Clark and using 53 days to go from the Gates of the Rockies to what is now present day Missoula Montana, only to have the Indians (with horses) tell them it was about a 4 day ride...using a more direct route. I have limited (very) internet access this trip and no editing capability, so I will watch with interest other's submissions for now. Meryem graciously allowed me to post a little later due to the trip and the above issues (Thank you Meryem) and so I will try even harder to make this one more polished and watchable. Chris S.