Shadow Over America: The Wall and the Coming Storm

We had intended to drive to Sioux Falls, but exhaustion and a series of billboards advertising Wall Drugs compel us to pull in to Wall for the night. A text from Mom and Dad informs us that they stopped here in 1966. Over half a century later, we experience the bizarre wonderland of Wall. Breakfast cost Mom and Dad 50 cents; it costs us $30, over half the cost of the very reasonable motel; bed, bathroom and wifi for $77. Wall Drug is a labyrinth of wondrous kitsch.

We move on, driving through southern Minnesota on our way to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But a sudden sudden storm drenches us, reducing visibility and velocity to near-nil. We cautiously bull our way through, and eventually realize we should tune in to local radio...and we catch an emergency bulletin in progress: "...homes immediately. Take shelter. Flying debris and structure collapse can cause death. Take shelter immediately. If you are on the highway, find the closest shelter. This is an emergency broadcast. Tornadoes wrapped in thunderstorms are proceeding through..." There is a list of counties. Are we in one of them? Did we just drive through the outskirts of a tornado?

The weather starts to clear by the time we reach Iowa; we avoid disaster through sheer dumb luck.

Shadow Over America: Monuments and Madness

On the surface, at the gas stations and hotels and souvenir shops, we can almost believe this isn't a nation deeply troubled by the contradictions of its noble aspirations and bloodstained history. Everything is so much bigger here, and faster. Its monuments, even the natural ones, are so grandiose as to beggar belief, and they arrogantly seize our breath. We try, on this trip, to escape the world's terrible stories, especially those unfolding here; but it is impossible, of course. So many gun stores and fireworks shops; one gun store in Sturgis features a giant, van-sized revolver in its parking lot, aimed at passers-by. I can't bring myself to stop for an ironic selfie.

But the sights! Magnificent. The stone visages of Mount Rushmore, the lush and ancient forests of the Black Hills, the sanitized, raucous fun of Deadwood, the looming stone pedestal that is Devil's Tower.

Before this trip, these were merely images on film: North by Northwest, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Our journey has made them real.

Dad at the Centre

For their honeymoon Mom and Dad went on a road trip through the USA, including a stop at the geographical centre of the country somewhere in South Dakota. I quite like the image, but the old negative was quite scratched and dirty, rendering the original scan pretty messy. I spent about an hour cleaning up dust and scratches and correcting the colour.

For comparison, here's the original. As you can see, I took some liberties with a few background elements in order to clean up the composition, sacrificing history for art.