Tag: trip

  • Delavan, Wisconsin

    Delavan, Wisconsin

    Traveling regularly is a part of my day job as an independent consultant for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing (SAP). I enjoy it almost as much as photography. Having the opportunity to visit other locations and discover hidden gems along the way are one of the many perks of this type of employment.

    While working in Wisconsin, I took a side trip to Delavan and found a city within a town. In fact, the city of Delavan overlays the town of Delavan. Confusing, right? Don’t be. Both entities operate politically independent from each other, but you will get to enjoy the benefits of this quaint area filled with history located about 45 miles southwest of Milwaukee. Nearby is Lake Geneva with a large tourist draw and another popular destination.

    The coolest discovery about Delavan was the circus history. Between 1847 and 1894 it was home base for 26 circus companies and operations. In fact, the original PT Barnum Circus was founded here in 1871 by William Coup. Visit the cemeteries of Spring Grove and St. Andrews to discover over 130 members of the 19th century circus performers buried there, some with elaborate headstones. The US Postal Service issued the five-cent American Circus commemorative postage stamp on May 2, 1966 and Delavan was selected for the first day issue cover.

    On a side note, nonetheless important to our American cultural history, Delavan is the home of Gary Burghoff, better know to many as “Radar” on the TV series “M*A*S*H”. Born in Bristol, Connecticut and moved to the area at a young age, he gained experience acting with the Belfry Players of Williams Bay, Wisconsin, near the previously mentioned Lake Geneva.

    Here are a few images taken with the Pentax Super-Takumar 24mm f3.5 mounted on the Fujifilm X-Pro3 with a Pixco Focal Reducer Adapter.

  • Antioch, Illinois

    Antioch, Illinois

    On a recent trip to Wisconsin, I used some time off to travel around the area in search of interesting places and people. One of the first suggestion on a Google search was Antioch, Illinois, just across the border.

    In this part of the country, the towns are called “villages”, so that does require a change of mindset. The main differences between cities and villages are the government setup. Cities have majors and common counsel, where the villages have a president and board of trustees. The trustees are elected at large were the city major and the council elections are by district.

    Around the late 1880s, Antioch quickly became a popular vacation destination for folks 60 miles away in Chicago. The tourism economy grew after a rail line was laid to Chicago in 1886. Like Chicago, Antioch’s downtown has been changed due to may fires that destroyed most of the buildings in the area during 1891, 1903 and 1904.

    Antioch serves as a bedroom community within the two closest metropolitan areas of Chicago and Milwaukee.

    Here are some of the images I captured during my visit with vintage lenses mounted on the Fujifilm X-Pro3. Lenses used in these captures were the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 20mm f4 and the Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm f2.8.

  • First Trip Captures Posted

    First Trip Captures Posted

     Quick post to let everyone know that Dixie has posted the edits from his portion of the trip.  I’m trying to recall most of the stops we made but I’m sure we will make better notes on our next trip.

    This portion for me was from Atlanta to Oklahoma City with main stops listed here:

    Spectre – fictitious town from the film “Big Fish” near Montgomery, AL

    Prattville, AL – home of the Pratt Cotton Gin

    Old Cahawba Archaeological Park – near Orrville, AL and abandoned first permanent state capitol of Alabama from 1820 to 1825. Also called Cahaba.

    Meridian, Mississippi – Abandoned amusement park “Royal Land”

    Jackson, Mississippi 

    Shreveport, Lousianna – best city Welcome Center that impressed Peep.

    Paris, Texas – Stopped to see the little “Eiffel Tower”, Texas styled with cowboy hat on top.

    Most of the travel was along state highways off the interstate system, but we opted for main towns for better hotels to get our points.   We love adventure but still love to be rewarded also.

    You can check out all the images from the trip on the Flickr group for Forgotten Main Street.  That group is also a great place to comment and start discussions for future destinations or to share your favorite places.

    Here are a few preview images from our first trip.

  • The New Adventure

    The New Adventure

    Welcome to our new adventure!

    This venture started to form during a “man-trip” with Fielding and Robert, a.k.a, Peep and Dixie.  We have been close friends since our military days in the late 1980s and only have seen each other in person twice previously. It’s amazing how we can go several months without talking and then pick up exactly where we left off as though no time had passed.

    This trip, ATL to OKC, was Peep’s idea since he wanted to travel cross country back to his hometown of Bellingham, Washington from his temporary work location in Atlanta, Georgia for his birthday.  Dixie was not able to make the time schedule work but instead hopped a plane to ATL and rode shotgun until OKC.  It was an EPIC trip with ample time to catch up on life’s moments in detail and reinforce the relationship and our photography passion.

    This project of Forgotten Main Street was the idea of the two of us traveling off the main interstates into the smaller towns that time forgot.  We want to bring attention to the people and places that time passed over because of economics, interstate traffic, local industry closures, etc.  We hope that this vision entices other creatives to help bring to light these wonderful places of importance and others can see the beauty in areas just around the corner.

    Here are a few selfies of the guys and we hope you follow the website for updates.  We would love to hear your comments or places we should visit.