Where is Ben?

Almost to Atlanta

 

We just finished a two night stop in New Orleans, LA. During that time Karen explored the New Orleans Jazz Festival and walked down Bourbon street while I stayed in the bus spending my time updating my Photoshop for Photographers seminar handbook for CS5. Be sure to check out Karen's blog post about her experiences in New Orleans. 

Last night we parkeat an unusual RV park that's located behind a gas station in Alabama. We're parked right next to a lake, with ducks walking around the bus. I was a little scared when we pulled in and saw a "Modem Friendly" sign at the gate! It turns out that they have great Wifi and even have dozens of beers on tap that you can take home by the half or full gallon. 

Today we will continue on to Atlanta where we will hang out for a few days and visit friends.

Vintage Bus Run Shot

I ran into this shot while I was cruising through my photo archives the other day while preparing for my updated seminar tour. This shot was taken in Gay Parita, Missori which was one of my stops on the way back from purchasing the vintage bus. Once the drivetrain has been modernized, the vintage bus should follow almost the full length of Route 66 once more before heading to its birthplace in Loudonville, OH for a vintage bus rally. 

You can click on the photo above to see a larger version. This is not an overly refined image... it was processed in just a few minutes, while my fine-art images take me more like 6-12 hours to complete. 

The Next Few Months

Our near future plans are to explore New Orleans for a few days (Karen has never been there), continue on to Atlanta for just shy of a week to visit the usual suspects (Eddie Tapp, Kevin Ames, Jimmy D and more) and then make our way to New Jersey (near Philly). Karen's parents haven't met me yet (they live in New Jersey, close to Philadelphia) and we plan to swap out my Jeep Liberty for Karen's blue/white Mini Cooper, which should make for a much more enjoyable play car to tow behind the bus. After that, we plan to attend the Gateway Burn in St. Louis (a Burning Man-related event that should reunite some of the folks I hung out with late last year).

In the next 30 days, I'll also be flying to San Francisco, CA and Detroit, MI to present my newly updated Photoshop for Photographers seminar. 

Social Media/Blogging

 

I'm re-engaging in social media by re-commiting to updating this blog (which will be much easier now that I'm traveling on a regular basis). I've decided to start utilizing Twitter for non blog-worthy information (@whereisben) and to keep the sidebar on this blog updated with my upcoming travel plans (@BenWillmore). Not only that, I'm ramping up to post regular photo updates via Flickr using my BenWillmore account (I'm still trying to work out how to get those posts to show up on the sidebar of this TypePad-based blog). Karen and I are also working on utilizing YouTube to post more in-depth video-based updates. The first one being the short vintage bus update I mentioned in an earlier post.

The photo above is of Karen scrubbing my current bus just before we pulled into an RV rally.

Weekend Bonus: Blazing Bloody Mary Recipe

OK... it's the weekend. Time for some fun and relaxation. In that spirit, I present to you my award-winning Blazing Bloody Mary recipe. That's right, this gem took grand prize at the recently held Bartender Wars 2010!