“If I could tell the world just one thing it would be
That we’re all okay
And not to worry ’cause worry is wasteful
and useless in times like these
I won’t be made useless
I won’t be idle with despair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear.”
– from the 1998 song “Hands,” written and performed by Jewell
This is part 3 of my 6 part blog from 2004-2010 how the EarthBall became my symbol. I conclude these multi-part story how my April 10, 2010 photo of me with my EarthBall at Copper Harbor, Michigan with Lake Superior behind me became my favorite Earth Ball photo.
Part 1: Everglades National Park, Florida in 2004 to Crater Lake Nat. Park, Oregon in 2009
Part 2: My Pacific Northwest spring travels to living in Ashland, Oregon in Autumn 2009
Part 3: December 2009 cross country travels to spending winter in St. Louis, MO in 2010
Part 4: Seeing Door County, Wisconsin in April 2010
Part 5: Exploring the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in April 2010
Part 6: Getting my ideal EarthBall photo in Copper Harbor, Michigan in April 2010
My December 2009 cross-country adventure driving from Ashland O to St. Louis MO
On December 10, 2009, I left Barbara’s house for my cross-country traveling adventure to spend the winter in St. Louis MO. I started this journey with a variety of emotions tugging at me. I loved living in Ashland, Oregon for two months, yet I felt so lonely there living most of the time in a two bedroom house all by myself. I felt I had made a commitment to Barbara to housesit for her for the winter. Yet, I felt betrayed that she came home from her RV excursion in early November. She now wanted me to leave her house after I planned to stay there for the winter.
I came to Ashland OR at the beginning of October uncertain what to do with my life and how to follow this climate change passion. I was now departing Ashland with a firm idea of pursuing this Climate Change Comedian role. My friend Naomi advised me that receiving this new vision for myself, I got what I needed from my time in Ashland. It was time to move onto the next thing. My parents were eager for me to come home for the winter to spend time with them in their new home. I missed family living by myself in Ashland, so I was looking forward to seeing them. Even more, Naomi and I felt I would be more productive in St. Louis for the winter developing my Climate Change Comedian PowerPoint, website, and marketing for myself.
I had partaken in many cross country drives in my life, so it seemed like a bit of a drag to have to do this again, when I was not expecting it. I loved spending my summers working and living in the Pacific Northwest. It was always a bummer for me to leave Oregon in the autumn each year after my seasonal job ended at Crater Lake. On the other hand, I looked forward to seeing friends on this journey and experiencing new U.S. locations I never traveled to before. I had some new places I chose to drive to see, such as the central California Coast. This trip might offer some unexpected thrills that might happen. You never know! Let the adventure begin!
Leaving Ashland OR, the sky was blue with some fresh snow on Mt. Shasta as I drove around the mountain on Highway 97 and Interstate 5 by Weed, California. The mountain dominating the landscape with its high rising cone summit and Little Shastina volcanic butte nestled against the west side of it. With this clear view of the Mt. Shasta, it felt as if it wanted to say goodbye to me as I left the Pacific Northwest to head home to St. Louis for the winter. I had several hours ahead of me to drive to get to San Francisco. However, I stopped at a pullout to admire Mt. Shasta and take a couple of photos of the mountain. I wanted to wish it a farewell since I would miss seeing snowcapped mountains when I stayed in the Midwest for the winter.
As I left Weed CA to merge onto I-5 to head south, I noticed a large deer jumped onto the interstate hoping to somehow cross this very dangerous highway with a steady stream of cars, pick up trucks, and large 18 wheeler trucks. Even more, a concrete divider was in the middle of the freeway, which made a safe passage for the deer even more slim. Sure enough, I saw a large truck hit the deer, killing it instantly. It was one of the most gruesome scenes I witnessed in my life. The carcass spun around several times heading not far the direction I was driving. Somehow, I avoided getting into an accident or the remains damaging my car. It was a reminder to me that these cross country drives are dangerous. I must continue to be vigilant for potential dangers when I drive and I was fortunate for all the times I drove across the U.S. safely.
I stopped in San Francisco to stay with my friend Dana Ostfeld. She was another female friend that I had a crush on for years, but we always kept our friendship on a platonic level. I first met her when we worked as rangers at Crater Lake National Park in 2002. Dana and I, plus two of her friends went to an evening holiday celebration at the California Academy of Sciences downtown San Francisco. The museum had an excellent climate change exhibit. It was another indication that I needed to pursue this path. Two years later in the summer of 2011, I applied for a job there. I told the manager interviewing me that I loved their climate change exhibit. Sadly, she told me that they were going to be getting rid of the exhibit soon. The other bad news: they decided later to hire someone else as a museum docent position that I interviewed.
The next day, on December 11th, after I said goodbye to Dana and left her home. I needed to start my road trip down the central California Coast. However, I was not ready to leave San Francisco yet. I serendipitously choose to I hike up a nearby tall hill to get an expansive view of the city skyline of San Francisco. It was a foggy overcast cool day in this city but it still had its charm standing on this high hill. The high rise buildings rose in the distance with numerous houses, apartment complexes, and businesses highly packed together under the scene of this hill. The fog barely allowed any look of the tower spires of the Golden Gate and the Oakland Bay Bridges behind the tall downtown buildings.
In the late morning, I departed the San Francisco metro area. I drove on Highway 1 south stopping in Monterey, California to walk on a beach. I then continued driving further south about 15 miles south of the last developed city on this route Carmel-by-the-Sea. I pulled over to see and photograph the iconic Bixby Creek Bridge. I saw it in numerous photographs over the years that I yearned to see it in person. The bridge hugs close to the mountain it is on while straddling high above the beach and ocean with its underside white arching concrete supports. I stopped and parked my car to admire the bridge and snap lots of photos. Several young men were jumping off the bridge with parachutes. One asked, half joking and half serious if I wanted to jump off the bridge with a parachute. I have a fear of heights, so the answer was an easy, “No!”
Besides, I could see me donning a parachute and jumping only to land aways out in the Pacific Ocean. Thus, jumping off the bridge was not happening for me.
I then drove down spectacular scenic Highway 1 with tall coastal mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other side. There were no towns the 70 mile drive from Big Sur to San Simeon. The road was basically on a high cliff, with a dramatic drop off to the Pacific Ocean just to the right of me as I drove south. Even with the guard rails next to the highway, it was an intense driving experience. I loved the sweeping ocean views, but I was glad I made it safely to San Simeon, California to spend the night.
The next day, I achieved another life goal seeing Heart Castle, the former home of newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst. It was a gloomy, rainy, foggy, blah December day. As impressive as the architecture was for the home, it was not conducive to take outside photos that day. It had the feel of an American attempt for a European style castle. The tour was memorable for the stories of the grandiose personality of Hearst, especially how he had a special door to slip in when he hosted dinner parties so he could be the center of attention in his own way.
The following day, I headed east across California. I saw a sign at the intersection where California State Route 41 and Highway 46 converge near Cholame, California. The sign noted the spot where movie star James Dean hit another car and died in a fatal car crash. He lived way before my time. He only made three movies, but my parents talked about him now and then when I was growing up since he was a well-known actor of their teenage years. It was a sad reminder that life is temporary and fleeting.
The next stop on my trip was Death Valley National Park to visit my friend Stephanie Kyriazis. I worked in Death Valley in the spring of 1994. I like living around trees and water, so I felt very uncomfortable living in a desert with almost no plants, trees, rivers, and lakes. I could not leave quick enough to head back to Crater Lake for the summer. It was interesting for me to visit Death Valley a couple of times since 1994 to appreciate the subtle beauty of the brown and tan desert. I especially like hiking in Golden Canyon where a couple of scenes from the original Star Wars was filmed in 1976. Stephanie took me to an isolated box canyon to hike that had some steep terraces to climb. I appreciated her hospitality on this long road trip.
After Death Valley, I spent the night in Las Vegas, Nevada. I had an interesting time walking down the Vegas strip in the evening to see the neon lights of the mammoth towering casinos. I had not written a roller coaster in years. I took advantage of the opportunity to ride the Big Apple Roller Coaster that circles around the exterior of the New York New York Casino.
My next stop was Flagstaff, Arizona to visit with my friends Steve and Melissa. Flagstaff sits at almost 7,000 feet above sea level. Steve and Melissa’s neighborhood had a couple of feet of snow piling up all around their streets, which made it hard for me to try to find a place to park. It was a little over a week before Christmas, so their area looked like a winter wonderland in the holiday spirit. Melissa gave birth to their son Heny just six weeks before I visited. They took me hiking to a desert slot canyon south of Sedona during my stay. However, it was hard for them juggling taking care of a new baby, plus Steve’s sister was there to meet Henry for the first time.
Out of the blue, Steve asked me if I wanted to hike down the Grand Canyon. Steve worked at that time as a backcountry law enforcement ranger at Grand Canyon National Park. He could easily set me up with the gear to hike to the bottom, plus make arrangements for me to stay at the ranger station at the bottom of the Grand Canyon at Phantom Ranch. I am always game for a new adventure, so I immediately said yes!
With less than a week before Christmas, I went on a two-day overnight hike to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was a sublime peak life experience to walk to the floor of the canyon. The top of the canyon was sprinkled with snow, giving it a holiday winter look. I wrote an entire blog to my Grand Canyon visits. All I can say is that the canyon is so huge and all-encompassing to be there that I have longed to return to this day.
When I finished hiking in the Grand Canyon, I only had about four days to make it home to be with my family to celebrate Christmas. I got an oil change in Flagstaff before the long drive. I ran into heavy snow showers as I drove across Missouri on Christmas Eve. I made it to my parents’ home that evening. They were thrilled to see me and excited for me to see their new home. I was exhausted from the long car ride.
Spending 2009-10 winter in St. Louis to work on my Climate Change Comedian persona
After spending the holidays with my parents, it was time for me to start thinking about developing this Climate Change Comedian thing. I spent weeks putting together my own climate change PowerPoint presentation. I utilized taking photos of my nieces and nephews to put them in my PowerPoint. When my 13-year-old niece Rachel and my 9-year-old nephew Andrew came to visit my parents when they were off from school on Presidents’ Day in February 2010, I was in the middle of creating my first climate change PowerPoint. I struggled trying to think of a way to illustrate the greenhouse effect at the beginning of my talk. One of the best examples I heard putting more fossil fuel pollution in the air was like putting more blankets around the planet.
Thus, I took photos of them sitting on the couch comfortably. Then I photographed them freezing on the couch pretending the Earth had no atmosphere. Then I took subsequent photos of them where I piled on blankets in each photo and looking more unhappy to demonstrate the greenhouse effect or impacts of burning fossil fuels to create climate change. They were the perfect willing fun models to show climate change in an easy and understandable way. I snapped photos of them that I used at the end of my climate change talk for years afterwards. I envisioned ending my climate change talks on a positive and uplifting note. My nephew Andrew held my Earth Ball and my niece Bailey held a sign that read, “Thank you for saving our home.”
Near the end of my PowerPoint, I had a photo with all four of my nieces and nephews, Andrew, Bailey, Sam, and Andrew, plus me, to show that our kids future was at stake with climate change and that was my reason for giving this talk. I spent several months from January to March 2010 creating this PowerPoint by researching the science as I knew and attempting to sprinkle humor throughout this talk. I gave it the title, “Let’s Have Fun Getting Serious About Resolving Climate Change.”
During the winter months of 2010, my sisters Mary Frances and Lisa kept me busy by booking me to give brief talks about what it is like to be a park ranger at my nieces and nephews’ schools. My very first talk outside of the national parks was at my nephew Sam’s second grade class on February 5, 2010. To try to make it more relatable to the students, I had a couple of images of Sam in the PowerPoint. Afterwards, Sam came up to me to meekly and half heartily say that I embarrassed him a bit. At the same time, he seemed to take it in stride and soon forgot about it. The highlight of the program was that I made 20-foot fountains with 2-liter cokes and 7 Mentos in the backyard of the school to show how volcanoes, such as Crater Lake erupts.
One month later, I gave a similar program but upped the complexity a bit speaking to my niece Rachel’s 7th grade class. I had a few images of her in my presentation like what I had for the talk I gave at Sam’s school. Toward’s the end of the talk, Rachel raised her hand to ask, “Can you please share that you are my uncle because no one here knows how you know me?”
I thought everyone knew that and possibly recalled the teacher introducing me as Rachel’s uncle at the beginning of my talk. However, Rachel’s friends kept asking her who I was during the talk. Like Sam’s talk, the highlight for the students, teachers, and me was the combustible fountains of 2-liter cokes and Mentos in the school’s backyard. Climate change is a complicated subject to engage with kids before middle school and high school. However, giving a presentation at my nephew Sam’s second grade class and Boy Scout troop, speaking to my niece Bailey’s Girl Scout Troop, and speaking at my niece Rachel’s 7th grade class, I was able to share about the importance of protecting nature.
In the spring, my first climate change PowerPoint was ready to give to someone or anyone. I first shared it with a family friend who knew me my whole life, John Dantico. He did not think it was that funny. He was still quite skeptical if the science of climate change was real. At the same time, he gave me a lot of tips to help me improve my talk.
In March 2010, I knew I needed promotional images of me with my Earthball to promote my talk. When I attended Oakville High School in south St. Louis County in the 1980s, my best friend was Scott Manthey. I admired his parents Ty and Carna Manthey. Scott and his father Ty were excellent photographers. Ty and Carna lived in Oakville Missouri in March 2010, but not much longer. They were in the process of moving to Baraboo Wisconsin, the town where they both grew up. When I contacted them in early March 2010, I offered to help them pack up some of their belongings. At the same time, I asked Ty if he could take some outside publicity photos outside in nearby Bee Tree Park of me holding the Earth Ball. Ty was happy to oblige taking promotional photos of me in return for my assistance helping them pack.
Ty did a terrific job of getting serious and goofy photos of me holding the Earth Ball for future publicity photos for a website, promotional ads, etc. However, I knew these photos were not enough. I wanted a dramatic photo of me holding the Earth Ball with a spectacular scene of nature behind me in the photo. I was not sure where I wanted this photo yet.
Stay tuned for part 4 of this blog: Seeing Door County, Wisconsin in April 2010
