Dallas. 2.8.2017

I arrived in Dallas by greyhound tonight...it was quite a ride and included an open sky light roof and the wind blew in the smells of farms anywhere close to the highway. I sat next to a window, watching winding Oklahoma roads, small decrepit houses on plots of dirt, dead grass barely hanging on to the dry soil. Large expanses of land, winding creeks. Photos can be seen in the February 2017 folder that I will post a link to soon. I stayed the past few days in an Airbnb owned by a man who supports me on here! And I shot two photo sets. And ate a vegan pumpkin pie he made, and it's the best pumpkin pie ever! And now I have the recipe, and I can make it all the time! Which is a wonderful thing. So, thank you to Mark for being such a wonderful host - and yes, I asked permission to post this, don't worry :) My stay in Oklahoma City was great...I worked with very few people but had longer bookings, so did well. I spent a lot of time driving through rural areas, taking photos out the car window on the way. I really love open, minimal landscapes so I found it to be breathtaking. On the way to one of my bookings, I drove through Lawton, OK and saw what the photographer told me are 'Indian Homes' - small houses rented to Indian families for $25-50 per month. Most were in incredibly poor condition, trash littered about the yards, dogs running loose. That booking, in Lawton, is the first booking I've been considerably late to in about a year or more...I couldn't find the road, my gps stopped working, his cell phone had no reception, and his land line was not working. The hazards of working in less traveled areas. He ended up driving his truck out to find me. My being the only car on the road within his area helped him find me almost immediately. I ended up being less than a mile from his house. I had an easier time finding my shoot the next day in Norman...it was on Horse Road. Which is a road that has many horse farms. And as I took far too many photos. As usual. The photographer had a little studio set up in his horse barn, and there were multiple heaters. So, I was incredibly warm throughout the shoot - a very good thing. At one point, he told me about the "creatures" in Oklahoma though...brown recluse, flying roaches. I saw one of the flying roaches on the backdrop at one point (it is a barn) and he carefully removed it in a water bottle and placed it outside. I think this will be the first and last time I ever see a roach treated with such dignity. The rest of the time I spent emailing and catching up on other work. Mark dropped me off at the bus station today after we ate a vegan lunch, and what feels like many hours later, I'm in Dallas! I'll be here for a few days and then back to Baltimore where I can cuddle my fur babes!