I like to see beautiful places that I can draw upon for inspiration in my artwork. Seeing these wonders makes me feel alive, invigorated. Over the past 10 years, I have not had as much opportunity to travel as I would have liked, mostly flying to places around the continent. These past two years, I decided that I needed to see more of the stunning scenery that this country has to offer.

I recently bought myself a purple pickup truck. I could have a large covered vehicle to haul my art around, go get lumber for my woodworking and drive all over the west coast seeing wondrous places that I had never been before. This page has some photos of where my truck and I have been the past two years.

He's a purple Ford Ranger, with a canopy, and I just love him.

A year ago, December, I and my truck went on a quest for beautiful scenery. We began our journey in Portland, Oregon and drove south, passing through Oregon, stopping in Eugene and Ashland, visiting the sights. We then drove south into California, past Shasta Mountain, going through the center of California on this trip, no side trips to the coast. We passed through Sacramento and down the I-5 corridor, taking a side trip to visit Lake Isabella and on through the deserts of eastern California and into Arizona.

In Arizona, we visited Tucson and Phoenix and then proceeded up into the wonderful red rocks of Sedona. We visited Lowell Observatory near Flagstaff and then went north towards the Grand Canyon.

On the southern rim of the Grand Canyon, we stopped and I clambored around on the edge of some of the cliffs, hung my feet into the crack in the world and ate some of the Grand Canyon snow. My truck didn't have any snow this time.

Driving around the eastern edge of the Grand Canyon, we stopped at a section of Colorado River where a sign said "The Grand Canyon Starts Here." Over the north side we went, making sure we stopped in Fredonia (being a Marx Bros. fan...) and then into Utah, to Zion National Park.

We spent not nearly long enough absorbing as much as we could of the stunning Zion. What a magnetic place. We proceeded up through Cedar City, Salt Lake City, Logan and over to Bear Lake. There were no sea monsters visible to either of us then.

We then journeyed up into Idaho, taking a long side trip to go see The Craters of the Moon National Monument. But... it was December... alas, all the craters were mefull of snow. Deep Snow! I ate some of the snow there, and my truck did as well. We continued through Idaho and back through Oregon, through the Gorge.

It was 3500 miles, in two weeks. A wonderful trip. Since then, I've been to a number of other places, with or without my truck. The best was a trip down the California coastline, through Big Sur. It rivals Zion in its magnetism, and has had quite the impact on my art and my soul.