Friday, November 10, 2023

Roadtrip: By the side of Highway 41 and a visit to Mosquito Hill.

We planned an outing to Green Bay for the botanical gardens, an apple orchard, and lunch overlooking Lambeau Field. The semi-panoramic PrePopulist hadn't seen film in some time. It also meant I didn't have to take so many pictures before processing the film.

Just as we were approaching the nasty Highway 10 and 41 interchange, we hit something on the road. The tire inflation warning light went on. The nearest exit was a over a mile away but the tire gave up way before that. We limped to the first spot past the guard rails under the overpasses so we could pull over where there was more of a shoulder. The tire looked really bad as did the three lanes of 80 mph heavy traffic going past us. I panicked and called 911. They said to stay in the car and they would dispatch the highway patrol and a tow truck.



The police arrived at the same time as the tow truck and never got out of the car. The driver from Nolte's Towing Service was extremely cheerful. They love it when it's just a flat tire. No one's frightened, angry, hurt or dead. He made it almost fun.



We had already decided the emergency foam inflation kit that came with the car instead of a spare wouldn't work. The tire was bad enough that it wouldn't sit on the normal little trailer that just supports the front end. A bigger truck had to be called so the Mustang could have a comfortable ride up on the flat bed.



He took us to Discount Tire. I set up the camera in the corner while they unloaded the car and we bought a complete set of a new tires for our noble steed. (The last new set was just before our mega-road trip in 2018). When we left, I forgot the camera. I called and asked if they would get it and push down the tab on the top of the box before moving it and we'd get it when we came back for the car. 



Fernau's was well supplied for the season this year.



The stem on this one seemed interesting.



A little gourdian knot.




Almost two weeks later, we got up our courage to try again with a modified itinerary (We didn't take Highway 41). We started with lunch at Pullman's in Appleton. 


There's just one bottle of ketchup. Both images used up most of the silver and there was nothing bright enough behind them to show through when it was moved. The salt and pepper shakers, not so much.

More abstraction from the parking lot shadows and autumn color.



The view of the Fox downstream toward Lawrence University.



Just north of Appleton, The Apple Blossom Orchard and Market with a wide selection of freshly picked apples and apple products. We were going to buy enough to make a pie, but ended up with much more than that and popcorn. So far it's been pie, crisp and two loaves of apple bread and there's still a few pounds left.



A heavily laden tree in the corner of the orchard.



At Mosquito Hill, this small maple makes a strong opening statement at the beginning of the path up the hill.



The ascent begins on the north side and winds around the hill. The south side is lined with rock faces with birches and oaks growing out of them.



They're building a platform at the top of the cliff for an overlook of New London and the Wolf River Valley. This is the only view now.



Before the descent.



More abstraction, this time from the duck weed.


The PrePopulist has a .15mm Gilder electron microscope aperture 24mm from a 24x50mm frame. The film is Lomography 100, half of the seventh and eighth rolls done in an Arista.edu liquid quart C-41 kit. I used the Paterson tank and the two adjustable reels I got for my birthday, the first time I've been able to develop two 35mm rolls of film at once.

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