photobyjohnbo

Lens-Artists Challenge #269 – On the Edge

On the edge of disaster.

This week, Patti asks us to think on the edge for our responses. She writes, “This week the Lens-Artists are heading in a new direction. We’re exploring “the edges.” What have you captured “On the Edge” of buildings, cliffs, rivers, beaches, tables, shelves, your finger, or your dinner plate? Feel free to use any kind of edge you can think of. You can also take the theme sideways…veering off into another meaning of “on the edge.” Think of “unconventional” or “edgy” or “avant garde.”” You can read her entire challenge post here.

Just last week, Lynn and I, along with my niece and her husband, finished an 8,000-mile trip across the southern United States. I thought it would be fun to process a few of the images from our trip that put us “on the edge” of the places we visited.

I start with a vehicle that traveled more miles in a few days than most people travel in a lifetime. While in Florida, we visited Kennedy Space Center and enjoyed the history of the United States space program that brought astronauts to the edge of our moon. The image is of the Apollo 13 Command Module. The story of the moon launch and the mission turning into a rescue mission after an on-board explosion put the world on edge as to whether or not those three astronauts would survive. They did, and the story is the stuff of legends.

The southernmost point in the Continental United States.

At Key West, we took a hop-on hop-off shuttle to gain some history of the city and of the Florida Keys. We drove by this marker that makes note of our achievement of reaching the southernmost point in the United States. Well, the shuttle didn’t stop for us to get off and take a photo here, so as you can see, we didn’t quite get to the southernmost point, but we were close, anyway. As the shuttle rounded the corner, we didn’t even get a chance to photograph the entire text on the marker. Maybe next time.

There are two edges in this photo.

The first is near the edge of the day, on a sunset cruise at Naples, Florida. The second edge is marked by the rougher water in the background. We would soon cross that edge and enter the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The edge of the road.

Whenever possible, we shunned the Interstate system and stuck instead to the U.S. highways that still carry traffic. Of course, there are places where Interstate travel is necessary, but this view is from the edge of the Natchez Trace Parkway near Kosciusko, Mississippi.

The Natchez Trace is a 444-mile scenic route that winds through three states: Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee. It roughly follows the path of the Old Natchez Trace, a historic travel corridor used by American Indians, European settlers, slave traders, soldiers, and future presidents. We didn’t drive the entire length, instead opting to go southeast to Canton, Mississippi from Hot Springs Arkansas. There we picked up the Natchez Trace Parkway, as it is known today, and drove it to Tupelo, Mississippi. The three-hour drive took us about 150 miles (241 km) along this beautiful scenic byway.

From the edge of Pike’s Peak.

We rode the Cog Train from Manitou Springs, Colorado, one of the sights we missed in a previous year when we went through Colorado. As we pulled into the station at the top of Pike’s Peak, I saw two people standing at the edge of the mountain as they gazed at the views of the Denver Metro area. I chuckled when I thought of the guy on the stairs. Apparently, the mountain wasn’t high enough, he had to climb stairs to get a better view.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison.

As we transited Colorado on our journey, we stopped at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. There were plenty of “edgy” viewpoints that featured views of the Gunnison River far below us.

This image features four edges.

The Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska features the edges of two states, the state line in the center of the river. The image was captured near the edge of the day, as you can tell by the golden hour colors. The fourth edge marks our last night on the road. Our next day’s travel found us home again in Fargo, North Dakota. To see my collection of images in 2K HD, check out my gallery here.

Thanks to Patti for an “edgy” challenge this week. Also props to Tina for last week’s opportunity to share some of our favorite images of all time, and explain why. I am looking forward to next week when Ann-Christine hosts the challenge at noon EST on Saturday.

If you’d like to participate in the challenge responses, welcome aboard! You can find out all the details here.

John Steiner

46 comments

  1. Great post, John. I really enjoyed how you thought and presented your reply to this challenge. Pike’s Peak has to be my favourite for this week. I love that you have people there, the sense of scale is awesome.

    Reply

  2. Beautiful images John and what a fabulous journey! I especially love your capture from Pike’s Peak – it holds so many different layers and edges 😊

    Reply

  7. What an amazing trip and a wonderful way to take us to the edge John. It is a beautiful country we live in with so many out of the way places to wander too. Space travel was a great start with the post though. I love the bridge shot and loved that area on our recent travel. Great info, great post John.

    Reply

  9. That sounds like some road trip! How long were you travelling for? I love that vista from Pike’s Peak and the Natchez Trace 🙂 And I remember seeing a Lunar module at the Kennedy Space Centre years ago and marvelling at its small size!

    Reply

      • I’ll look forward to seeing them 🙂 You travel faster than we do when we visit the US for a road trip – we rarely do more than 200 miles a day and probably average 100-150, with a few days not driving at all. So 8,000 miles would probably take us twice as long as it did you!!

      • We have the one long road trip, averaging 4 hours between stops, but our other road travels are more like two or three days to a destination and then a couple of weeks, a month, or maybe more in one location. Those trips are always to the south to get away from our North Dakota Winters. >grin<

  13. I enjoyed the way you found edges, John. Reminds me I want to visit Black Canyon of the Gunnison again some day. Haven’t been there since I was growing up and I don’t remember it at all. 🙂

    Reply

  14. Well John, a great opportunity to share some of the finds you came across in your travels – lots of interesting edges many of us will never see – including yours truly! Did you do the driving on the excursion? I’d be a pretzel by the time it was over LOL. The astronaut story, which I’d long forgotten, was my favorite of the set but I also loved the Pikes Peak image.

    Reply

    • Thanks, Tina! I did some of the driving, but most of the time Lynn and I sat in the back seat. My niece and her husband were behind the steering wheel most of the trip.
      To avoid the sitting cramps, we limited our miles each day to what we could cover in 5 hours or less. We allowed generous times for stopping along the way to visit local attractions.

      Reply

  15. really nice subjects here for the topic. I believe ive seen that point in Naples, it’s beautiful in the day but the sunset elevates it to a stunning scene. the story of Apollo 13 is something that can’t be understated, an important marker in American history and culture.

    great captures!

    Reply

  16. You have visited more of the USA than most people I know! Fabulous, John. A great edge collection, too. Pikes Peak looks amazing. Great perspective in that shot. Welcome back home! How long will you be there?

    Reply

  17. You’ve got some edges here, I might want to avoid. I’ went to Manitou Springs when we lived in Colorado Springs. Nice place, but I don’t remember standing on the edge! Both of our parents were with us and neither of them could breathe at that altitude.

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.