Phoenix, Arizona.

Usually, on Thursdays, I publish my response to the weekly Lens-Artists Challenge; however, the Lens-Artists team is our summer break. There was no challenge post on July 6, but on Saturday, July 13, the first of three guests will host July’s challenges. For the record, the July Lens-Artists Guest Host schedule is at the end of this post.

As a result, here’s my chance to share some photos I captured at the Phoenix Zoo. By way of disclaimer, this post is not a review; it’s a journal of my experience with a couple of long lenses. Visiting with other photographers about getting into birding and wildlife photography, I’d been recommended to purchase a long lens for my D500, a Nikon 200-500 mm F/5.6 that is very popular among Nikon shooters. I stopped at Tempe Camera to see what they had available in used lenses. I was shown a Nikon lens that met the recommendation for $850, but the salesperson also showed me a Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.5-6.3 offered at $350.

The Sigma appeared to be a little more well-worn than the Nikon I was shown, but besides the lower price, it had three other advantages. It weighs less than the Nikon, is shorter than the Nikon, and has an extended zoom range. I wouldn’t have to change lenses if I needed a wider shot.

Tempe Camera has a reasonable return policy on its used gear. I was told that I could evaluate the lens and return it if I wasn’t satisfied in five days. I fired a couple of test shots in the store, and the photos looked good as viewed on the back of the camera, so I plunked down my credit card. I added a lens carry case and a monopod to help me hold the large lens steady.

At the zoo, Lynn and I enjoyed wandering around while I looked for opportunities to take some test shots. When I got home, I downloaded the set and selected 13 photos to process and evaluate. I found that the lens’s stabilization worked nicely even at the slower shutter speeds, but these animals weren’t moving all that much anyway. The images are generally sharp, and the lens appears to have plenty of life left. I posted the original and edited versions of the Sigma photos on Flickr here.

I spent some time looking for reviews of the Sigma lens since it is no longer available as new. Finding online reviews was difficult as searches either brought up a predecessor or a newer replacement. Remembering there is a used Nikon option, and I could still return the Sigma, I watched some reviews of the Nikon 200-500 mm lens. I could still purchase that lens today for $1400 new, and despite the advantages of the Sigma noted above, I decided to spend the extra $500 for the used Nikon they had available.

I immediately noticed the Nikon’s extra weight. While I lost the advantage of a faster 50 mm wide angle, I gained an additional 1/3 stop at 500 mm. That extra light helped capture this mandrill in the shade, especially given the faster shutter speed I used. I also considered that Nikon’s service on this lens should be available if I ever need it.

Another trip to the zoo was in order. I could take advantage of Tempe Camera’s 5-day return policy on used equipment, and if I found anything wrong with the lens, they even had another used Nikon 200-500 available. I decided to keep the Nikon. Both lenses, designed for full-frame DSLRs, gave me extra reach on my D500, which is an APS-C crop sensor camera, giving me the equivalent of a 750 mm maximum zoom.

One key difference in my test shots between the Sigma and Nikon is that I used a faster shutter speed with the Nikon. After evaluating many of the Sigma images I shot, I realized that many of my photos were marred with motion blur, either from the animal or camera movements (even though I was using a monopod.) Still, I had plenty of Sigma shots that were not blurred, so I considered it a fair comparison, knowing that the blur was caused by operator error.

I purchased the lens in April, and after a couple of months of using it, I’ve learned that I can actually dispense with the monopod in some cases. While I may use it for some purposes, I’m building enough muscle to handhold the 5-lb (2.3 kg) lens. That means fewer trips to the gym for me. I posted the original and edited versions of the Nikon photos on Flickr here.

If I do not enjoy wildlife photography after all, I’m sure I can find other uses for this specialty lens. I brought it with the monopod to a track meet where my grandson ran in several heats. I had only a few unacceptable photos and learned to keep the monopod still when shooting.

As promised, here’s the schedule for guest hosts in July 2024:

July 13: Leanne of Leanne Cole explores TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

July 20: Elizabeth of Albatz Travel Adventures leads us with PAIRS

July 27: PR of Flights of the Soul presents BALCONIES

John Steiner

Glendale, Arizona.

I am a big fan of American automobiles from the 1920s and 1930s. A few weeks ago, I featured a 1929 Packard, my favorite classic automobile, sold at the Mecum 2024 Automobile Auction in Glendale, Arizona. For today’s post, I feature my second favorite classic at the auction, a 1933 Cadillac coupe.

Cadillac has been synonymous with luxury and design since 1902, throughout the 20th century, and into the 21st. The company remains a major player in the luxury car market, known for its powerful engines, spacious interiors, and cutting-edge technology.

This classic 1933 Cadillac 355C 2/4-Passenger Coupe has a 134-inch wheelbase chassis and a Fisher body, which was a popular body style at the time. According to the Mecum catalog, the car is powered by a 346 cubic inch V-8 engine that produces 115 horsepower and is paired with a 3-speed selective synchromesh manual transmission.

The car’s exterior is finished in two-tone cream and orange paint. It has several period accessories popular in the 1930s, such as dual chrome horns, a golf club compartment door, a rear rumble seat, a rear-mounted spare wheel and tire, chrome bumpers, and painted wire wheels with wide whitewall tires. The car found a new owner who won the bid at $44,000 during the auction.

About the photo: I captured the photograph with my Samsung S23U using the widest format possible to get close and keep the entire car in the frame. After importing the image into Lightroom Classic for cropping and cataloging, I then sent it off to Luminar Neo’s Gen Erase module to remove a car’s front fender visible on the right. I then added a slight vignette to the corners of the image to draw the viewer’s eye into the center of the photo. Click on the image above to see metadata if you are interested in pixel-peeping the details.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, also, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Scottsdale, Arizona.

Scottsdale Arizona is a place where Jaguars, Mercedes, and Porsches are as common as traffic cones. But during our winter stay, on a recent visit to the grocery store, we parked near the most unusual Porsche I’ve ever seen. It reminded me of a poem written in 1895 by Gelett Burgess. Here is my version:

I’d never seen a purple Porsche,
I never thought I’d see one,
But I can tell you anyhow,
I’d rather not own me one.

OK, I’m no poet so I tender my apologies to Mr. Burgess and his Purple Cow.

About the photo: I captured the image with my Samsung S23U with a quick snap, no pro mode, just a jpg image. An SUV was parked directly in front of the purple Porsche, so I cropped the image tight. Then I tried to use the content-aware healing brush in Lightroom in an attempt to remove the remaining rear of the SUV. It left a weird purple blob in front of the car. I then exported the image to Photoshop and found that using Generative Fill, that tool wanted to create a different type of vehicle in front of the Porsche. All three images put three different vehicles there. I’d left the Generative Fill dialog empty, instead of indicating I wanted the selected area erased.

I then decided to use Luminar Neo’s Gen-Erase module on the image to see how it would do. Since the Gen-Erase module needs the image opened directly from Luminar Neo instead of being exported from Lightroom, I exported a second copy of the image for safety and opened that image in Neo. Instead of using a selection tool like Adobe products, Neo uses a mask. I masked the “offending” SUV and clicked the Gen-Erase tool. The SUV all but disappeared. Gen-Erase created an extension to the building on the right edge of the image and brought the far right light pole down to the ground where the AI tool completely imagined a parking island and entrance to the building.

The mask I created wasn’t quite perfect and there were a couple of artifacts of the SUV directly in front of the curve of the front fender of the Porsche. I used the standard Erase tool in Neo to touch up the fender, and the pavement and remove a couple of pieces of litter on the ground.

If you click on the opening image, it will link you to the 2K HD version of the final photograph. Using Pinch-Zoom on your device, you can enlarge the area in front of the building. You’ll see that it’s really an artist’s representation of the building’s facade and plantings. Yet when viewing the entire image, the AI creation is all but unnoticeable in the background.

I finished the image by increasing the contrast, structure, and vibrance from within the single Enhanced AI tool and imported it into Lightroom Classic for the addition of the watermark and filing in my master catalog.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s acceptable as well. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, and, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Scottsdale, Arizona.

Our winter travels have found us again in Arizona. This time, it’s Scottsdale. If I were to write a defining statement about Scottsdale, I might note, “While other desert cities might focus more on ruggedness or affordability, Scottsdale has cultivated an image of refined living in a beautiful natural setting.” OK, I did write that.

Among the golf courses and pickleball courts, there are many other interesting attractions in the city. One such place we stopped recently is the Museum of Illusions. It is but one attraction in a center that features several museums and science attractions. The complex is called the Arizona Boardwalk.

Almost every exhibit in the museum has indicators on the floor for people to stand and someone else to hold the camera. If you’re not quite sure of the point of the illusion, helpful docents are available to assist in getting the best images or in describing the science behind the illusion.

About the photo: My wonderful wife, Lynn, and I were the subjects, the illusion captured by my niece, Liz, on her cell phone. As the photo was texted to me and transferred to my computer, the metadata is not complete. Once the docent directed us to take our positions, he directed his attention to Liz and helped her frame the shot. Once I downloaded it into Luminar Neo, I cropped it to correct for a minor tilt and then used but one control, Enhance AI, to adjust the exposure, contrast, and vibrance.

I will feature more from this museum in a future Travel Tuesday post, but for today, I am featuring one of the 60 or so exhibits at the museum. You don’t have to come to Arizona to check out this museum. Many cities feature their own museum attraction. A quick Google search found that there are over 40 locations in 25 countries. The franchise opened its first museum in Zagreb, Croatia in 2015 and has grown steadily around the world. Here in Scottsdale, tickets can be purchased online for about $25 or less as of this writing. Once you are in the museum, you can take as long as you like to check out the exhibits. Our group spent just over two hours exploring the exhibits.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Glendale, Arizona.

For over a decade I visited Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale. Since we sold the winter home, we’ve missed Barrett-Jackson, but our timing was right for attending the March Mecum auction in Glendale, Arizona. This year we spent an afternoon viewing the cars and meeting with a blogger friend who attends the auction daily. Walking through the interior concourse, I saw one of my favorite 1920s-era cars, the venerable Packard. I was so struck by this car, I decided to feature some details of this Packard model design.

The 1929 Packard Custom Eight 640 Phaeton was a luxurious car built by Packard during a time when they were considered one of the top automakers in the world. It featured a powerful and smooth-running L-head straight-eight engine with a displacement of 385 cubic inches (6.3 liters). This engine delivered around 106 horsepower at 3,200 rpm, which was quite impressive for the time. Unfortunately, the closed hood didn’t allow me to capture a view of the power plant.

The Phaeton body style was an open car with convertible features. Unlike a roadster, which typically had two seats, a phaeton could seat four or more passengers. Car companies didn’t build the bodies themselves; instead, they contracted with coachbuilders who specialized in creating custom bodies for high-end vehicles.

A dual-cowl phaeton has a special design element. A raised separation, called a cowl or bulkhead, runs across the car dividing the front and rear passenger compartments. Because of the bulkhead, this vehicle has two bench seats separated by the cowl. The driver and front passenger sit in the front compartment, while the rear passengers have their own space in the back, often, as in this example, with their own folding windshield for additional comfort.

These Packards were expensive cars, costing between $3,200 and $3,875 when new (roughly $50,000 to $60,000 in today’s dollars). Due to their custom nature, the exact number produced is unknown, but they were undoubtedly rare vehicles. The placard with the car’s highlights noted that it rolled off the line on February 14, 1929. The transmission is a 3-speed manual driving the rear wheels. The car was fully restored, and the project was completed in 2023. It sold at the auction on Saturday, the hammer price was $143,000.

The 1920s were the best years for Packard. In the 1950s, the last years of the company were marked by decline. A merger with Studebaker in 1954 didn’t go as planned. With dwindling sales and mounting losses, the Packard brand was finally phased out in 1959. The last Packard automobiles, built in 1958, marked the end of an era for the once-prestigious automaker.

John Steiner

Scottsdale, Arizona.

As I write this, we are within ten days of returning home to Fargo. I scheduled the post for publication about a week after returning to our Fargo condo. Longtime readers of this blog know that I have always marveled at Arizona sunsets, and for the decade or so that we wintered in Buckeye, I shared many sunset photos with you, dear reader.

Near our rented condo, there’s a connection to a more than marathon-length improved trail (think concrete with a painted center line). It was our pleasure to walk along this trail on our evening walks, taking different directions to explore. On any night, dog walkers, bikers, skateboarders, scooter riders, and others would pass us, or we would meet them as we passed in the opposite direction.

Our usual walk was over a mile and a half (about 2.5 km). Leaving the condo complex, we would head for the trail intersection, then walk the concrete path until it intersected with a path that led to Mountain View Park. From there, we would connect with the sidewalk that led us back to the condo.

Not wanting to walk in the dark, we would be sure to be home before sunset, but we got a late start one night. As we were leaving the park, I looked westerly toward the elementary school next to the park. The sun was already below the horizon, and the last vestiges of the golden hour would soon disappear.

About the photo: I reached for my Samsung S23U and snapped a picture of the disappearing colors. The image turned out to be a pseudo-panorama. The standard 16×9 aspect ratio included some utility structures in the foreground. I simply cropped the foreground to eliminate those distractions in Adobe Lightroom Classic and then shipped the image to Luminar Neo for final processing. Even though there was very little noise in the ISO-80 image, I used Neo’s Noiseless extension tool anyway. I then used the Erase tool to remove a street light on the far right. I tweaked the Enhance AI tool, which slightly raised the exposure in the foreground and lightened the sky. I didn’t enhance it much as I wanted the foreground dark to not distract the viewer from the sunset colors. Click on the image above to view it on my Flickr site in 2K HD.

Even though we are back in Fargo when you read this, I haven’t yet finished processing all the photos captured from our two-month stay in Arizona in 2024. There will be more to come.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

Phoenix, Arizona.

On a Saturday afternoon, we found ourselves trying to find parking near the Phoenix Trolley Museum’s new home. The museum is only open on Saturdays and only in Phoenix’s mild winters. On the day we stopped, there were maybe four volunteers there. We walked in about 1:00 p.m. and left around 2:30, about a half-hour from their closing time. In that hour and a half, we were the only museum visitors, and the docent on duty, Lanny Trapnell, provided a wonderful narration.

Lanny started by describing the original routes, the first an east-west run between what is now known as 7th Street and 7th Avenues. In 1887, that one-mile run was the entire width of the city of Phoenix.

In 1887, the cars were pulled along the tracks by two-horse teams. The museum has plenty of historical photos on display, and Lanny let us know that he could be as verbose or succinct as we wanted. Given we were the only guests, we gave him free rein to share the story.

The museum started at Hance Park, and the restored Trolley 116 provided runs for visitors on a short rail system until the lease with the park department expired at the end of 2017. Car 116 and other equipment were put into storage, and the museum officers found a new location at 1117 Grand Avenue. They opened in the new building with photographic displays and small artifacts.

In January 2024, the museum finally released Car 116, Car 504, and the recently rediscovered Car 509 from storage and placed them in the lot next to the museum building.

The city’s trolley system had a sad ending. In late 1947, a fire destroyed the car barn and all but six of the electric trolleys purchased by the city in 1928. Those six trolleys were spared only because they were still out on their daily runs. After the disaster, the city moved to bus transportation for Phoenix citizens.

Lanny welcomed us to the yard, and we started with a closeup look at Car 116. He pointed out some of the car’s features with a story or two about riding the trolleys “back in the day.”

Lanny reached into a cabinet high above one of the operator’s consoles and pulled out a couple of controls. He connected one to the throttle on his left and the other to the brake assembly in his right hand. He described the operation of the “dead man’s” throttle, which automatically removed power and applied brakes if the operator let go of the throttle control.

Lanny pointed out a foot-operated switch and told me to press it with my foot. I gently put my foot on the switch and pressed it slowly to the floor. Nothing happened. Lanny pointed out that I needed to press it more firmly. I did so and was rewarded with the sound of the trolley bell that was used to warn pedestrians and vehicles that a trolley was coming.

I asked about the signs above the windows. They are accurate reproductions of adverts posted in the cars in the later years of service. I was most interested in the Kodak Brownie camera ad, a film camera for $5, about $68 in today’s currency.

Stepping outside Car 116, I noticed a man working on the frame of another trolley. The volunteer, John Myers, had come from Texas to work on the rebuild of Car 504. Lanny told me that sometime in the 1940s, all cars numbered in the 100s were renumbered to 500s. The museum assigned Car 116 its original number at restoration as it was restored to its earliest configuration, fitting with the numbering of that era.

Car 509 was donated by a restaurant entrepreneur who owned a storage barn built around a trolley. Research proved that inside all of the sheet metal was Car 509, originally thought to have been destroyed in the barn fire in 1947.

The museum volunteers will have two major reconstructions in the future. Cars 504 and 509 will obviously require major restoration.

“Ride a Mile & Smile the While.” The opening photo of a placard on Car 116 is a quote from an original sign on one of the trolleys. Lawrence J. Fleming, one of the founding members of the Phoenix Trolley Museum, wrote a definitive history of the Phoenix Street Railway in 1977. “Ride A Mile And Smile The While. A History Of The Phoenix Street Railway 1887-1948.” A quote from the book tells the whole story of the slogan. “The Phoenix Street Railway was an essential part of a [not-so-]long-vanished scene. Street-cars had their shortcomings for they were noisy, hot in the summer, cold in the winter, sometimes had flat wheels and the ride could be rough. They did, however, run every ten minutes, go anywhere worth going in their day, and for only five cents. To use a slogan painted in gold over the motorman’s window on one of the cars, ‘Ride a Mile and Smile the While 5c.'”

Also on display are the two trolley trucks fitted to Car 116 when it was at Hance Park giving rides. The trucks are Birney models, slightly larger than the original trucks delivered with Car 116. The trucks were manufactured in Philadelphia and sold to a company in Japan. When they became available, they were purchased for use on Car 116.

This tractor was donated by Phelps-Dodge when it was removed from service at Douglas, Arizona, as part of the Copper Queen mining operation. The museum used the tractor to move Car 116 when its motor malfunctioned. A major restoration goal is to return Car 116 to its full operational status, which will be the “living history” part of the new museum. 

The museum is open from 11 AM to 3 PM on Saturdays between October 1 and May 30 each year. There is no admission charge, but a free-will donation is greatly appreciated so the museum can continue its restoration projects and ongoing expenses. More details about the museum and the history of Phoenix’s first street car system can be found here. You can pixel-peep at the 2K HD versions of these photos on my Flickr site here.

John Steiner

Organ Stop Pizza isn’t your typical pizza place. It was founded in 1972 by William P. Brown, a real estate developer passionate about theater organs. The concept was unique: pizza and live music from a massive Wurlitzer organ. Brown’s first restaurant opened in Phoenix.

The organ in the Phoenix restaurant originally belonged to Grauman’s Hollywood Egyptian Theater, adding a touch of Hollywood history to that restaurant. The success of the Phoenix location led to the opening of a second Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa in 1975. This Mesa location boasted a Wurlitzer organ from the Denver Theater, which was expanded to 23 ranks for its new home.

When William Brown retired, the Phoenix location was sold, the organ purchased by a couple who put it in their own home in Illinois, and the building demolished. The Mesa Organ Stop also changed hands. Longtime employee and manager Mike Everitt and his business partner Brad Bishop took ownership. One of their top priorities was to enhance the restaurant’s famous pipe organ. Over the years, they meticulously acquired rare pipes and percussion instruments. This dedication transformed the Mesa Organ Stop into the home of the world’s largest Wurlitzer pipe organ. You can find more history about the unusual pizza shop and its magnificent Wurlitzer on their website here.

The website linked above has a complete history of the organ and its ongoing modifications. The restaurant is popular not only for the entertainment but also for the food. Their website notes that 300,000 visitors enjoy a varied menu of both food and music. We ordered a large pizza and drinks for less than $40 US; the entertainment was free.

I would be remiss not to provide a link to a video of this musical wonder in action. Several YouTube videos feature the large theater organ, including this one featuring The Phantom of the Opera. We enjoyed various musical genres during our meal, including motion picture themes, oldies, and more current tunes. The place was crowded with family-style seating at long tables. We couldn’t find any open seats on the main floor, but plenty of seating was available upstairs.

We were given a numbered receipt after ordering and paying for our food and drinks. Number boards in the main seating area lit up when each numbered order was ready. It was a bit of a wait for our order, but the time went fast while we listened to the music. We had no complaints about the quality of our pizza. We will visit again before leaving Arizona and return to Fargo in a few weeks.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

I don’t often mark the passing of notables as I write in my Travel Tuesday journal but upon Gordon Lightfoot’s passing on May 1, I learned that Highway 74, a route we often drove to a couple of our favorite places in Arizona, is the same Carefree Highway that Mr. Lightfoot made famous in his song.

Picking up the pieces of my sweet shattered dream
I wonder how the old folks are tonight?
Her name was Ann
And I’ll be damned if I recall her face
She left me not knowing what to do

For some reason, I never made the connection in my mind that the highway name was Mr. Lightfoot’s inspiration. Coincidentally, “Carefree Highway” was the second single released from his 1974 album, Sundown. It peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent one week at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart in October 1974.

Carefree highway
Let me slip away on you
Carefree highway
You’ve seen better days
The morning after blues
From my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway
Let me slip away, slip away on you

In 2021, on our most recent visit to Lake Pleasant Regional Park, we met friends and family there to ride the back roads around Lake Pleasant in a Can Am. The photos accompanying this post are mostly from this journey near the Carefree Highway. Other photos are from previous hikes on trails that meander through the park.

Turning back the pages to the times I love best
I wonder if she’ll ever do the same?
Now the thing that I call living
Is just being satisfied
With knowing I got no one left to blame

The song “Carefree Highway” is a wistful ballad that reflects on the past and the memories that we carry with us. It is often interpreted as a reflection on the ups and downs of a romantic relationship. The Carefree Highway serves as a symbol of the freedom and independence that the singer longs for.

Carefree highway
I’ve got to see you my old flame
Carefree highway
You’ve seen better days
The morning after blues
From my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway
Let me slip away, slip away on you

I have my own Gordon Lightfoot story in my hometown of Fargo, North Dakota. One afternoon we were having a late lunch at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant. We were just about finished when a middle-aged woman approached Lynn and me at our table. She asked, “Do you know who Gordon Lightfoot is?”

When I responded in the affirmative, she asked if we knew that Gordon Lightfoot was performing in a Fargo venue that evening. We were aware of it but hadn’t really considered whether or not to go to the concert. She went on, “Our parents were planning to attend this evening, but they are going to have to go home earlier than planned. They have two tickets they aren’t going to be able to use. If you’d like them, they are yours, no charge.”

Searching through the fragments
Of my dream shattered sleep
I wonder if the years have closed her mind?
I guess it must be wanderlust or trying to get free
From the good old faithful feeling we once knew

It didn’t take me long to accept the tickets graciously and that evening we spent the time listening to Gordon Lightfoot singing renditions of his many hits including “Carefree Highway.”

Carefree highway
Let me slip away on you
Carefree highway
You’ve seen the better days
The morning after blues
From my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway
Let me slip away, slip away on you
Let me slip away on you

The inspiration for this Travel Tuesday journal entry came from a Facebook post published by the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT). The post notes Mr. Lightfoot’s passing with a link to an article on the ADOT blog here. It links the song to the highway which in truth is only a section of Arizona Highway 74, the easternmost stretch that terminates in the town of Carefree.

Carefree highway
I’ve got to see you my old flame
Carefree highway
You’ve seen better days
The morning after blues
From my head down to my shoes
Carefree highway
Let me slip away, slip away on you

Lyrics courtesy of a Gordon Lightfoot fan site here.

For those who doubt the relationship between the song and the highway, in the moments before he begins singing “Carefree Highway”, he mentions his trip to Phoenix and the reminder he wrote as they passed the Carefree Highway signs on I-17 and how he almost left the note in the rental car.

The connection between the Carefree Highway in Arizona and the Gordon Lightfoot song of the same name has made the road a popular destination for music lovers and road trip enthusiasts alike. Many people who visit the area make a point of driving along the Carefree Highway and listening to the song as they go.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lightfoot.

John Steiner

Scottsdale, Arizona.

In 2012, I was invited to visit Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction by a friend of mine who is also into classic cars. It was our first year that we spent the winter in Arizona after our retirement in December 2011. From that visit forward, we always reserved a day to visit the auction.

In January 2022, we decided to sell our winter home and spend our remaining winters traveling until we can travel no more. In a few days, we’ll be headed for Florida to spend a month in Saint Augustine. From there, if all goes as planned, we’ll be on a Caribbean cruise and then trek westward toward New Orleans and into Texas. We are looking forward to new travel adventures and seeing places we’ve never been before. One casualty of our decision is that I will be missing the January 2023 Scottsdale auction. Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to catch one of the other auctions held around the country by Barrett-Jackson or Mecum. In the meantime, I thought I’d share some of my favorite images from the last decade that were captured at the auto auction.

The opening image features a 1958 Chevrolet Corvette “Restomod.” That term describes a restoration with modifications to make the vehicle one-of-a-kind. As you can see by the restorer’s placement of mirrors underneath the vehicle, the team that restored this vehicle is just as proud of the underside of the car as they are of the rest of the work to make this Corvette new and unique.

Over the years, I’ve been an admirer of luxury vehicles over the hot rods and sports cars, but pretty much all of them are out of my price range anyway. I appreciate the work and dedication needed to keep these cars looking nice, if not specifically historically accurate. This Auburn is truly a beautiful classic.

You may have already noticed that I often prefer close-ups of the vehicles I photograph. This serves two purposes, to focus on a detail that sets the vehicle apart from others, and to reduce or eliminate the distraction of other nearby vehicles and the many attendees at the auction. The large chrome radiator with the Rolls Royce emblem is immediately identifiable by car nuts like myself.

The motorcycle in the image above is a classic bit of Americana… er, ah, oops… these ladies happened to step in front of the bike I was trying to photograph. >grin<

I’ve shared this image before. This Cadillac was parked under a tent, but the vehicle’s nose was in the sun. I created an HDR image and tweaked the exposure to focus on the massive chrome grill and bumper.

In all, we attended ten auctions in Scottsdale. There was no auction in 2020 due to the pandemic, and in 2021, the auction was moved to March. What I found of most interest is the historic nature of classic cars. I especially enjoy reading the placards often provided by owners looking to sell their vehicles. The tidbits of knowledge they provide are always fascinating. This post-war Lincoln is equipped with a V-12 engine, power windows, factory AM radio, and a fully rebuilt drive train.

One of Ford’s biggest marketing blunders was the ill-timed Edsel. Manufactured from 1957 to 1959, the namesake of Henry Ford’s son couldn’t survive the inadequate market research of the time. Ford manufactured a little over 118,000 units in those three model years. The remaining examples of this classic are sought-after symbols of a major manufacturer’s failure.

I am not convinced that electric vehicles are going to completely replace gasoline vehicles in the long term. They will have their place in the grand scheme of things, but unless there are major developments in the cost and power output of batteries, they are not efficient for long trips. Of course, I’ve been wrong about lots of things, and I could be dead wrong about this as well. I personally own a hybrid vehicle and think it provides the best of both technologies and I don’t have to spend 30 minutes every three hours sitting at recharging stations on a multiple-day road trip.

The history of the automobile is intertwined with the 20th-century development of the transportation industry, especially in Detroit Michigan. I have often complained that the quest for maximum energy efficiency has created a worldwide emphasis on computer-designed body styles, all trying to emulate the most energy-efficient body shape. When I was a teen and a young man, I could easily identify any American car by its looks and even a good number of the few foreign cars that were just getting a foothold in the American marketplace. These days, if you can’t see the logo badge, one car looks just like another.

I am always interested in the history of specific brands and models of automobiles, especially those classics that I was familiar with as a young man. In recent years, I ran across a blog that echoes my love of automotive history. Of late, his blog diverges at times from automotive subjects, but I always find his take on the world and automotive history, in general, to be interesting. I invite you to check out “Disaffected Musings” and see what you think. The author goes by the pen name “RulesOfLogic.” He invites comments and has a core of regular commenters that often add much to the topic of conversation.

For a closer look at these classic automobiles, you can view and scroll through the album on my Flickr site here. The weekly Lens-Artists Photo Challenge is on hiatus for this week and next. I decided to share some images of classic cars while I lament the fact that I won’t be at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale this year. I promise next Thursday to take the day off, but my regular Cellpic Sunday and Travel Tuesday posts will be published on schedule.

John Steiner