McDonalds Parking Lot
Montrose, Colorado
8:15 AM
October 13, 2020
I headed into Montrose this morning from my campsite for a McDonald's Big Breakfast With Pancakes. As I looked at my meal, my first thought was “Good Lord, how many carbs are in this smorgasbord of brown foods?" I ate one pancake (waste of calories), the eggs (need the protein), half the sausage (taste>waste), two bites of biscuit (waste of calories) and skipped the hash browns. If nothing else has changed in the past five years, it is that I eat better. Still not great, but better.
The good thing about McDonalds is their wifi. I can sit out in the parking lot in my truck and tap in. I have no cell service at my campground so this is a lifeline.
The lack of cell service makes it impossible for me to update my blog. I wish I could craft a post offline and then just upload it when I have access to the internet. That feature will probably be available after I end my trip - if I ever end my trip!
Nearing three weeks out. I'm hitting a groove. The first 7-10 days were tough emotionally as well as adapting to the constraints of living out of my truck. I'm not the same person I was 12 months ago. I need/want less, and I'm getting better at embracing the unknown. I think less about myself and more about others. I'm more relaxed (that wouldn't be hard) and have better priorities.
One of the things that complicates my preparing my blog posts is that I use three different cameras. The camera on my iPhone 11 Pro Max is awesome - I love the three different lenses (0.5x, 1x and 2x), the ability to shoot 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios, the timer, the video and the overall quality of the photos. I have a Nikon D500 (my newest camera) on which I have a 24-70mm 2.8 Nikon lens. Given this is a DX camera, that lens is effectively a 36-105mm which allows me to pull in views, a feature that can be very helpful. I'm working with the depth of field aspect it allows me to play with that I am not able to do with my iPhone. My third camera is.a Nikon D600 (full frame) on which I have a 14-24mm lens. This lens is becoming one of my favorites for its wide perspective. On either of the Nikons, I have several other lenses I can use -- a 70-200 mm 2.8, a 18-300 mm 4.8 and a 50 mm 1.8. At some point I need to play with the ND filters I have for the lenses which should give me some more options in different lighting conditions.
Now that I have bored you with my camera specs, the problem is I need to download all the photos into my computer and then delete the bad ones and edit (as necessary which it usually is) the good ones. That gives me my universe of photos to use with my blog. But to update my blog from my computer I need access to wifi. (I can use my phone as a hotspot but because the photos are big files I quickly burn through my data capacity.). Finding wifi is not hard in populated areas but it is hard out here in the wild.
Such is my tale of woe and my random thoughts for now.
Anchors up, jump right in, be mindful, wash the dishes and be relentlessly optimistic!!
