No, I haven’t fallen off the face of the planet, but I have been traveling. I’m posting this from Philadelphia where I have been working on a project with ASMP. I can’t share much about it yet, but suffice it to say that it is connected to the Strictly Business 2 events from earlier this year.
Anyway, it’s been a hell of a trip. I almost didn’t make it here and there is no guarantee I’m going to get home on schedule. Remember how I’m crazy and travel by train? Well, the train has to cross the Mississippi and, in case you haven’t been paying attention, that river is seriously flooding. The water crossing flooded the train station closest to the river (Fort Madison, Iowa) and came up to the edge of the tracks in places! Here are a couple of pictures (click for larger versions) I took as we went through that area…and remember, I am not a photographer.
The train–this is water on the other side of the tracks–that is, the river is on the far side of the train:
The view shooting from the upper windows (train is a double-decker), as straight down as I could:
This is the bridge we had to cross. The upper level is for cars. The lower level, right on the water, is the train level:
And on the other side, in Illinois, this is typical of what the people are suffering:
Tomorrow I begin the trip back. At this point, that bridge is, as I understand it, not open because the water is even higher there now. But the water levels are dropping in that area finally, so maybe I’ll get across. More importantly, maybe some of these fine people who live in these affected areas will be able to go home and restart their lives.
I’ll post again, and something more commercial photo oriented as soon as I can. In the meanwhile, consider making a donation to the flood victims. Here are some links (all rank high on CharityNavigator.org):
The American Red Cross (click on Disaster Relief Funds)
The United Way of Central Iowa
Humane Society of Missouri