or a review of the Pentax K1000
Between 2009 and 2013, I worked at a small school in the town of Willow Creek, Montana. It is, and I say this completely and wholely sincerely, the greatest public school in the country. I taught 7-12 grade Social Studies and Spanish. I also taught Welding for a few years because on my resume, I put that I like working on cars. In addition, I, who has no athletic ability, coached track and (and this is the point of this little travelogue) got my school bus license.
Disclaimer: I took this trip a long time ago, so the specific order of places I stopped may or may not be 100% accurate. Some stuff is probably out of order. It’s fine.
I already said that this school is small, but I think most people don’t appreciate how small it is. Enrollment fluctuates between 50-70. Not per class. Total. Pre-K through 12th grade. So like 5 students per grade. In 2012, we traded out our medium-sized (I think 45 passenger) 1995 school bus for a much nicer, more powerful 2006 bus. Lucky for me, the bus dealer that sold us the new one, and that was taking the old one in on trade, was clear out in Webster, South Dakota — near the eastern border of the state. I love a good road trip. And lucky for me, I had just recently acquired a great little Pentax K1000 from the fine folks at Bozeman Camera.
For the uninitiated, the K1000 is the premier student camera. It’s a well-built all mechanical 35mm SLR. The battery lasts years, and isn’t even required if you know the Sunny 16 rule, or have an external meter. A K1000 was one of the first SLRs that I really used a lot in my high school journalism and yearbook class. The K1000 feels great in the hand and has the most incredible shutter sound of any camera made before or since.
So I grabbed some rolls of film, my new K1000, and headed to the bus. I left on a cool morning in August, but it soon turned hot, and 2012 was a smoky summer in Montana.
The first thing I learned, thanks to my GPS, was that the old bus was SLOW. It topped out at a speedometer indicated 55-62, but the GPS showed that speed to be closer to like 47-55. The second thing I learned is that busses don’t have air conditioning. By the time I made it to about Livingston, I had managed to wedge the door open and had just consigned myself to driving the whole 750 miles or so like a UPS driver.
I have always enjoyed taking photos on my road trips, and have learned that artificial constraints on my equipment can make for some great memories and some great photos. To that end, my only camera (besides the crappy camera in the otherwise amazing Palm Pre2) was my trusty new-to-me K1000. Along the way, I stopped at a junk store in some town in South Dakota, and picked up a generic Canon SureShot.
Day one was spent mostly driving. The trip out is where the name of this review comes from. For a good chunk of the drive, I was traveling the same roads in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but in reverse order. (I wouldn’t learn of or read that book until years later — a fascinating read). I took Interstate 90 East through Billings, and then I-94. I hopped off onto Highway 12 in Miles City and crossed into North Dakota. Southwestern North Dakota is BEAUTIFUL during sunflower season!
I’d been through Eastern Montana a fair bit, so I didn’t stop much. I stayed in Bowman, North Dakota, at the town Super 8, which has the most stylish bathroom fixtures I’ve ever seen
After a brutally hot start to the trip, I began driving mostly in the early mornings. With a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL,) you’re supposed to drive no more than 8 hours per day. So if I started the day at somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 AM, I could finish before noon and spend the evening in a nice, air conditioned hotel room. I didn’t do that every day, but I did begin to favor early mornings. Somewhere along the way, after dipping into South Dakota, I saw this poor old farm:
In short order, I got to Webster, picked up the new bus and dropped the old one off, and then turned around and came back to Mobridge. I would have liked to spend a day or two exploring this beautiful little town. It has a long bridge, and it showed me one of the most amazing sunsets I’ve ever seen.
As I continued through Rural South Dakota, my drive took me through a town place called Watagua, South Dakota. This town is home to the Watagua National Bra Silo. I’m not sure why this abandoned silo has so many bras hanging from it, but I’ll bet there’s a story there. Alyssa theorizes that this is the birthplace – the womb, if you will, of modern feminism. Wikipedia, however, was unable to confirm. Perhaps the Curator of the Bra Silo National Historic Site would know something. If anybody knows who that person is, let me know.
Somewhere on my trip, I had found about a place called the Enchanted Highway. Situated between the Dakotas’ borders and the town of Regent, North Dakota. Apparently, some guy got the idea to weld a bunch of scrap metal together, add a bit of paint, and there you have it. Some really unique, gigantic, and very cool art. Definately worth a trip through there sometime!
From here, I pretty much boogied it back to Willow Creek, getting up early and avoiding the heat of the afternoon. Here a few more pictures I took somewhere along the way. The Dakotas during Sunflower Season really are incredible!
It’s worth sometimes taking a slow road trip, avoiding freeways, and feeling like you can stop and check stuff out. Not being in a hurry is zen. Figuring out how to turn off the stupid heater in August is, I guess, the Bus Maintenance part.
