We had 36 hours to visit a historic town which played a key role in the American civil war, and the worlds largest movable object. Could it be done? And would there be trouble? The answers were yes, and yes.
The only stop on our drive to Harpers Ferry was for the routine task of filling the gas tank on the Xterra, but it also provided us with the rare pleasure of enjoying pizza from a gas station. Driving at night also provided opportunities to take a few slow exposures of the cockpit. These shots most likely stemmed from the food coma created by the aforementioned gas-station pizza and a mass-produced brownie-like treat.
We arrived at Harpers Ferry shortly before midnight and dragged all of our gear into the hotel. We packed a LOT of stuff for a 36-hour trip. After we finally received a properly-coded room key, we could relax for the night.
For us, the next day started at 5:30am. Photographers hours. We have no regrets with getting up so early because we know there will be a nap in the middle of the day while the light is bad. What we didn’t know, however, was a lack of sleep can make a person drop things, and drop things often. These things being dropped can often be very expensive items. It may not have been due to sleep, but for whatever reason, during next 12 hours several items would hit the ground due to poor coordination on both of our parts. These items included a K3 body, a 20-40mm lens, a 70mm, a 24-70mm, and a 50mm. This list doesn’t include my cell phone, which hit the concrete and shattered before we ever made it out of the driveway the previous evening.
Once we hit the town, Aaron concentrated on the the downtown area, while I hit the outskirts of town to see some ruins and an old tow-path.
We reunited an hour or so later, went back to the hotel for our complimentary breakfast, loaded up the truck, walked across the river via the train bridge, then hit a local tavern for a lunch beer. Then we headed for Green Bank.
Dan's Blog 