© 2020 Bo Zarts Studio

I have pulled a contrail across the sky, westbound into the setting sun flying a Boeing jet; and now I sit and watch it all in a wilderness fire lookout post. There is something poetic about that.

Pinyon Peak Fire Lookout
Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho

My nephew’s wife, who is a professor of pharmacology at Auburn University, and who is pregnant, is positive for COVID19.

And my dear youngest brother, who is a medical doctor treating COVID19 patients in Atlanta, is sick .. presumptively with COVID19.

No fire starts detected .. yet. The storms were very wet. That is good.


Looking south from Pinyon Peak, Idaho
(Photo ©2020 BO ZARTS STUDIO)

Pinyon Peak Fire Lookout - Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Salmon-Challis National Forest, Idaho
(As always, ©2020 Bo Zarts Studio)

About sixty seconds from clouds obscuring the comet Neowise on Sunday night. I was just setting the camera up for what I thought would be an hour of shooting around the lookout environs on the tiptop of Pinyon Peak (9945' elevation). The lookout interior was illuminated with a single 6" ChemLight lightstick. Camera was a Sony A7-R4 with a trusty Canon 24-105 adapted lens. About two hours later I was jolted by a 3.0 quake about 7 miles away.

Pinyon Peak Fire Lookout
Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness
Salmon-Challis National Forest
Idaho

Hunkered down in North Platte, Nebraska, after crossing Kansas from SE to NW on, mostly, backroads. Unloaded my truck in a horrible windstorm here. Day three of the road trip.

I saw a few people with masks at rest areas in Tennessee on Sunday. The Homewood Suites employees in Paducah. Kentucky, that evening had masks.

I spent night two at a Home2 Suites on the north side of Wichita. Zero face mask compliance there. I was the litteral Lone Ranger.

Zero COVID-19 compliance anywhere on the drive between Wichita and North Platte. Peeded and pooped on side roads. But I have that down to a science.

Zero face mask usage here in North Platte, that I can see. Except for me.

Death Valley National Park, California
© 2013 Bo Zarts Studio

John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, Oregon
© 2013 Bo Zarts Studio

© 2015 Bo Zarts Studio