Feeling lazy, I step backward in time a bit

When I started this blog, I said that I would alternate current photos of Wasilla (and elsewhere) with images that I had taken in the past. I haven't really done much of that. It is too hard to keep up with the present, let alone visit the past.

But today I went to town for a doctor visit (shoulder surgery followup - yes, after all this time, I still must do followups. The doctor, by the way, is most impressed with how I have healed. He said most people who suffered the same injury I did would not be able to raise their arm more than 90 degrees out from their body one year later and he could hardly believe it when I held mine straight up above my head. Two reasons, I figure - he did a good job on the surgery and I worked really hard to put that arm back in action. Margie got upset with me sometimes, said I was pushing it too hard, but I had to push it hard) and when I came home, I started sorting through pre-blog photographs for a project I want to do.

I worked on it until just a little bit ago and now I am lazy, so I am just going to blog a few past photos, like the train above.

I love trains, don't you know?

And then there was the time the Little Su overflowed, but I drove through and across the bridge anyways, as did these happy kids.

A couple of hitchhikers that I once picked up on Church Road, sitting in the back seat, as seen in my rear-view mirror.

A barista by the name of Melanie at Cafe Darte. Cafe Darte is up for sale. My daughter Melanie wants her Mom and I to buy it. We have no money to buy it.

Becky bounces on her trampoline as I drive by.

And how about Wasilla Main Street? I am pretty sure she rose from the ground wiser than before she fell.

This girl is not on Main Street, but on the Parks Highway, which was mistakenly identified as Wasilla Main Street on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I admire him, anyway. 

I was going to pull up an India shot, too, but I see there is only seven minutes left in this day and I have not taken a single picture. I will go take one, now. You will probably never see it, but I cannot let the day pass by totally undocumented.

I ride my bike down Wasilla Main Street and then on past Wasilla Malibu (India: much more to come)

First, all of the pictures in this post, with the exception of the one inside KFC, were taken as I pedaled my bicycle. When I get on my bike, it is my tendency to turn away from where the most people are and to go where there are the fewest.

But today, about one mile into my trip, I found myself headed towards "down town." I was about to turn away when I changed my mind and decided to continue on.

Not so long ago, I had heard Wasilla Main Street touted as a strip of ultimate wisdom, a place rich in the good, strong, values that have made our great country what it is. So I decided that I would go straight to Main Street, peddle the entire three blocks and see if I could find subjects to photograph that would exemplify these values. Perhaps I could soak up a bit of that wisdom myself.

Here, in the image above, I have just turned on to Main Street. I see an example of friendship. That's a pretty good value. 

And then I spot these guys, working hard. Hard work. Yes, it took a lot of hard work to make America what it is. Furthermore, what they are working on is the sign for the new clinic of the Back and Neck Pain Relief Center of Wasilla.

In the year 2006, my back began to hurt terribly. I did not know why, but it became so bad that I could hardly function. So I called the Back and Neck Pain Relief Center and went in and set up an appointment with Dr. Tyan Payne. When I arrived, I found a very tiny woman and I was a little skeptical that she had the strength to do the job.

But she did. And she put my spinal column back in alignment. What a difference for good she made in my life!

Now that I have shattered my shoulder and had it replaced with titanium, I am reluctant to go back, but maybe one day.

I would recommend her to anybody.

So - healing. America is kind of messed up on this front and I am outraged with my health insurance company, whose salesman was a downright liar and the company is a ripoff - but this is a good place and they really do heal. To heal is a good value.

As I prepared this photo, I accidently clicked the wrong button and it switched to black and white. I could have easily switched it back, but black and white somehow seemed more appropriate, so I left it.

I am not certain what American value is represented here, but it must be a good one.

I am just about to the end of Main Street. Once you cross the Parks Highway ahead, you are no longer on Main but on Knik Road.

Well, you can see Wasilla is doing its part to keep the automotive industry alive.

Sadly, though, I feel no wiser than I did when I first pedaled on to Main.

I turned off Main Street and soon pedaled down the bike trail that leads past Wasilla Lake. I call this beach Wasilla Malibu. On hot days, especially weekends and holidays, it is crowded with people, just like Malibu Beach, California. No one is surfing, but people do waterski out there.

Today was hot - 78 degrees here at the house - but it was not a weekend or holiday and the crowd was not so huge as it sometimes gets. Nor were there as many young women in bikinis as there sometimes are. This was a bit of a relief for me, as people might have thought that was my sole reason for taking pictures.

Still, the crowd was big enough to begin to convey the idea and so, as I pedaled by, I raised the pocket camera and clicked off a few snaps.

Now that I have established that I am not doing this to get pictures of young women in bikinis, but just to document the true life of Wasilla, maybe it will be okay if, when they are here, sauntering about in droves, I get a few pictures.

Sometimes, when you are pedaling a bike and taking pictures, it is hard to nail down your focus. I don't care. Focus is not always all its cracked up to be.

Hey, wow! Wise words! I must have picked up some wisdom on Wasilla Main Street, after all.

I pedaled on down to the largest accumulation of fast food restaurants in Wasilla. I ventured into KFC and ordered two hot dogs, french fries and a Pepsi.

I planned to take the long way home and so figured that I would pedal a total of close to 15 miles. I needed those hot dogs to fuel my journey.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, # 1.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #2.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #3.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #4.

I pedal past Wasilla Malibu again, #5.

I took many more pictures as I pedaled the long way home, but I haven't time to post them, so I limit this to the images from Main and Malibu.

Probably, no one will ever see the other pictures, including me. I am certain there are some masterpieces among them, images that MOMA, The International Center of Photography, The Louvre and all the best museums in the world would just love to hang on their walls, but, since no one is ever going to see these images, they are just out of luck.

Sometimes, the best art is the art that no one ever sees.

I should pedal down Main Street every day. I would become so wise I that I could not stand myself.