It ain't pretty being easy... ([info]soopageek) wrote,
@ 2004-12-13 17:34:00
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Entry tags:friends, photo, shoetree, travel

daddy needs a new pair of shoes
Location: Concordia, MO

Some of you who have been reading here for a while may recall an entry I did earlier this year about the Oregon Shoe Tree.  As it turns out, Nevada has one, too!  I'll tell you my secret, I've known about it for a little while and have been dying to tell everyone, but the pictures I took of it when I discovered it were all blurry.  And I didn't see any point in sharing it if I couldn't back it up with the pictorial proof.  Last weekend as Roger and I were making our way to California we stopped.  It turned out to be a wonderful day to take pictures.With the recent snow and ice storms, the shoe laces were creating long thin icycles





It sits on the side of U.S. 50 between the towns of Austin and Fallon, NV.



I must say, it is way more impressive that the Oregon shoe tree. 



The sheer number of shoes crammed into the branches is mind boggling.









The surroundings are way more scenic than the shoe tree in Oregon as well, especially this morning.  The sun was just coming up over the mountains and lighting up the snow on the peaks and on the playas.





So now I'm wondering how many more shoe trees there are in the country for me to discover? So far it seems to be a western phenomena, probably because trees are so rare in these high desert environments.  As plentiful as trees are in the east, I can't imagine there would be a way for the conspiracy of footwear being bestowed upon our leafy friends to take root in the minds of Americans.  In certain parts of the west, though, a tree of this size is so scarce that it becomes hyper-noticed and is thereby singled out for the flinging of shoes into its limbs. 

I guess I'll have to keep following the roads less travelled when time permits and keep an eye out for more shoe trees.


As mentioned previously, I spent an evening with the lovely [info]psycat90 and her hubby [info]democritus.  On the trip out of Oakland up to Santa Rosa, I was playing with the camera while Roger drove.  There was a light rain and the California freeway traffic was... typical.  It made for some interesting photos, though.




















I did end up getting a new trainee.



His name is Mike.  And this isn't a very good picture because of the back light, but maybe I'll get some better ones later.  Mike's a young guy... 21 to be precise.  He's the kinda guy who wears his ball-cap backwards and keeps a scraggly beard and mustache.  When I picked him up in Indianapolis yesterday I got to meet his wife of 3 months.  Awwwww...newlyweds.  He says the plan is for her to ride with him after he gets out of training and they're going to travel the country while they're young and unencumbered by children.  Sounds like fun.

Oh yeah... Mike's wife... is very, very hot.



After some IM conversations with [info]atthestarz and [info]hockeyfag I think I'm going to try and plan a trip to Minneapolis the weekend of January 15th.  If I can acquire the tickets, I'm hoping to catch the live broadcast of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion program in St. Paul on that Satruday.  I must be insane for purposefully planning to go to freakin' Minnesota in January, but it should be fun.

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[info]troymccluresf
2004-12-13 10:50 pm UTC (link)
There can be some amazing sights along 101 between San Francisco and Santa Rosa. The last time I drove up to see Vince and Shan, after a crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and came thorugh the tunnel, these heavy blankets of fog just came tumbling down over Mount Tamalpais. If you saw it done in a movie, you would've though, "they're trying too hard." It was just gorgeous. The rest of the drive is pretty unimpressive (except that gas is way cheaper than in SF) but the bridge and the mountains can be amazing.

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[info]soopageek
2004-12-13 10:57 pm UTC (link)
Unfortunately I had to come up through Oakloand from San Jose... I would've loved to have taken the Golden Gate bridge... but California doesn't like having the big trucks go over it... which is understandable i guess... i saw it in the distance as we were crossing the bay on I-580... but that's as close as we got :(

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[info]troymccluresf
2004-12-13 11:08 pm UTC (link)
I've never heard that the powers that be don't want trucks on the GGB; it's more that SF doesn't want freeways going through it. There's no way to traverse SF without using surface streets. So unless you're going specifically to SF, most people go through the East Bay, as you did.

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[info]atthestarz
2004-12-13 11:11 pm UTC (link)
There's a shoe tree on the U of MN: Minneapolis campus but it doesn't have THAT many shoes. At least, it didn't the last time I looked, which was a few years ago. It's on the west side of the river, if you care to know.

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[info]soopageek
2004-12-14 04:12 am UTC (link)
you will definitely have to take me there!

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[info]atthestarz
2004-12-14 04:02 pm UTC (link)
heh...okay. maybe I'll e-mail my U of MN graduate student friend and ask if she knows whether the tree is still up and shoe-filled first. ;)

http://minneapolis.about.com/library/bl/bl_umsneakertree.htm

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[info]psycat90
2004-12-13 11:39 pm UTC (link)
Those are awesome pictures.

I love the shoe tree. I wonder if it stinks.

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[info]hockeyfag
2004-12-13 11:42 pm UTC (link)
Shoe trees rock :)

Also, your new student looks cute :) woof :)

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[info]soopageek
2004-12-14 04:17 am UTC (link)
heh, he'll likely be in whatever motel i stick him in when i come to the area... maybe whatever day(s) i catch up with you i can bring him along so he can get the benefit of TWO truck drivers trading horror stories...

i guess you could hit on him... but you know, he is married ;-)

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[info]hockeyfag
2004-12-14 04:41 am UTC (link)
we can both scare him out of trucking for sure ;)

married schmaried.. ;)

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[info]_r_
2004-12-14 12:40 am UTC (link)
I set one of those shoe tree pictures as my desktop bg... Very nice. :D

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[info]soopageek
2004-12-14 04:34 am UTC (link)
Come to think of it that would make a pretty cool desktop... especially for this time of year.

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[info]mandy_moon
2004-12-14 01:40 am UTC (link)
My God...

I just can't believe that pictures of a shoe tree could be that beautiful. I'm just in awe right now.

And if I ever have my own backyard, I'm totally copying those west coast people and making a shoe tree of my own. I'm sure they won't mind, since mine could never in thousands of years be as impressive as theirs.

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[info]soopageek
2004-12-14 04:32 am UTC (link)
You should buy a house on the corner of a busy intersection that has a tree right on the corner and get it started.... then maybe you'll get some participation.

At the very least it should be in your front yard where it can be appreciated... althuogh the neighbors may not care for it.

...and if you ever DO start your own shoe tree, I have to come take pictures of it.

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[info]juliana27
2005-01-20 06:16 pm UTC (link)
wow, that tree is awesome

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[info]soopageek
2005-01-22 09:49 am UTC (link)
totally. you're a buckeye? howdy, neighbor.

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[info]welfy
2005-07-02 08:48 pm UTC (link)
These are the kind of posts that make me love you.

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