Making this short video was something I had in my mind since a while. I finally took the time to scroll through all my US photos since 2007, when I started using a (small) digital camera. I’m no filmmaker, and the quality of the video is … I know, you don’t have to tell me. But I had fun making it and I really love the music.
During my many travels by car through the US I made hundreds of photos out of the windshield.
And yes, most pictures were taken while driving … but, either on empty roads or in some traffic jams, so no worries, all are save shots, and I’m doing fine 🙂
Part of the love I feel for the country is closely related to the driving along the roads through both, the sometimes breathtaking landscape or the (boring) emptiness. You just have to have some good music accompany the driving and the road movie can begin!
Music: „Dock of the Bay“ (Steve Croppe/Otis Redding) performed by Nils Landgren & Joe Sample from the album „Creole Love Call“
Entdeckt habe ich Ryan Bingham, wie vielleicht der ein oder andere auch, durch seinen Titelsong ‚The Weary Kind‘ aus dem Film ‚Crazy Heart‘ mit dem wunderbaren Jeff Bridges in der Hauptrolle. Der Soundtrack zu diesem Film ist übrigens für anspruchvolle Country-Singer/Songwriter-Hörer ein echter Genuss, sind neben Ryan Bingham doch auch Jeff Bridges und sein Co-Darsteller Colin Farrell selber zu hören.
Dass ich Reisen in die USA liebe, weiß man ja inzwischen hier auf meinem Blog ;-), und dass ich allem voran das Fahren auf den endlos erscheinenden Straßen quer durchs Land mag, wohl auch. Und genauso mag ich die Musik dazu, das leicht Melancholische, das Ehrliche, die zum Land passende raue Stimme., die einer Fahrt durch den Mittelwesten der USA die entsprechende Würze verleiht.
Als ich auf Ryan Binghams Facebook-Seite die Ankündigung der Solo-Europa-Tour las mit einem Konzert in München, wurden sofort zwei Tickets gekauft. Ihr könnt euch vielleicht mein Erstaunen vorstellen, als ich feststellte, dass es ein ganz kleines Konzert, mit gerade mal 200 Leuten im Orange House werden würde, und das Ganze zu dem unglaublich anständigen Preis von 25.-€ +VVK. Ein ganz großes Dankeschön dafür!
Am 8.2.2015 war es dann soweit. Was für ein Auftritt. Da steht plötzlich dieser junge, unglaublich sympatische Mann allein auf der Bühne und füllt binnen Sekunden mit seiner markanten Stimme den Raum. Ein toller Musiker, der die Gitarre beherrscht, der seine Songs mit Charisma, einer gehörigen Portion Charme und vor allem gut, einfach richtig gut rüber bringt. Yep, ich bin immer noch ganz bewegt von der tollen ‚Begegnung‘ mit diesem Musiker.
Wer Ryan Bingham noch nicht kennt und für alle, die kein Konzert ergattern konnten (es gab eine Ankündigung, dass er im Oktober mit Band zurück nach Deutschland kommt), hier ein Titel aus dem neuen Album, den er mit den Worten ankündigte: „I learned that I’m going to be a dad in summer this year, so this song is for my child“ 🙂
Thank you Ryan Bingham not just for the wonderful music you’re making, but also for appearing as such a likeable character!
Es wurde gebeten nicht zu fotografieren, also gibt es nur ein paar verwackelte Smartphone-Bilder, die aber irgendwie auch passen und den Beitrag lediglich ein bisschen auflockern sollen 😉
Floridas East Coast between Palm Beach and Cape Canaveral
The east coast, up north to the Kennedy Space Center was our plan for the second week traveling through the southern part of Florida. Because we already had spent a lot of money for hotels/motels in the more touristic areas Miami, Key West and Florida City, the ‚gate‘ to the Everglades NP, I decided to save some money by taking the route through the (kind of boring) inland roads to our destination Cape Canaveral and the beaches on the east coast.
I’ve had worse roads during my many drives through the country over the years, but my brother – who’s never been out of Europe before – was not used to miles and miles of straight boring roads. Though I had warned him, after two hours of driving through flat land, nothing to see, no curves at all, he started to complain 😉 We stayed overnight in Clewiston, a small town at Lake Okeechobee, and drove around the lake the next day, without actually ever seeing the water, cause its hidden behind the 110mi long Herbert Hoover Dike. I’ve read that you actually can hike or bike along that dike surrounding the lake.
The siblings on a short hike in the sun 🙂
We hit the coast at Fort Pierce and took highway A1A to Cocoa Beach, crossing all the islands and peninsulas off the coast. Though there are many private properties along that road, you always find access to the endless beaches and there are also some beautiful State parks and National Wildlife Refuges.
For a crowd-avoiding traveler like me, this part of the east coast was perfect. Compared to the coastline between Miami and Palm Beach, it was quiet, lots of wildlife, beaches you partly had for yourself, many parks to hike, watch birds and other animals, and reasonable hotel prices.
Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge – the first one in the US founded in 1903
Osprey
The eagle (right in the middle) was too far away to get a good picture, but he had a big fish in his talons
A group of white pelicans passed by right behind the eagle
Though I’ve traveled a lot through the US, this was my first racoon
The Kennedy Space Center
Visiting the Kennedy Space Center was on my list in the first place. I thought we would have a short look at the Rockets, the Apollo programm, the space shuttles, takes us maybe 3-4hrs and we are done. Well, in the end we spent more than seven hours there and didn’t have time to go to the gift shop – I’m sorry, no postcards, no shuttle, no shirt or cup 😉
It was fascinating to see all the space stuff, particularly the Saturn V/Apollo rocket, the launch pad we drove by on the bus tour and the Space Shuttle Atlantis. I also dived into the IMAX movie about the Hubble telescope.
And yes, it is very ‚US-American‘, lots of hero-talking and ‚pat on the back‘, but there is also acknowledgement for connecting nations all over the world to join on a common space programm and finally working together in space on the ISS.
Rocket Garden
Nations on the ISS
Atlantis Rocket
Space Shuttle Atlantis
How the Control Center during the Apollo missions looked like
George Clooney (‚Gravity‘) still in space 😉
Saturn V/Apollo Rocket
Vehicle Assembly Building for the Rockets and Space Shuttles
A launch pad
View from Cocoa Beach to Cape Canaveral at the horizon
