After leaving Tucumcari, New Mexico we headed further west to Albuquerque – home of the second longest tramway in the world. We rode the tram up to the top, which provided spectacular views of the state and city. We didn’t stay long because the winds at the top were blowing and it was very chilly.

These tubes marked different points on the horizon – the national laboratories, the city of Santa Fe, and the airport. We were there at a perfect time of day and the light was amazing – as the sun was setting to the west.

I had to hold Tailyr’s hair back from blowing around just to take this photo. We look cold!

The ride down was even more fun than the ascent. The tower in the foreground is the higher of the two towers. Underneath the tram car is a massive drop at this point over the last canyon before the top station.

The two tram cars pass at the mid point of the tram way. On the way down, I got a hold of my friend Dan who met us for dinner with his roommate Tyler.

All of us pose with Dan’s daily driver s13 and Westy. White kids.

Next day, we rolled into Arizona. Here is Westy at the Flinestones campground outside of the Grand Canyon.

“I DO DECLARE, this CANYON IS GRAND!”

Back on the highway, we played tag with a long train.

Until we pulled off for gas in one of my favorite Route 66 towns in California – Ludlow. It has a few abandoned buildings – a diner, gas station, and a few houses.

Westy takes a break under the canopy of an old gas station. I really like the decay and old hand painted signage.

The window frames of the nearby burnt out diner provide a good frame for Westy. After 6 days, 2,600+ miles, and lots of fun stops – we had made it back to California and Los Angeles.

Keep the wheels turning.

Chicago, Illinois November 2011. The leaves were golden and hanging on like the last warmth of summer on a fall afternoon. It was time to bring my 1974 Volkswagen Westfalia Van back out to California from the midwest. The van, known as Westy – short for the Westfalia camper conversion it sports, had been at my parents house since the end of Keep Drifting Fun’s road trip. Westy had been through two motors. The replacement motor had lasted for less than 2,000 miles – before total failure. The carburetors were missing adjustment screws and in need of a freshening up. Luckily, the van broke down in Minneapolis, Minnesota – the home of VW shop Further Performance. They set Westy up with new Weber Carbs and installed a new motor.

A criticism of modern cars is that they have no soul. Westy is all soul. The VW van is a toaster on wheels – tall and narrow. It drives like a truck, with the power of an overweight VW Beetle, and has all the quirks of a a hippie that has had one too many trips.

So if speed, safety, and comfort are none of your concerns – its the perfect road trip machine. It’s like turtle. It has a massive shell that can house all of its occupants comfortably. It can easily sleep 2, if not 4 adults who are willing to get close. It has a fold up table, plenty of storage, and originally came equipped with a stove, refrigerator, and sink. Westy has been modified with solar panels providing the van with power, a modern stereo system head unit, and new speakers.

My girfriend was adventurous enough to come with me on the cross country trek. From Chicago, we headed past St.Louis and the Arch. Chugging along at 55mph.

In the past few years, after criss crossing the United States at least 10 times – I’ve come to appreciate the beauty of Route 66. The interstate highway system is the worst way to see the US – its vanilla and all the same. Route 66 is the US at its best: entrepreneurial, unique, and filled with personality. Here is the World’s largest Rocking Chair outside of Cuba, Missouri.

Back onto the highway, we zipped past Tulsa, Oklahoma.

We wanted to stop off in Oklahoma City, to check out the bombing memorial and downtown area. Oklahoma was sleepy and quiet on a midweek afternoon.

The memorial was beautifully done and modern. It remembers all of those who were killed, injured, and survived the Oklahoma City Federal building bombings. The reflecting pool was low and shallow – book ended on both sides by arch walls that commemorate the time of the attack. It really made me think about how violence is pointless. Its awful to think about how many innocent people lost their lives because of a few men’s hate of the government.

Chairs commemorate those who were killed. The smaller chairs represent children.

After grabbing a couple cupcakes and coffees we were back on the road. The van’s speedometer is off at higher speeds – I used the GPS to help keep the speed in check. Cruising around at 55/60 is frightening when trucks fly past at 70/75 in the southwest.

Next spot for photos was Tucumcari, New Mexico. Another Route 66 stop bypassed by the modern highways. Check out the Westy Camper can in the mural!

Legendary mural. This is the second time I’ve stopped in Tucumcari to take photos by the town’s murals.

Until part two. Here is one for the road.

Rhys uses his hands to explain car positioning for a video we shot in New Zealand on his family’s property. We ended up mowing sections of the long grass down to make a golf course like setup for his rally car.

Some of the other residents were curious about our project. Rod Millen has a few sheep and cows on the property. They help to keep the property’s grass in check.

These rolling green hills were our set location for the day. Not a bad view in any direction.

Even downwards. The cliffs were not for those with a fear of heights! Doesn’t bother me, so it provided some awesome views.

Apparently, Disney’s the Chronicles of Narnia did some of their shooting on this outcropping for one of their films. I can imagine a castle or battle staged one one of those bluffs.

More than meets the eye, the bushes by the cliffs conceal several natural blowholes – sea arches that connect to the land side. The previous owners even build stairway to access the bottom of this one on the property.

Inland the property feels more like a farm. A ridge hides the ocean from sight and grassy fields fill your view.

That and awesome race machines – like Rod’s record setting Pikes Peak Toyota Celica and RX7 rally cars.

I’m happy with the picture quality from my Canon 300 HS. Great pocket sized point n shoot. Thanks Dad!

Until next time, keep the wheels turning.

Larry showed us the “counter fit” markets. They were filled with knock off: watches, glasses, bags, and clothes. Skylar does his best german rocket scientist pose. SCIENCE!

After the markets we all jumped into Tuk Tuk like three wheeled motorcycle carts and raced off to Westlake. The cultural area that surrounds the lake. Its known for its pagodas and temples. About time to get some culture in the mix after all that racing.

Through the trees and fog was a wonderful sight.

A fully rebuilt Pagoda. Check out that lightning rod of a roof. Amazing.

Monastery across the way from the pagoda.

Old meets new. The fog makes this shot.

The roof of the pagoda was gold and immaculately detailed.

Small pond and garden outside of the pagoda.

By the end of the 6 days in China, we were all running on empty. Here Skylar and Linhbergh wait to check in for our flight back to Los Angeles. China, what a trip.

Until New Zealand, up next.

- Will

As I was about to leave for Atlanta last week for the second round of the 2011 Formula Drift season – I got an email from a friend asking a favor. Someone had cancelled on him for an important shoot and he needed a POV camera operator. Being a user and supporter of Contour HD cameras – I obliged and changed my travel plans to include an extra few days in Florida. Shooting exotic cars – rough, I know. Here is my look at exotic cars… enjoy.

Ferrari F430 & Ferrari 599 GTB

Lamborghini LP-560 4.

Ferrari 599 GTB – RACE MODE.

Porsche 911 Turbo & Ferrari F430.

Dirty girl.

Porsche 997/911 & Jaguar XK

Take offs.

Lamborghini eyes and BMW 328 making an appearance.

Till next time.

If you wanted to read what I had to say, this blog wouldn’t have so many pictures…less talking, more shutter clicks. My life, May 9, 2011.

Until next time. More dancing, less talking.

I’ve owned my 1995 Nissan 240sx since early 2008. From 2008 – late 2010 it was my daily driver. It was a project car for Rice Boy TV – where we added Enkei RPF1′s (18 x 8.5 (rear) & 18 x 7.5 (front)), an AEM intake, Magnacore wires, plugs, NRG short hub, NRG quick release, NRG steering wheel, and DC Sports test pipe in addition to the Tanabe coil overs, Apexi N1 cat back exhaust, Battle Version tie rods, and a few interior refinements.

Then it was driven and not upgraded as planned.

I thought of motor swaps to get more power than the 100hp KADE. Skylines had left me with a love of the inline six. Particularly the RB25det and RB26det, however the more I researched them – the more I realized having a Japanese market engine in a US car is not the best idea for daily driving. I then debated VQ, 2JZ, 1JZ, and LS swaps – the price of the motors, custom mounts, drive shaft, fuel system upgrades, and rear end upgrades – made it seem a bit unlikely for the budget I wanted to have for the project.

So more time passed, busy with work and living in Vancouver working on Need for Speed Shift 2 – I had never really considered a KA-t setup.

Then I had Christmas break off and my Nissan was back in Ohio at my parents – so I started thinking about what I really wanted from the project. I wanted to do the work myself, to learn the car more, to build something reliable, and to be able to continue to work on the car myself – without it becoming a track machine only. Keep it a street car, build power over time as I get used to owning a turbo car.

After a couple months of work with my best friend & Honda tech – Chris Stein project 240 is running and I’m stoked.

January was a busy month for me, however so was last January – when I did the same thing: Dubai 24 hour race & the Sundance film festival. As someone who goes from project to project this type of routine is uncommon – but welcomed. Team Need for Speed, which I was following in Dubai won the race. Sundance, did a record number of live streams including a partnered stream with YouTube for the Life In a Day premiere. It felt awesome to be a part of two successful teams. I even got to spend a day shredding some Utah pow pow at the Sundance resort – thanks to Joe!

After snapping the tail on my longtime snowboard, a 2008 Burton Custom 158, I picked up a new Rome Agent Rocker 153. It rides like a beast. I was hesitant about switching from traditional camber to rocker camber, however this board has made me a believer. Small turns, big carves, and high speed bombs without jitter – it does it all, better than traditional.

I ordered a copy of Justin Shreeve’s 2010 DVD, which showed up with a funny label. Thanks Justin! Get a copy and support him.

I spent some time recently in Vancouver with some pea coat wearing ARTPANTs shooting photographers: Linhbergh and Larry Chen. 2011 should be an even better year for automotive photography – thanks to these two.

We got some “good stuff?” and explored Stanley Park’s closed miniature railroad. Should be releasing some new videos in the next few weeks, until then… Keep the Wheels Rolling.

Linhbergh and I rode the express to Paddington station and then hopped on the Underground to explore downtown London. We had a few hours to kill before our flight to Atlanta for Formula Drift. Linhbergh is a solid photographer and being able to travel around the city and take photos with him is a blast.

As part of Keep Drifting Fun, Hobo Herron and I have been growing out our beards since Long Beach. So this is about 2 and half weeks of beard’age for me.

So much bokeh, you would never know that I’m in Paddington station. London was chilly during the entire week I was there.

It also means that I can try out some of Linhbergh’s arsenal of Canon glass. Pristine “L” Glass. Running around the bank holiday deserted streets.

On the banks of the Thames by the London Eye.

Then we swung by NERO coffee for some breakfast outside of Big Ben and Westminster. Looking rather homeless on the steps.

Praying or getting a puddle reflection shot with my Canon 7D.

There is an indoor ski and snowboard hill inside the mall of the Emirates in Dubai. It’s incredibly cheezy. Fake snow in a gigantic refrigerator. I personally enjoy the snowmen and penguins – oh and the ski lift.

The Address Hotel in Dubai is a nice place to stay. Plus it looks like a gigantic future sail ship space craft.

This is a few moments after the fountain show at the Dubai Fountain.

On ARTPANTS, I posted  shot looking up from a different location at the Burj tower. Here is another angle.

Here is the view from the observation deck of the Burj tower. If you look in the lower left hand corner of the image you can see the undeveloped and construction areas around the tower. Dubai is still young.

Same view after the sunset.

That’s it, that’s all. Deuces Dubai.

Less than 24 hours from the first official day of the Sundance Film Festival and the snow is still coming down. This is my third year working at the festival. Which makes me feel more relaxed and comfortable with the event. Plus that I have more great Sundance friends than the previous years. The light at the end of the Sundance tunnel is two days of snowboarding in Utah powder.

I’m stoked. Here are some images from around Park City and day 0 of the festival.

Our offices are in the same place as last year – which is the silver star lift base of the Park City Mountain Resort. Silver star used to be a silver mine.

Look familiar?

Because the sky is blue… because I LOVE clouds.

Banksy is in town. Dropping some new pieces.

Fire hydrant knuckle deep in the pow pow gnar gnar.

Joe producing and locking down a location for a future shoot.

Stay posted for Day #1

January 2010, the Dubai 24H race brought me to the UAE. To document the Need For Speed team’s 997 GT III cup car with the Speedhunters team. Dubai is an juxtaposition of eastern and western cultures. As a center of tourism, Dubai is a playground for western tourists. While also being rooted in its arabic traditions.

Half completed buildings are everywhere. This view was from outside of my hotel window.

Getting to Dubai was a mess, I flew through London Heathrow. London does not know how to deal with a little bit of snow. The inch of snow delayed my flight to Dubai by half a day.

The race was held at the Dubai Autodrome. Which was still under construction in parts.

The Petronas BMW Z4′s laid down impressive lap times all weekend.

The Burj Khalifa, tallest building in the world. Directly located across from the Address hotel – where we stayed.

Looks similar to a spaceship huh?

The view from the top of the Burj Khalifa.

Did I mention that the world’s largest fountain show is underneath the Burj Khalifa.

I also happened to find the world famous Wendy of the Dave Thomas fame. She was rocking the picked out look.

Good times in Dubai. Stay posted for my edit from the Dubai 24H race.

As a Christmas present, my sister Lindy gave me a Pin Hole camera kit. The kit includes a home made camera photography book and the pieces to assemble your own 35mm pin hole camera. Using the heavy paper, dowel rods, pre punched pin holes, and take up canister – you can build your own pin hole camera like min pictured above. The shutter and view finder are one piece that you manually lift to take an image. Then advance the film and repeat. Exposure times vary based on the available light. My experience has been 1-2 seconds for direct sunlight and daylight. Increasing all the way to a few minutes for night time and tungsten indoor lighting.

Keeping the pin hole camera steady is important. A nice feature of the kit is an included tripod mount. With 5 minute long exposures this is a must.

Here are some images from the pin hole camera taken with Kodak 200.

Thanks Lindy!

I’ll admit, most of the work I do allows me to travel. In the past couple of years, I’ve been able to visit some amazing places with jobs. When my schedule started to ease up towards the end of 2009 I decided to take a break, and… gasp, go on a vacation.

My friend Katie proved to be a good adventure buddy and we decided to travel to Costa Rica for 6 days.

Prior to departing, I got food poisoning from El Tarasco – which was devastating. Not only because I was puking my internals out, but because Tarasco is one of my favorite spots to grub. It felt like being cheated on… by a carne asada plate.

Our first flight got cancelled and pushed back our travel plans by 12 hours.

Once we finally made it to San Jose, Costa Rica, we stayed at the Adventure Inn – which was a great place to stay. The staff made it easy for us to pick up our rental car and get started on the trip to Jaco. This duck caught my eye at the park at the end of the street.

Hotel Canciones Del Mar was right on Jaco Beach.

Rental Car – Suzuki Alto, as the Japanese call it – a Kei car. Little car.

Ricing out cars is still big in Costa Rica. Like this Sentra with 16 inch wheels and a muffler. Made me laugh.

Heavy duty Street Fighter style fiberglass wing on an Eclipse in Jaco, Costa Rica.

The chef from a local bar and grill catches up with a friend.

Complimentary colors, green wall and red dress – make for a cool shot. My travel buddy Katie ponders what to order for dinner.

End of day #1.

A Day with Will is the post category that came out of ‘A Day in the Life of…” challenge. Which was a single day photo exchange between myself and KD almost a year ago. It has since evolved into being a day in my life. Any day that I pick and have my camera around to document with photography. This post is a preview of my trip to Costa Rica. I’m going to cut the characters and let the pixels do the talking.

Dropping in on some Jaco mush. Photo by Katie DeWolfe.

Until the end of the trip.

Moo Goo Gai Pan week 2009. The week when Brian Steele and Jason Buckley are the same age for the year. Better known as the week between their respective birthdays. This year, a bunch of us went to Ocean Seafood in LA’s Chinatown. I brought the 7D and my 50mm f1.4 to document the celebration. Here is a day with me…Moo Goo Gai Pan week style.

Happy Birthday B-Steele! Cleaned out Ocean Seafood.

This story starts in Richmond, Virginia and ends back in Los Angeles, California. It takes place in the places in between. The states along highway 80 ranging from New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Utah. Then on to highway 15 through Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The places in between. The places like Lima, Ohio, where I saw this Ford Thunderbird camped out and waiting for its owner at a closed Ford dealership. A sign in its window with the owner’s phone number and name. California plates long expired on it’s bumper. Was it an omen? I picked up Joey Redmond in Lima, Ohio after driving down from Buffalo, New York. In Buffalo I met up with Dax and Elissa. Whom I had not seen since graduating from Bowling Green State University back in 2006.

Joey is a great road trip partner. He drives fast, travels frequently, and has good taste in music.

The car for the adventure is 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Ralliart Sportback. That is the longest name for an automobile I’ve heard in a while. All jokes aside, the Ralliart is a great platform. It has the same 4B11 motor and all wheel drive as the more expensive Lancer Evolution – with a smaller turbo and flex piping instead of hard innercooler piping. On WORKS motorsports dyna packs the lil blue shoe made 220hp. Not bad for dyna packs and all wheel drive.

Always representing Medium Monster – Ricky Chu and I’s production company.

When we hit Iowa, the temperatures were very low for October – close to freezing. The next day, we found that there was a dusting of snow on the ground. Word on the weather channel was that points ahead on our drive had recieved more snow.

Nebraska’s state police were a bit bored and decided to pull over us while Joey was behind the wheel. The officer ended up letting Joey shoot the radar gun and check out some of the equipment in his squad car.

On the second night, we made it to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Where there was already seven inches of snow.

The Ralliart’s AWC – Snow mode made it easier to drive in the icy conditions.

So did sunglasses. I let Joey borrow a pair I picked up on he trip – it really helped during the white outs. Check out the reflection of the road ahead and how white everything is around the car.

Taking a break in Wyoming -the amount of snow was impressive.

Descending into Laramie, the snow lightened up to a dusting again. The clouds were epic – white fluffy clouds pushing some of the dark storm clouds further east.

Utah.

Joey shooting some pics of the Ralliart off of an exit in California I-15.

Thanks BFGoodrich and Mitsubishi for giving me the chance to drive back from the east coast!

Easter bunny blue skies and chocolate brown waters. The wind whips the surface of Lake Erie into a swirling pool out of Willy Wonka’s factory. Normally, the peaceful waters are an opaque green. Then the northern winds fetch over the calm freshwater and over mile and miles – create wind waves. The period between these waves is much shorter than the period between ocean waves. While the water being fresh, isn’t as buoyant as saltwater.

When you want to surf, none of that stuff matters, the waves matters. A wave can be a foot or twenty. You make the most with what you got and for 3 years after I learned to surf – I had Lake Erie.

When I come back to north east Ohio – I make a trip up to the lakeshore. To check out the waves. Especially if the winds are out of the north.

The first stop was the Columbia Street beach. Which I nicknamed the “rock beach”. Rock beach is great for skimboarding because it drops off rather quickly in depth and the waves tend to break right on the beach.

To get to the beach, you descend a couple sets of stairs. A path worn through fallen leaves – really caught my eye.

A small creek runs parallel to Columbia road and empties into the lake. Over a set of shale waterfalls.

After spotting these yellow leaves – I had to get a closer look.

From Columbia road it was onto Huntington Beach. Yes, Huntington Beach. Huntington Beach in Bay Village, Ohio.

Huntington Beach is a better surf break. The sand bottom and jetty help to build waves deeper into the water than Columbia Rd’s beach. If you are feeling lazy, you can jump off the jetty and be out right by the start of the break. Which is convenient. Huntington is at the base of a cliff, so part of the fun is hiking down the cliff face through a ravine to the beach.

Its days like these that I wish I had my fun shape in Cleveland instead of out in Los Angeles.

Virginia is a state filled with a fantastic amount of US history. During my time there, I drove around monument avenue and took in statues as they whizzed past. More importantly, I got to ride motorcycles – which is one of the most fantastic things – ever. While camped out South of Richmond, VA. Wrapping up the BFGoodrich Nation of GO tour I crashed with Eric – the writer from the tour and his family. They have a nice pad on a small lake.

The water was still and it made for some great reflections. Mirroring the changing leaves on the trees above.

Two hours northwest of Richmond is Harrisonburg, Virginia. Home of James Madison University and home of my friend Katie.

What’s up pups? Wet noses all around.

When Katie mentioned that there was a swimming hole nearby – I was immediately interested. October swimming, I’m down!

Hike in. Walking the dogs, lazy Saturday – just what I needed.

The source of the swimming hole is water running down from the mountains. It is pins in your pores and heavy breathing cold.

Then a ride down Skyline drive in the Shenandoah National park. Thanks Katie for the good times.

Next stop, Ohio.

Never ending roads, drive until you hit the coast, rest up, turn around and drive until you hit the other. Here is the beginning of one trip. And the end of another. I just ended the longest road trip I’d been on to date and am going to start another. Planning another for later this year and dreaming about many more to come. Thank you to the people who made this past trip a blast. Cory, Dave, Eric, Mark, Kevin, Travis, Katie, Lindy, Chris, Mom and Dad. Thanks!

Richmond, VA. The end of the Nation of GO.

On the way to Skyline Drive. Harrisonburg, VA. Hi Sawyer!

Grilled Cheese faced sister. Cleveland, OH.

The beginning of another. Stay posted.