August 2014

Old Dinosaurs Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

The company town of Sinclair housing a big refinery is six miles from Rawlins, so there is no wonder Sinclair stations and memorabilia have a major presence in the area. When I was a kid growing up in Kansas, there were no local Sinclair stations so we only saw them when traveling out west on vacation. I remember them distinctly because one summer they were giving away small toy dinosaurs of different species with each fill-up. Being enamored with dinosaurs (and free toys in general) as are most kids, once we figured out that they were being given away, our parents would hear about it if they even considered stopping for a different brand of gasoline. Like me, this particular gas pump is a dinosaur of sorts itself. When was the last time you pulled into a gas station where the prices on the pumps could only be set as high as 99.9 cents per gallon? (Or perhaps the question should be have you every pumped gas from such a pump.)]]>

Patriot’s Dream #41 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

An American flag oddly placed behind a building where the dumpsters and junk are stored; on the building across the alley one of the signs reads “Wyoming Department of Corrections Probation and Parole.”]]>

Oil Patch Vernacular #6 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

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Oil Patch Vernacular #5 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

No mincing words here, it’s a bar. Don’t need to know anything else.

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Oil Patch Vernacular #4 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

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Oil Patch Vernacular #3 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

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Oil Patch Vernacular #2 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

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Oil Patch Vernacular #1 Rawlins, Wyoming 2014

Rawlins is the county seat of Carbon County, Wyoming and also houses the state penitentiary. But it seems most dominated by the oil industry. It appears to be a town that was built with just the basics needed to get the job done and with whatever materials where handy and cheap, with few fancy frills to embellish the surroundings. You might say it possesses a lot of butt-ugly honesty. It takes a certain mentality to appreciate that kind kind of environment enough to photograph it, so of course I took up the challenge when we spent the night there on our way to Colorado a couple of weeks ago.]]>

Patriot’s Dream #40 Bozeman, Montana 2014

I probably should have done this one in color as it might be hard to tell that the guy on the left’s guitar is painted in an American flag motif, but otherwise I thought it worked better in black and white. Not surprisingly perhaps, the songs these guys were playing were oldies, but they weren’t as old as they are.]]>

Lives Real and Imagined #33 Bozeman, Montana 2014

Bozeman is a long way from the Bourbon St. lifestyle as illustrated on the side of this New Orleans themed fun house. If you haven’t seen the complete Lives Real and Imagined gallery on my website, you can view it here.]]>