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In August 2002 my sister Allsun and I drove from the Bay Area, CA where I live to Syracuse, NY where she lives in order to get her new used car back east. Things started off slowly because we left about 3 days later than we wanted to due to car troubles. Our father gave Allsun the car so we should not have expected to leave CA without a hitch. I lost my job during the time her car was getting fixed so I was freaking out debating whether I should even go with her or not. Well, I am glad I did because it was a really important experience for us both. We had conversations, which were sometimes difficult and tense but always interesting. We really fell in love the Pixie's live album. I learned never to go anywhere with Allsun when she has her period. Even though I had taken the reverse route before to get out to San Francisco 3 years earlier, I think we both learned that there are many more things that can be seen and experienced in 2, 899 miles than you realize. We drove from Elko, NV to Hot Spring, SD on the second day. I guess 550 miles is many more miles than you realize when looking on a map that morning. We took a really long (too early) break in Salt Lake City, NV and met a few Mormon missionaries. I had to give my name and contact info just to get a book of Mormon! We were exhausted by 2a and in our delirium we saw herds of antelope crossing the road ahead. The next day we got to see the mammoth bones at the Mammoth site in Hot Spring. We also saw a heard of tatunka (buffalo) wandering through the unmarked BIA routes that day on our way to Wounded Knee. We were fighting when we realized we were lost in the Badlands on our way to Mt. Rushmore. That was by far our best day even though some gas station clerk refereed to undocumented Mexicans as "wet backs". Allsun had to drag me away before I got into an altercation. Who knows what kind if weapons he had under the counter so I guess it was smart of her...


...Once we finally got to Chicago we were both kind of done with spending time with each other so we were pretty cranky when my friend Priscilla asked us what we wanted to eat. Then, she made is sleep in the same bed! (She thought she was being considerate). I convinced Allsun to stay another full day and night and we ran all over Chicago and saw some cool things, not including those two eating gross all beef hotdogs. Chicago was not as bad as I thought it would be. We skipped staying with several people we knew in the Midwest because of our shortage on time. We made really good time from Chicago to Syracuse. As soon as we got there we breathed a sign of relief and knew we would probably never spend that much time together in a car again. It was a relief on one hand but I felt sort of sad, too. Looking back I do not think I took enough photographs. At least not nearly enough to convey what we saw and did. But this trip helped me to let go even if just a little to the obsession to photograph every little thing. This left me to experience the details without the aid of a lens. So, here is an excerpt of what was viewed through my lensÉ.