Mt Hood

Hurricane Ike-Galveston, Texas

stationed in Galveston to provide medical support for relief workers after Ike, I have had the opportunity to see the devastation left behind by the storm. Although the seawall here has prevented the kind of destruction that occurred during the storm of 1900, but it is still a grisly scene down here. The damage is no longer front page news due to the election, the financial crisis, and the plethora of other national news items. The damage, however, is still very real and incredibly pervasive. Where the camp that I am helping to staff is there was 10 feet of water during the hurricane. There are 18,000 homes on Galveston, and 90% of them were damaged in some fashion, many of them to the point of having to be destroyed and rebuilt. Of all the businesses here on the island, some are re-opened, and some will never be re-opened.

this photo is amazing to me. these people are fishing for food in water that is so choked with debris that it will be years before it is truly "back to normal". Anytime you have to stand among rusted out refrigerators, chlorine containers, household garbage, industrial waste, and all the other items washed up by the storm to fish...you may want to carefully consider whether or not you should eat those fish.

the following set of most recent photos are from the Lime Complex Fire in Northern California and my subsequent travels in the Reno/Tahoe area. The photos of the perforated interior of the VW bus are some of my favorites. While stopping to hike around the amazing red rock formations pictured, there was a random VW bus, split windshield, with no seats, tires,windows, or guts shot to hell in the middle of the desert. It had obviously been used as "target" practice for some time. The effect was pretty cool, and slightly humorous...

Holding the Line

Red Rock Road, California

Burney Falls

target practice

Feather River

bullet-ridden

Mt Ashland Summit

sunrise from Mt. Ashland

canine jesus