When we came to Waycross Ga it was to go see the swamp – with the Alligators and all. Instead we were sweep off our feet by the people we meet. First, we are trying to get Brandon well again. So we had to go to some of the numerous car part shop they have here to get a gas cap, a new distributor cap and a new rotor. All the people we meet there were especially nice and helpful – trying to help beyond their normal duties – calling competitors to see if they could have parts for us – calling mechanics for advices,… And then it happen: At one of the place a customer came out and ask where we were from and where we were going. From there he entertained us for half an hour on what route we should that and advised us on where we should stay – this coming from a local resident was really useful. Then another person came to give advises.
Then we meet Sarah, the owner of Mama Lou’s Italian Grill – probably the best restaurant in town. Although they work real hard and spare no expenses to have us live a real experience, she and her husband – and cook David, took time from their busy schedule to talk to us. Again we had great advices but more then that, they offered insights on their beautiful part of the country - and a very good meal!
Waycross is suffering and it shows by the abandon streets and building including the beautiful hotel Ware and building Dunn. But the people make up for it. For iStocker Waycross can offer tremendous opportunity. How often can you shoot in a “ghost” town and on the same day go participate in an alligators photo safari?
We have done this detour not to meet Burt, but to come visit the Okefenokee National Wildlife refuge. Did you know that nature photography workshops are offered here? They even have published an interesting booklet to help aspiring nature photographers.
Just a quick update to tell you we just have spent 2 days in Savannah including Thanks Giving. What a beautiful town. We have made a few images here that we will update one day on iStock
We’ve just spent a few more days in Brandon. Unfortunately he’s not doing better. We will have to look more closely into his problems later. We’ve created a few images here including in the only lighthouse opened to the public in South Carolina.
Finally we have slept in Brandon. Here at Edisto Beach we have no Internet and even the cel phone is just intermittent. This is why you are getting this update so late.
This first night in Brandon has been, let say, different then what we are used to. When we go hiking* at night all we want is to eat and get to sleep so we don’t mind if it is dark early. With Brandon, when we thought about camping our reference was still hiking so we never thought about lighting or night activities. So yesterday we when to sleep at 7pm and got up at 7h30am the next morning… and no alcohol was involved.
We will definitely add some indoor and outdoor lighting equipment to our kit (eating at 5pm and cleaning the dishes with a headlamp is not that fun). Also we will add some heating for the cold nights – although we do have a heating blanket.
But this state camping has been a good introduction to living in Brandon. We’ll probably need to work a bit on our social skills to participate more in the life of the campgrounds we will visit – and become more used to have a different level of intimacy. We’ll also need to become more agile (going to sleep in the top bed is an exercise it itself) and get in better shape but we knew that when we started this journey.
OK you can see that we have nothing much to do but write in our blog – so we will stop here.
Next time we will try to talk about photography instead.
*For those who didn’t know we like to do long multi day hikes in full autonomy – even if we don’t look like hikers. We brought our hiking equipment with us. If there are hikers reading us we sure would like to go hiking during our road trip – if you have a favorite hike to share with us either showing us the way on the trail or on a map we would really appreciate your help!
Ok now that we are back on our feet and that you might have seen “The Contact Sheet for iStock artists” you now know that we have meet with John aka jjneff. What you don’t know is that we met for lunch – Now you know why you need to come here and get all the details. Meeting John was real fun. For starter he is real nice, he lives and works in a real nice city, and like us he is another member of this crazy community we call iStock.
John reminded us that we all feel somewhat isolated in our environment. Meeting other iStockers like John on our Roadtrip-a-Lypse or all the great people we met at iStockalypse HQ is making us realize how much alike we all are. As iStockers, we often all face the same challenges and the same fears. We also often all share the same hopes and a similar direction – we're on the same boat – but we don’t see it because we’re all in our own environment, isolated. John had never met another iStocker even, if like us, he has been a part of the community since 2006.
This is the spirit of our Roadtrip-a-Lypse – trying to connect the dots – the iStockers along our way and making the community real for some of us.
For the next few days, we should be out of reach by electronic means, since we are going camping with Brandon. Go see the map of our road trip to know where we are. We should be back online on the 25th when we reach Savannah, Georgia.
And… It looks like we will spend Thanksgiving ... close to the beach!
Ok, we are officially drunk – we will update the blog tomorrow. Anyway we are not going anywhere for now.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
