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Today is the day the Lord has made. I shall rejoice and be glad in it.

Sunday morning parked in the Service Plaza neat Portage, Indiana on the Indiana Tollway.

There are so many things to think about when parking my truck for the night. Here is another one. If I park facing East the sun will come in through my front window and, most likely, wake me up. Now this isn't bad in February when the sun rises at 7:30. But it could be real irritating in early July when the sun rises at 5:00 , and I am trying to sleep in until 7:00.

Last Shot Of 2011

I set out at the beginning of this year to do a Project 365. Everything went well until I 'Crashed and Burned' late December with a roll of film that I did not get loaded properly in the camera. So I finished the year off with a few shots taken with a (recently purchased) Canon G11.

One of my goals with this Project 365 was to use every piece of camera equipment I have. Well, I did not use every piece. So there will be a number of items going on Craigslist soon.

This is the result of this years effort. Here is what I used and did.
(the equipment is all Canon stuff unless otherwise noted)

AF35ML
AF35MII
MC
G11

A-1 (x2)
F-1 (original)
17mm
24mm
50mm f/1.2 (FDn)
50mm f/1.4
50mm f/3.5 Macro
85mm (FDn)
135mm
200mm
28-70mm Tokina
70-210mm Tokina
35-80mm f/2.8 Tokina
80-200mm f/2.8 Tokina
500mm Mirror Tokina

25mm FD Extension Tube
Tokina 2X Doubler

Bronica ETRSi
50mm Bronica
75mm Bronica
150mm Bronica

Vivitar 3700 (x2)
Vivitar 283 (x2)
Quantum T2
Quantum Battery Packs (x2)
Cactus V4 Wireless
Generic Optical Slave

Sekonic Meter
Polaris Meter

2 Tripods
Monopod
3 Light Stands
3 SP150 Studio Systems Strobes
24"x24" Softbox
3 36' Flashpoint Umbrellas

Plus various Filters, Shutter Release Cables, and other Odds and Ends.

And I ended up shooting:
38+ Rolls of 36-exposure 35mm film
(all 'Process and Burn' - no prints made)
4+ rolls of 120 film
(all 'Process and Burn' - no prints made)
Cost for all processing about $400+ (USD)

What I did not use and will be going on Craigslist:.............

Canon New F-1
Canon 50mm F/1.2 FDn (okay I did use this but I like the 50mm F/1.4 S.S.C. better)
Canon Original F-1 with two Motordrives, three Viewfinders, and a couple of Focusing Screens
(again I did use this but I think it will go)
Canon Bellows FL
Canon 'Chrome Nose Lenses' - 24mm, 28mm, and 35mm (yes the Radioactive one)
Canon 35mm Tilt & Shift (don't know if this is going on Craigslist yet or not)
Bell & Howell FD35 (basically a Canon TX) with B&H 50mm and 135mm lenses

Minolta Hi-Matic
Argus Match-Matic

Shot with a Canon G11
Canon Speedlite 177 off to camera left triggered with Cactus V4
SP150 Studio Systems Strobe immediately above and right of camera triggered via built in optical slave.
(sitting on a new 8ft air-cushioned light stand my Wonderful Wife bought me for Christmas)

And HAPPY NEW YEAR to everyone.

Thank you Lord for another safe year of life on the road.

December 30, 2011 3:00pm CST I got home from my last trip for this year.

The Stats for 2011:
I drove 116,169 miles.
I traveled in 17 States.
(MN, WI, IL, IN, OH, PA, NY, NJ, DE, MD, VA, WV, NC, KY, TN, IA, MO)
I was away from home and my Wonderful Wife for 185 days.
201 weeks and counting down to Retirement.

For an Over The Road Truck Driver I have a pretty regular run. When I leave Minneapolis, MN on my outbound trips I deliver to pretty much the same handful of customers. Once I get empty I pick up a reload coming back to Minneapolis, again stopping at another handful of customers. This is nice as I usually know where I am going. And I usually know how long I will be out. So I know what to pack. I have been doing this for so long I pretty much have it down to a science.

This is what I pack for a four to five day trip:
-Black duffel bag (clothes and toiletries)
-Cooler (food that goes in my refrigerator in my truck)
-Cardboard Tote Box (food that goes in the cabinet, books, CDs DVDs)
-Freshly laundered bedding on top of the box
-Laptop Computer
-25 pound Camera Bag

I used to see a number of semi trucks lit up and decorated for the Christmas season. Mine was the only one I saw this year with Christmas Lights in the windshield.

(No, I do not drive with these lights on. I only turn them on when I park at night)

info:
Canon G11
Sekonic Meter

Yeah, I know I don't have to meter scenes like this when shooting with my G11. But I feel it gets me to a correct exposure faster than shooting, looking at the LCD on the back of the camera, making necessary adjustments, repeat.

And I gotta say I am quite impressed with the quality of this low-light image. I think I will really enjoy shooting with the G11.