i had been driving most of the previous couple days in order to get up to washington state from san diego so that i could shoot a perfect alignment of the stars at a private winery near yakima, and i was up most of the day and night shooting there as a result...but i still wanted to get some stars over the palouse in eastern washington, so i drove from yakima to the palouse falls to scout it out. i was extremely tired, and should not have been driving, but i was focused on getting to all the places i wished to shoot while the weather was so perfect for the images i had envisioned in my mind (with this picture today being one of them)...
i decided that i could not get an original shot of the palouse falls, so opted to just proceed to my next location, this tree you see pictured here...so i got some stuff out of my luggage and cooler that were on my trailer hitch rack, but i had to unlock it all first...and for some reason, most likely the fact i was exhausted from so little sleep over the course of three days, i did something i know never to do: i put my keys (which are attached to my wallet) on the roof of my jeep grand cherokee as i was situating thing inside the back doors...
you should never put anything on your roof, never put packages, drinks, pillows, or anything on the roof, especially your wallet, because you might forget they are up there and drive away...
normally, you would need your car keys to start your car. so if you left them on the roof of your vehicle, you would not be able to start the engine and drive away...however, the new jeep grand cherokees use a key fob which only needs to be inside the vehicle's perimeter for the engine to start and run...anywhere inside the vehicle.
since i have a dual pane glass sunroof that pretty much covers the entire roof of the grand cherokee, with the keys and my wallet attached to them sitting on the glass, the vehicle still sensed them as being inside the vehicle, when they were actually on the outside. the grand cherokee started and i drove away, oblivious to the fact i had left my keys with my wallet attached on top of my roof...
looking back, i faintly remember hearing a sound of something falling off my roof while i was driving out of the palouse falls area on the dirt road...at the time, i figured it was just a rock that flew up and hit the roof...i thought nothing of it and continued to drove another 90 miles to get to the tree you see pictured here. i pulled up to the end of the remote dirt road that led me to this spot, and i shut off my vehicle...
immediately, the dashboard gave me the message that no key fob was detected...and my heart sank, and panic set in fast...
i searched throughout the vehicle, taking everything out, hoping that the key fob fell into so hole where the vehicle could not detect it, or maybe the battery died (i have extra batteries in my jeep...but no keys, no wallet...the severity of my situation started to settle in...i was in a remote area, had little to no cell phone coverage, lost my wallet with $400, my drivers license, all my credit cards, my costco card, my aaa card, my health insurance card, plus a blank check, all of my keys to the house, storage, locks, all gone...
i tried to think positive and find things that could help me...i had my health and my wits, i had all my camera gear, a cooler full of food and water (enough for a few days for both me and besos, and thankfully i had my passport and the extra $3000 i keep in my camera bag for emergencies. i had my cell phone with all of my bank info, and digital wallet...plus i had my exact gps position, and i had some cell phone coverage, it was spotty and came and went, but i could get a call out to someone with my gps location...
i had a brief few moments of coverage, so i called my ex wife, the only person i knew who would answer a call immediately...told her my location and then what had happened to me and asked her to contact any local authorities in nearby colfax, wa that could assist me in getting a tow truck to my location...
it was a sheriff deputy who eventually showed up about 3 hours later. a super nice fellow who radioed a tow truck for me to take me down to pullman to the jeep dealership there so that i could have a new key fob programmed for my grand cherokee...my ex wife had called them to make sure they had a key fob in stock (and they did)...the deputy stayed with me for awhile, and we talked about photography and locations i should seek out, and then he left.
the tow truck the deputy had arrange for me arrived about one hour later, it was a standard tow-behind tow truck. so he started hooking me up to tow me out. he said that i needed to take the trailer rack off the hitch so that he could connect me...oh shit, the key to unlock to hitch was on my wallet too, and i had no spare in my vehicle...
the driver was pissed, because he had to drive over an hour out of the way to get to me, and he could not tow me, so he would be getting no money for his efforts...i offered to pay for his gas to get to me, and he accepted $20, and said he would radio another tow truck service he knew to bring a flatbed tow-truck to help me...he left, and i had no clue when or even if another tow truck would come to help me, he left me no information and no phone number...
i waited another 3 hours, and at 4pm another tow truck showed up...he got my grand cherokee onto the flatbed, and me and besos in the cab with him, and we drove off to pullman, wa about 45mins away...he reported the pick-up in such a way as my aaa membership would cover the cost of the entire tow distance (and for the favor, i tipped him $100 because he did not have to do that for me...and being i was stranded way off down a dirt road a few miles, aaa would not have covered that part and it (falls under unimproved roads) and would have cost me quite a bit out of pocket, probably at least $200 if not more...
got to the dealership at 5:15pm, but they were already closed and locked up for the night...and since i could not lock up my vehicle, or carry everything and walk besos to a nearby motel, i had to sleep for the night in the parking lot at the dealership in the back of my grand cherokee...
next day, they were able to get the new key fob programmed to my vehicle, so i could drive away on my path eastward to the midwest and then new england for a few weeks...costs for the key fob were $280 for the part, plus $60 for programming it, plus $40 for labor...
so i lost $400 in my wallet, plus the $120 towing expenses, plus $50 to have all new keys made, plus the $380 for the new key fob...total monetary loss for leaving my keys on the roof = $950, ouch...plus all the time and hassle of having all my credit cards canceled and replaced, a new driver's license sent to me, new aaa card, new medical card, new costco card...
btw, to this day, my wallet was never reported as being found...i think someone got it and kept the money and knew not to try to use the credit cards, and they just threw it all in the trash...
but for my entire ordeal, i got to spend a lot of unplanned time at this location, and despite the causes of my being unwillingly stuck at this spot, something profoundly beautiful happened to me and my life, and this picture is one of the rewards of my little stopover here, hope you enjoy it...
this is an alternative new wave song from the 1997, one of my favorite tunes from the 90s. i love its iconic symphonic lead-in to the lyrics, so harmonically perfect that it speaks to you in its own voice without any words and sets up the meaning of the tune before the first word is spoken... and given its lyrics about how life is up and down and as we try to change with it, in the end we are just who we are...it's another perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "bittersweet symphony" by the verve ... this song was highlighted so wonderfully in the movie, cruel intentions (an up-to-date remake of the acclaimed drama, dangerous liaisons) ending on the movie "cruel intentions" with "bittersweet symphony" by the verve ... (just click on any of the words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
"cause it's a bittersweet symphony, that's life. tryna make ends meet, you're a slave to money then you die. i'll take you down the only road i've ever been down. you know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah...no change, i can change, i can change, i can change. but i'm here in my mold. i am here in my mold. but i'm a million different people from one day to the next. i can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no...(have you ever been down?)... well, i've never prayed but tonight i'm on my knees, yeah. i need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah. i let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, i feel free now but the airwaves are clean and there's nobody singing to me now...no change, i can change, i can change, i can change. but i'm here in my mold. i am here in my mold and i'm a million different people from one day to the next. i can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no (have you ever been down?). i can't change, oh, no. i can't change, oh... cause it's a bittersweet symphony, that's life. tryna make ends meet, you're a slave to money then you die. i'll take you down the only road i've ever been down. you know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah... no change, i can change, i can change, i can change. but i'm here in my mold. i am here in my mold. but i'm a million different people from one day to the next. i can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no .i can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no. i can't change my mold, no, no, no, no. it's just sex and violence, melody and silence, (it's just sex and violence, melody and silence). i'll take you down the only road i've ever been down (i'll take you down the only road I've ever been down)...been down, ever been down, ever been down, ever been down, ever been down. have you ever been down? have you ever been down? have you ever been down?" ― the verve, bittersweet symphony