Apollo 11 Capsule, In Nowhere

On July 20th, 1969 Apollo 11 (XI) landed on the moon.  It left Florida on July 16th and was crewed by Commander Neil Alden Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin Eugene “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr..

At one point, this drop test capsule for Apollo 11 was housed at a remote, obscure location called Apollo Park out in Lancaster, CA.  The park has three man-made lakes (named after astronauts Aldrin, Armstrong & Collins). I used to visit this park many a weekend back in the 80s, (When/where I took this picture.)

The capsule was called "Boilerplate 19A" (BP-19A), and was built in 1963. 

In 1964, BP-19 was dropped multiple times from a C-133 over El Centro Naval Station, Calif., testing the recovery parachutes. Four years after that, the capsule was retrofitted to test VHF recovery antenna systems, gaining the "A" in its BP-19A designation.

More than four decades after its final test flight it was displayed outdoors at Apollo Park, then in 2008 it was moved to the Downey educational facility.

The actual "Apollo 11 Command Module "Columbia"
(Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins) is located at 
National Air and Space Museum, Washington DC"

"https://parks.lacounty.gov/apollo-community-regional-park/"

"http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-030612a.html"

High Flying Frisbee Dog

photo by Amy Simmons

Flying Disc Dog, Vader

Vader, the high flying disc dog.

A Flag for Veteran's Day...

Thank you to everyone out there.

A Lonely Barn That's Seen Good Time

A Barn that stands the test of time.

Rain Coming Up Over The Mountains

Looking at the rain coming up over the mountains,
gunning for me on my bike ride.
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A Bike ride up Sand Hill Rd., at the 280 in Palo Alto, CA

The Lone Tree on a Hill

Here's that lone tree in the middle of the hill...

A Series of Trees on Yonder Horizon

And there's such a little tree all by itself in the middle of it all...

The Dog and I, on a Road Trip, Purveying the Scenery

Vader and I hitting the road, checking out the landscape of sky and lake...

A Road To Somewhere...

Have you ever been on one of those roads that just beckons you to go wherever it wants to take you?

Life Persists in Great Places

Life persists in all kinds of places, and every now and then, the standout citizen of the grass steps up in the midst of it all.

Tracking A Mystery Animal?

So there I was, playing with my dog at the end of the shed....  I went in for five minutes at most, to get him something.  But after a few minutes, my dog starting barking like crazy.  When I peaked out the window, he had stopped barking and I saw nothing.

But upon further investigation, THIS is what I saw:

I call this pic, "tracking bear," because back then, that was my first thought in that first split-second of seeing this print in the sand, next to my dog's dog house.

This thing plodded up a slight incline, across a field that was behind the house, by the end of a shed (where the silver car is, in the pic below), crossed the yard, the road, and I presume, into the foliage and trees across the street.

The footprint was located, at best description, at the point where the two cars facing each other, would intersect.

This giant of an animal, went completely, visually undetected while it made its way into the woods.

Oh, and so what was it really?  This "bear" of an animal, that left those frightening prints in my front yard, was a VERY TALL moose.  And for it to leave a print that large, and that deep in clay-like sand, that I could not even dent, well, this thing must have been quite the site to see!

Look closely, and you can see where he put his back foot into the tread of his front foot, and while doing so, apparently was changing direction.  Thus creating one of my first ever, huge, mystery animal mysteries of my young life back then.

(this house is located on Rt 106, near North Leeds, ME, just north of Jennings Road.  What fond memories I have of that place.  Sigh.)


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Of Sunsets and Rainbows

The last few nights have been providing just enough cloud cover at sunset to create a few opportunistic photo ops.

Sunset

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Sunset Rainbow

VIsions of Speed - The Rush of 750 hp

The power of the 750 hp cars hurtling past
3 feet away is an incredible rush, breath taking!

Press has slots in the fence in corners around the track at Sonoma and some of those slots are pretty close to the action.  The above image IS NOT from a zoomed in lens shot. 

Visions of Speed - NASCAR

At Sonoma, CA NASCAR road course race in 2013, taking that corner in just the right way, makes things work good in the corner.

Rolling Hills North of San Jose

Rolling Hills Under Blue Skies

I thought you might like this peek at a piece of territory, amazingly, just north of San Jose, CA.  I headed through Milpitas on the 237 and kept on going.  At the other side of town, the road starts to twist up and into the hills.

I turned left at Calaveras Road, and a few miles in, I was presented with this beautiful scenic, where Calaveras Reservoir started.

It was the perfect day for this picture.

Stark Contrast of Man and Nature

Somehow, I seem to be drawn to this stark contrast of man, machine and the sky blue power of nature itself.  Go figure.

Back on the Road - Bicycling Through Stanford

I oddly wait until the summer is winding down to get back the road again on my bicycle.... go figure.

Cats and Imaginary Dog Scares

I finally figured out what caption to put to this picture I have of "the will."

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Sunrise in Central CA Photo

Was on a road trip in December of 2012 and I had an opportunity to snap a photo with my Droid RAZR M...  and the image that came out of the phone surprised me.

Sunrise in Central California...

The Cat Who Screamed Wolf! Or 'Feed Me'...

She got tired of me taking pictures of her...  I tell ya.

San Andreas Fault From my Southwest Window

Flying on Southwest Airlines, I was taking pictures from the seat.  I had been visually tracking various features, one of them being the San Andreas fault.  This image was taken approximately 15 or so miles W, SW of Bakersfield, CA.  Pretty interesting from the air... there's a certain amount of beauty to the potential devastation of that beast.

Photo by B.E. Simmons

Road Trip - Mount Shasta

Road trip in 1998, hitting up the north side of Mt. Shasta...  

Pot Belly Wood Stove

This is an old pot bellied wood stove that used to hang out in the living room in the house in Maine.  The house was approximately 200 years old...  original equipment.  In fact, this heating system was the heating system for the home.

The image, though cool, is woefully unfocused.  God knows what kind of Instamatic Kodak camera I was using.  But this was too old, and a cool memory.

A Winter's Oak Tree.