I made it to Susanville in about 14 hours yesterday. As I'm sure it's no surprise to those who know me, I took back roads whenever possible. The only problem I encountered was at Hoover Dam. There was a check point I had to go through in order to drive across the dam, which by the way was swarming with tourists. What impressed me the most about the structure was the amount of details that went into it. You just don't see anything like that anymore, not even in the post-modern architecture of the 90's. Perhaps Obama should consider creating a National Architect position to help restore our building arts and give us an image again. On a side note, I love reading bathroom graffiti while traveling. It makes me giggle. Sadly, the only commentary I saw yesterday was about Obama and his Cabinet members in the formerly Red State of Nevada.
Nevada is a desolate place. I drove past former nuclear testing grounds (surprisingly close to Las Vegas), old mining towns on the verge of disappearing and also a strange Army Depot which had thousands of bunkers stretching across the valley. With the exception of Las Vegas, the picture to the right is a good representation of what my entire drive through Nevada looked like.
Today, I am driving on to Coos Bay, Oregon. It should take me about 7 hours. An easy drive. There is a campground on the beach north of the city which is where I will spend the night. Tomorrow's posting most likely will come from a tent.
2 comments:
I dunno, if you ask me, Postmodernism is all sort of a farce anyway. It doesn't do much but cheapen the actual historic architecture that it was meant to imitate, by using incorrect proportions and shitty standardized materials, instituted by outdated building codes created during World War II. If you can't build it right, or at least build it with real materials, don't build it at all.
On that note, yes, the Hoover Dam is kind of a great architectural icon of its time. Interestingly enough, I came across a rendering today for a new highway bridge that's about to be built here, that has some really interesting Moderne details to it, that remind me a lot of German fascist architecture. The site is down right now, but I'll send you the link when i can.
I saw the bridge under construction. I couldn't get a good photo of it though.
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