Final chapter, final thoughts
The last half day with Nolan before I head home.
Nolan and I ended up passing out and I woke up on the couch bed with the pillows and blankets tossed about. I was wrecked and so was my best buddy. We did Jack Diddley the last night in Idaho Falls. But we still had today before I headed out back home to San Francisco.
Getting the room straightened up we both decide to grab some free breakfast downstairs in the lobby. From my last time in Austin, TX I wasn't too sure what to expect. Nolan goes with me but I decide to take a quick swim to wake up and to get some excercise in. Nolan grabs his coffee from the much available pump canister coffee and hangs out by the perfectly place fire pit just outsude the lobby. There aren't too many people in the pool so I do a few laps and a moment in the jacuzzi. I dry off trying to get dry enough to wall and try out the now getting busy breakfast area. I don't want to drip my chlorine drops all over the floor and as I walk over patting my shorts the whole way. A plate and a decision to make " what am I going to eat to satisfy this craving for another eggs Benedict or gluten free pancakes?" Nothing in here, not one thing in here. I pick up the steamer tray lid and I see fluffy eggs with almost 1970's retro yellow glow. At this point this is a score. Next is a sausage patty and I hesitate. Do I eat this, well shoot who knows where I'll eat and I need something before my flight. I fill up with decaf and one thimble full of hazelnut creamer.
Nolan meets me back upstairs in the room and I chop away on my well deserved Hotel Marriott breakfast in front of the TV. We hang out a bit and suggest we walk by the Snake River before we drop me off at the Airport. Pretty amazing the Snake River and right here in Downtown Idaho Falls. I now get where Falls comes from. The small waterfalls crashing down into the Snake River. My Aha moment. We walk down and have a chat about just stuff and joke around. We are always joking around and Nolan is one funny dude. We take some fun shots of me laying on a Snake sculpture bench and a few of Nolan and the area. from my iPhone. My camera is back at the hotel ready to go. We head back and I look at the time to get me to the Airport. This is one small airport but I still worry about the lines and what ifs. Plus I'd like to get some blog writing time in. We jump in the car and head out not even 5 minutes we are at the airport. I laugh how silly I was to rush out thinking of all the other places I have been it's at least a 30-45 minute drive. My brother my brother. A big bro hug and I get a few snaps of nolan acting and me dirtying him to go for it. A series of poses from the ever funny Nolando. I will miss him as I pile on my bags I head in to the very small 2 people deep line. And as I hear some German behind me. I glance over. It's the gentle giant German I met on the way in. I give me a friendly hello and how funny it is to see him. Yet this is a small town so not that surprising. He is dropping off his mates but will stay in one day longer so he can watch the Argentina vs Germany final World Cup match. A quick handshake and I am checked in and off to sit and wait with all the others in the hot humid sun by the window.
We finally enter and I feel the weight of the bags and the weeks on me. Sitting down to write I pound water to fill me body thirst for this necessary drink. Never in my life except in my visit to Denver years ago have I needed to drink this much water. It's a chore at this point. I finally board and get situated. Separate bag for my camera and my larger camera bag checked. I am for sure over this little exercise. Next stop is Denver and I get in to watch the last half of the World Cup match where Germany and Argentina have been at 0-0 for the whole game. All around me are many Germans hugging and eyes glued on the various bars all over the airport. Germany wins it. 1-0. It reminded me of the time I visited Barcelona 4 years earlier. Watching the various games with my friend Robert Hedlund as we travelled and met on Las Ramblas. All the cafes with fans in all countries jerseys piled in and watching from the streets. This game of the world brings all from different places together. I love that and I see this again. People converging at the Denver Airport are together for the love of the game. I sit and order and Charcuterie plate with smoked duck and instantly think of my time in Kansas City. This does not compare to Brad's prized smoked duck one bit but damn it is good. I take down two glasses of Sauvignon Blanc with my cheese plate I also ordered. I feel a sort of melancholy that this grand trip to I took is now over. Happy to go home but now the rush is gone and I am bow resorting to shooting my charcuterie, cheese plate and wine glasses at the Denver Airport in an open lounge. Do all these people know what I just did. I glance around and i can see that all these travelers must have many stories that have led them to this very place and they are on their to somewhere else. Somewhere happy, somewhere sad, somewhere new, somewhere to touch the past. I love that I am opening up and apart of this great thing we humans can do on the flying contraptions. We get to see the world and open our minds and hearts. I finally got to do what I set out for. After a couple more gulps of my chilled wine I can't help but think of my dear friend Ewan. Alcohol does that to you, numbs the outside an the thoughts come fast and precise. It allows me to not be bothered with the craziness of the Airport but brings me to this quiet room of my thoughts. Ewan Robert Fisher was my friend of all friends. The sweetest and most caring friend. He would pay for the check before you even ordered your dessert. He would cook the most amazing meals and gather all the friends to his place for an all night good time. This man I met my first day first class at the Academy of Art when I was 20, now has left us to a place of rest. I very much cared about him and almost feel we had a special relationship. He trusted me most and when he was in need called out to me. I am happy to have know him but feel an empty space in the world where he once was. He is my reason to live more and try not to be the workaholic. I worked til I could not work anymore and lived very little. Life just crept up and passed me by. I always photographed and was the best person I could possibly be. I did for others where I would not do for myself. This trip and stories are my love letter to my dear friend and kick in the ass to go and do what you said you would. To Ewan's family I wish to say you made and raised one hell of a man and many other would say the same thing. To the world I say you missed out if you never got to meet him. This trip 'long overdue' is now over. My reason to see others, learn and share has now ended. I am a richer man and I plan to not let life pass me by. If I love something go do it and do not let others tell you 'you can't'. My photos are my eyes, I saw and I photographed. I experienced and recorded so that I can write to tell this story. No more letting moments get away.
My dream job is to travel, experience, write and photograph. I can design, art direct and do my art but there is world out there and I would like to see more of it. I will be putting together my work from this trip on my site. Food, people and places.
Thank you for reading and sharing this trip with me,
Robert D. Karns