Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010

[Granite Grinder]

Gawd, it's hard enough for a Canadian to buy a gun in Canada let alone a non resident. A non resident can posses or purchase a firearm in Canada as long as you have a PAL (Possession and Acquisition Licence), I believe? Somebody might have more clarification.
That's a drag at the border, kind of a sh!tty way to end a fantastic trip.

 

[Deny]

Gawd, it's hard enough for a Canadian to buy a gun in Canada let alone a non resident. A non resident can posses or purchase a firearm in Canada as long as you have a PAL (Possession and Acquisition Licence), I believe? Somebody might have more clarification.

We hired a German Masters student who married a Canadian Girl up here and he could not buy a gun until he got all his paperwork together and is now in the process of getting his perminent-resident status. I think he is now eligable, but still needed to have his PAL, and the process to get to where he is still took about 1/2 to a full year.
Cheers,
Deny

 

[Bossman]

Glad to hear you made it home safely Roger. Hate to hear about the border troubles but years from now it will be just another story to tell. Thanks again for making this trip possible for me! I can't tell you how fantastic it was for me!

BTW - I tried to get you to let me work on that axle BEFORE I left! Did that go smoothly?

 

[D'Animal]

Glad to hear you made it home safely.

 

[Ducks]

Here are the rest of the glacier pictures that I have -

Lined up on the glacier.

Glacier looking upstream.

Glacier looking downstream.

Dirty Glacier Ice

 

[Ducks]

If you want the hi-res pictures I have a gallery at:

SignatureImagery's Photos- powered by SmugMug

Just go to the "Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010" album and you can download the original picture size. If you want a larger image, just let me know. I have fractal software that works surprisingly well at increasing image sizes.

 

[Ducks]

In my SmugMug album I have two versions of Dan's rig on the glacier. Not sure which one I like better. The first time I processed it, I did this:

I redid it and went for a less HDR-y type feel and got this:

Anyways and whatever. Still not coming out exactly as I would like. Maybe I'll keep working on it.

Chad

 

[jonb96150]

John B's 70 - N/A! - John, you're the reliability winner unless we forgot something Oh, here ya go - spare tire carrier latch failure - get your sh*t squared away before you come to Alaska next time

!

He had some wonky light gremlins invade his rig... does that count?

Oh man, and I tried so hard not to be "that guy"!!!!!

Chad, extraordinary images!

 

[DSLTOY]

Hate to hear about the border troubles but years from now it will be just another story to tell.

BTW - I tried to get you to let me work on that axle BEFORE I left! Did that go smoothly?

The Trek was awsome and the 2000 mile road trip in AK was fantastic, a little hassle by some
customs officer trainee's was just another little bump in the road.

JP,Mark John and Kurte helped with the knuckle replacement, as usual took longer than I expected, thank you all for the help.

Roger

 

[Grease Cruiser]

I made it home to Colorado

Well....I think I am the last of the Trekkers to make it home from ACT 2010. Actually, NO. Kurte is visiting relatives in North Dakota and won't make it home to Oklahoma for another week or so, but I am the last vehicle to make it back.

I left Anchorage on Monday about noon and made it home on Friday evening about 8PM. 103 hours from start to finish. Not too bad for almost 4000 miles of driving.

Overall, I did 11,850 miles (19,070 kilometers for our Kanuck friends) in 42 days. The truck did great and I had very minor issues except for the tow strap incident. That is pretty amazing for what we put the vehicles through and the amount of miles I covered after the Trek.

My border crossings coming home were pretty easy. The female Canadian agent basically waved me through asking about guns, tobacco, and alcohol. Crossing back into the US was pretty funny. I got an agent straight off of a shift change who was in a pretty good mood. He asked about the truck and where I had been. We then sat there and chatted about Alaska for 15 minutes. He told me some fishing stories of him and his brother-in-law down on the Kenai a few years ago. He then asked me if I had anything to declare and I said "Nope....except that diesel fuel in Canada is outrageously expensive!" He got a pretty good kick out of that and said "Welcome back to the US, enjoy your stay in Montana" You know, the usual border crossing


Roger....it sounds like you just barely beat me home. I would like to Thank You for coming along with us on our adventure after the Trek. I was glad to have another vehicle for the Haul Road up to Deadhorse. It was great hanging out with you. We will have to do it again sometime.


I too would like to thank Mark and the Alaska Cruiser Crew for putting on such a great event. Everyone's generosity and hospitality was beyond anything I had expected. Thanks so much for making my time in Alaska one to remember and it was an experience that I will not forgot anytime soon. Hopefully I can get back there sometime in the near future.

Back to work tomorrow. I am sure I will be busy from here on out but I hope to get some pictures posted soon.

 

[D'Animal]

Glad you made it back Jon.

 

[Deny]

Overall, I did 11,850 miles (19,070 kilometers for our Kanuck friends) in 42 days.

Seen you driving down the highway between Hythe and Beaverlodge in the middle of the monsoon thundershower! Definately a truck that stands out compared to the usualy NA trucks up here.
Cheers,
Deny

 

[nat]

Awesome picture indeed! Is that an HDR image?

x2, are you doing HDR post processing?

 

[Ducks]

x2, are you doing HDR post processing?

Yes, it is a combination of 5 exposures from, I think, -2eV to +2ev but I might have adjusted the exposure time on the glacier to get the ice to look white/blue instead of grey. I used Photomatix for the HDR and then did some tweaking in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust.

I have a woefully out of date blog that I am going to start doing again that will hopefully feature an image a day along with some details behind how I took it. The blog is at:

Signature Imagery


Chad

 

[Grease Cruiser]

Seen you driving down the highway between Hythe and Beaverlodge in the middle of the monsoon thundershower! Definately a truck that stands out compared to the usualy NA trucks up here.
Cheers,
Deny

That was a pretty good storm, huh? Were you in a Cruiser? I wish I had had more time to stop and explore parts of Canada. Maybe next time.

 

[lulo]

Great TRIP!!!

Awesome pics


Thanks

 

[desertdude]

Amazing

Yes, it is HDR. After looking at it after processing it, I think I can get a better image if I redo it. I'll repost when I get a chance to get back to it. This whole "work" thing is really getting in the way of my "hobbies."

 

[concretejungle]

Yes, it is a combination of 5 exposures from, I think, -2eV to +2ev but I might have adjusted the exposure time on the glacier to get the ice to look white/blue instead of grey. I used Photomatix for the HDR and then did some tweaking in Photoshop and Topaz Adjust.

I have a woefully out of date blog that I am going to start doing again that will hopefully feature an image a day along with some details behind how I took it. The blog is at:

Signature Imagery


Chad

I will make this my last chat post and stop hijacking this thread... i'm wanting to get into some very entry level fun photography. What camera are you using and what would you suggest i get? Not looking at spending a grand, but was eying some of the Nikon D40 models. What's a good camera for around sub $500?

 

[Ducks]

I will make this my last chat post and stop hijacking this thread... i'm wanting to get into some very entry level fun photography. What camera are you using and what would you suggest i get? Not looking at spending a grand, but was eying some of the Nikon D40 models. What's a good camera for around sub $500?

Well, I tried to send you a PM but your Inbox is full. So here is my reply -

Hey concretejungle,

I really like the HDR work of Trey Ratcliff. He has a great blog that he posts a picture to everyday.

Stuck In Customs HDR Photography

He is an excellent HDR photographer. He has a free tutorial, which is how I got into doing HDR.

HDR Tutorial | High Dynamic Range Tutorial

He also has a good review of cameras and lenses. Here is his review of cameras good to use for HDR.

HDR Camera | Great Reviews and Recommendations

I would recommend that you go with Nikon instead of Canon but that is my own personal bias. I actually have a Nikon D700 that I got from Amazon at a discounted rate. But the D700 is above what you want to spend. I also have the Nikon 14mm-24mm f/2.8 lens, which is the most amazing wide-angle zoom lens ever made. My other lens is the 85mm f/1.4 prime lens. Another amazing lens. But you don't need a D700 or the 14mm-24mm lens to get great HDR images. Explore the Stuck In Customs website. Trey has a lot of great information on there. He also has an e-book that details his work flow that I am going to start following.

I also have his book that he published. That book is great from a philosophical viewpoint but all of his practical information is free on his website. He also has videos of himself detailing how he took different pictures. Those are also very good. Good luck and have fun. Let me know if you have any more questions. You can send me a PM.

Chad

 

[concretejungle]

Thanks! Link doesn't work.....

I know, i got to renew my star.... every time i get ready to do it i'm on my home computer with no protection so i won't log into any paypal or bank account sites...... got to get it done!....