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Portraits of Pennsylvania

Adventures

Posted by David Walker on 11/09 at 08:01 AM

Perry Shank of Danville pulls a no-footed wheelie during a neighborhood dirt bike competition. Each year, kids who ride dirt bikes in the area hold a friendly contest called Dirt Bike Wars with parents and friends judging each segment. “It’s competitive - not serious” say the riders, “you just try to do better than the last time...hopefully you learned something over the summer.”

Adventures. Ever since I graduated high school, trying to find my current address has been a nightmare for a lot of my friends and family (and sometimes the IRS, too.) In those 10 years, I had made camp in many states including Missouri, Colorado and Tennessee. If I wasn’t moving, I was exploring any place my budget would take me. And I worked many jobs to fill that budget. Draftsman, cook, mover, hospital worker, soldier, photographer. Anything that would let me see the world.

In short, I love adventures. I love finding new places, new people, new stories.

This past summer though, something new happened. No more dorms, friends spare bedroom, barracks or apartments. I have become a permanent resident of Pennsylvania once again! Great, so what now I’ve lived in Pennsylvania throughout most of my childhood, what does PA have to offer me this time? Haven’t I seen it all and met them all? Or have I taken for granted this state I called home? G.K. Chesterton, one of the lesser known great writers of the early 20th century, once said - “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one’s own country as a foreign land.” Funny to think that what I see as ordinary may look like the next big adventure to someone else. So for the next few months, armed with my trusty nikon camera, I will step foot into my own backyard and see what I’ve been missing. If there is a road I’ve always been curious about, I’ll follow it. A plaque on a stature I’ve never read before, I’ll read it. Everyday as a new day here. So follow along each week as I post a new picture from my travels and rediscover Pennsylvania with me.