Hwy. 7

The other weekend I joined a group of fellow photographers from CSNP for a gathering at the Fairview campground in the Ozark National Forest. It was quite stormy that Friday, as I counted the down the hours until I left work. I told a co-worker that I was going camping that night, and she pulled up the latest radar that showed a massive red blob of storms hovering over the Ozarks. She looked at me like I was crazy (nothing new there), especially when I said that at least the waterfalls would be flowing...

There wasn't any rain on the drive up there, but the tops of the mountains along Hwy. 7 were shrouded in a thick fog. I pulled over at the access to the Moccasin Gap for a few shots...


And a shot of a quiet stretch of Hwy. 7, and the hugely unpopular rumble strip that passes down the center line...


I made another stop at the Rotary Ann overlook along Hwy. 7, where the fog was breaking up along the distant ridges and hilltops.




I ended up taking a ton of pictures out at this spot, watching the clouds drift along through the valley. After using up way too much of the memory card, I decided to head back to the car. As I was putting the tripod in the back of the car, I turned around just in time to see the sun break through the clouds and fog. The valley was illuminated in a beautiful light, seeming to spread out across the entire view. I ran and tried to set everything back up, but of course, got there too late.


Oh well. After that I made the short drive north to join the rest of the gang at Fairview.