For the something blue, Jaclyn had custom shoes made that said I DO behind her 4″ heals.

Love both of you, so glad to see this day come, even with all the bumps along the way, it will be one to remember always.

This was the first thing I saw waking up, I knew it was going to be an amazing day.

After some breakfast we hopped in cars for the hour plus drive up near the New York State border for Rally America!  We headed into town before the race where all the cars and drivers were just hanging out.

Ken Block’s car:

Travis Pastrana’s car:

Ken Block’s rear bumper didn’t stay on too long.

Brian Deegan

Dave Mirra

After the fanfare we started off to the spectator spot at stage 4.  The cars all drive through town, I don’t know how they are street legal but they drive.  We followed this Subaru for nearly 10 miles.  Note it has no rear bumper, by the end of the day there wasn’t one straight body panel left.

After a short drive and 25 minute walk into the woods, we sat around a bug infested little stream at Stage 4 for the drivers to come in.  Ken Block started in 1st and came into the fourth stage in the same spot.

Travis was pretty close behind…

A few more choice shots from this vantage point.

Remember the Subaru from earlier in the day with no rear bumper, I said it wouldn’t have a single straight panel on it by the end of the race?  Apparently they also offer grass cutting in addition to rally racing.

A bunch of other cars passed, we hiked out of the woods back to the car then drove to where Stage 9 & 14 were going to be.  After a good half hour walk into the woods, we again played the waiting game.  The cars were more than an hour and 20 minutes behind so it was a boring 3 hours, good thing these dudes were there keeping everyone entertained.

After all the waiting, Ken Block was still in first place, coming in hot.

Travis Pastrana still holding down second, not sure why he wasn’t ahead though, this guy clearly knows that the gas pedal is on the right.

Going off how far they were behind, we chose not to wait another 2-3 hours to see them run the 14th Stage in the other direction.  We bolted, head to the fairgrounds only to find that they wouldn’t make it there, the last stage, for at least 2, more like 3 hours so visited all the sponsor tents and went back to the house to get the grill fired up.

Before the grill even got turned on, the shotguns came out, didn’t want to waste any daylight grilling when we could be shooting shit.

It was pitch black by the time the meat hit the grill and I was too tired from lugging around camera gear to take photos.  Trust me when I say that over a 3 days period I gained nearly 5 pounds, we all ate very well.  Look for more photos coming soon on xcrament.com and metalj.tumblr.com.

Here is all 270 photos shot Saturday from start to finish.

 

First time taking a bus to the city, I usually drive. Wasn’t so bad I guess.

Apparently, even if you put on a private party, you need a flyer to promote it.

And on with the party pictures. This was seriously the must nuts house party I’ve ever been to. Barely any room to move, hot as hell and the floor was moving a good two inches vertically from people jumping.

 

Home around 4.30am, bed by 5.30am just as the sun was coming up, awake around 1pm. Motley looking crew in the morning.

Leave a camera lying around with a wide angle lens for too long and Emery’s bound to pick it up and start snapping photos.

After some discussion and clean-up time, we decide to head to a Peruvian joint that is supposed to have the most amazing roasted chicken. Turns out, it’s true. If you are in Brooklyn, hit up Luz.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who were starting our day late. Luz didn’t open up till 3pm, Andy wasn’t happy.

30 minutes later they open up and Andy is once again happy, drinking something that resembles slime.  He swears it tasted good though.

Pretty table thing things.

Random balls hanging from the ceiling.

You know it’s summer in the hood when someone cracks open a fire hydrant.

Food was great, but we had to bust out and leave Brooklyn, bound once again for PA.  Can you imagine how long it took to tile the Holland Tunnel?

Thank you Mune for the invite and hospitality, shout-out to all the amazing people I was introduced to and met, and everyone who was celebrating a birthday!

We had heard that there was a Belgian waffle place not far from where we were so we hit that up.  I’m always a bit leery of ordering espresso at new places, but seeing a pair of quality grinders and a for serious espresso machine, I figured it couldn’t be that bad.  I was wrong.  I ordered a double espresso, I didn’t see the chick behind the counter dose from the grinders, so I’m thinking it was pre-ground, but who does that?  I also saw her grab a latte cup, not an espresso cup, even though there were two dozen of them on top of the machine.  Who pulls a double espresso into a latte cup?  It was slightly bitter and the cup wasn’t pre-warmed, so the espresso turned cold about twice as fast as it should have.  This is how it was served to me.

Mune ordered a regular coffee and I also got an Orange Pellegrino, something I usually wouldn’t get but was somehow in the mood. At least Mune seemed to enjoy her drink.

I ordered an egg, cheese and bacon panini sandwich which came on a waffle, I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was, never having a sandwich on a waffle before.

Mune forced me to share waffles and ice cream with her.  Something about it being a sin to be in a waffle place and not order it.  We got butterscotch ice cream with a dark chocolate sauce over a pecan waffle.

Look how happy she is!

YUM!

We decided to do a short lap around the downtown Bethlehem area, feeling guilty about what we just ate.  This gave me a chance to do some street photography and shoot some stock stuff as well.

While walking around we saw a new second hand shop.  Oddly enough, their window display showcases a t-shirt from a South Side Bethlehem skateshop owned by our friend Andy, Homebase.  After all, Homebase is where the heart is!

The following shots of the peeling brick wall I had spotted a few days earlier but did not have my camera with me.  The texture really drew me in and I wanted to show the punch colors off in post processing.  I’ve also started to really appreciate a good vignette on a photo, so added a thick one in around the shots.

It felt good to walk around and just take photos, even if it was a bit muggy outside.  Hopefully I can continue to do this on a more regular basis.  Thanks to Mune for spending the afternoon with me, great company and even better model!