Final Leg

2012-03-09
Today was a pretty epic day. First, I got a ton of support and congratulations from fellow employees all across campus after they saw the story about my first four years of the One/Day Project on our staff/faculty news site - http://today.ucla.edu/portal/ut/after-hours-a-photo-a-day-for-230169.aspx. I'm feeling the love, and it's very appreciated. Second, I went out for drinks with some coworkers after work and had a great time. Thirdly, and most epic of all, my wife and I saw the LACMA rock on it's final night. We caught up with it around Figueroa/Adams shortly after 11pm. After it rounded the turn it had to stop for adjustments. That's when I grabbed this stationary shot. Have you heard about this? It's so awesome. As part of his piece called Levitated Mass, artist Michael Heizer needed a big rock. He found a giant boulder in a quarry in Riverside that he liked. The damn thing weighs 340 tons, and over the past 11 days it's been traveling 105 miles across Southern California towards the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A company called Emmert International built this transporter just for the rock, which is 200 feet long with 176 wheels to distribute the ridiculous weight. In addition to the huge truck you see here, there were two more trucks linked behind, pushing. There was a whole entourage, with lots of police clearing the road ahead as it cruised along at 3-5 mph. The transportation cost is about $10m and is paid for by private donors. It will reach the museum sometime early Saturday morning. Update: it reached LACMA at 4:30 am! Glad we didn't stay up for that. You should seriously check out the LA Times for more photos of this, it's crazy. [last year]

adamsblvdboulevardemertinternationallacmaloadlos angelesmovemuseumnightoversizeroadrocktowertransporttruckwheelnikon d802012finalleg