I Was Here

So, like I said, we painted a fishing tournament in Anchorage.  

The small palette knife, seen to the left of my palette, between the scraper and the kitchen tool, was lost immediately after this photo.  I'm guessing I dropped it in the mud and stepped on it over and over until it was thoroughly buried.  I had a spare, so no need to search for it on my behalf.  But it got me thinking...

What else did I leave behind?  What was the footprint of our adventure?  For a laugh, here's a list of just a few of the artifacts and impressions we left in our wake:

1. At least four paintbrushes...they're easy to lose if dropped in the brush
2. Way too much paper towel crammed into plastic bags crammed into gas station trashcans
3. A dollar on the wall of the Salty Dawg
4. At least a dozen bare chicken legs along the Stewart-Cassiar Highway
5. Some ink on some highway signs
6. A painting of a bathhouse in a bathhouse
7. The impression in Jasper, Alberta, that folks from Indiana are wild and dangerous
8. A pool of linseed oil at the Lower Yellowstone Falls lookout
9. $4.73 in a Canadian gas station that took American, so long as they didn't have to give you change
10. An accidental political statement in Idaho
11. A pair of very stiff pants somewhere in the Yukon Territory
12. Five pizza pretzels to the grey fox of Dease Lake
13. Laughter and background noise on a promotional video in a simulated Holy Land
14. A pool of linseed oil at Lake Louise
15. At least a dozen bottle caps on Canadian campsite posts 
16. An engine fan belt
17. A lidless plastic container of fry sauce, upside down, on the carpet of The Viking
18. Four pairs of socks in seemingly random locations
19. A bad impression on every customs agent we interacted with
20. A bad impression on a ranger at Glacier National Park
21. A good impression on every Asian tourist we interacted with
22. An accidental smudge of cobalt violet on a silver corvette 
23. $1.25 in a gas station casino
24. Tall tales for anyone listening in a Montana KOA hot tub
25. Maps of Wyoming and Nebraska, somewhere between Wyoming and Nebraska
26. My breath, on a trail that looked much shorter from above
27. A pool of linseed oil at Makah Marina
28. An unpaid camping fee at a sketchy trailer park in Cheyenne
29. At least 100 "burst setting" photos of a nice German family and my feet
30. A toenail on a very small fir tree
31. A pocket knife in the cushion of a Mexican Restaurant in Washington
32. A fake name on everything I had to sign
33. Two rounds of high fives with a group of youngins in Wyoming
34. A painting of the Pacific Ocean in an empty cooler at Ruby Beach 
35. A sarcastic response to everyone that asked, "What're you painting?"
36. A sarcastic response to everyone that asked, "Do you do this for a living?"
37. Zero business cards

They won't be establishing a Rudolech and LeGrand National Historic Trail any time soon, but I think we left a mark on more than our canvas.  Watch out for those unicorns!