Saturday, September 19, 2026

The Ultra-Wide and Slim travels



Back in August, I drove a 15ft U-Haul truck from Tucson, AZ back to Asheville, NC.  I've already posted on the trip here. Before the trip, I had mailed my film and my RETO Ultra-wide and Slim to my daughter in Tucson.  I hadn't used the UW&S for quite a while, and figured that it would be a fun thing to have with me for the trip back, in addition to my Pentax Spotmatic F and my digital Panasonic GF-1.  It had been several years since I used the RETO camera, and I did review it in 2022.

I put in a roll of expired Agfa APX 400 that my daughter had in her film stash, because I wanted a shorter roll in the UW&S. A 24-exposure roll is recommended for this camera.  It didn't matter if the film was expired - this is all for fun, and toy cameras are perfect for old higher-ISO films.  I didn't start shooting with it until our second day on the road, when I loaded it up in Grants, NM, where we had spent our first night.  

Since the camera has such a wide-angle of view, it's basically just aim and shoot, which I could do one-handed while driving the truck.  But that camera was the one I pulled out when we were refilling at gas stations and pit stops from New Mexico to Tennessee. We were on I-40 most of the way, with the occasional stretch of old Route 66. I think I made the most of my limited photographic opportunities.


Here is a sequence from the trip.

Filling up just E of Grants, NM in the morning of 8/25.

Traffic jam on I-40 in Albuquerque, thanks to a 4-car collision ahead.


At a rest stop E of Albuquerque

NM has some really interesting-looking rest areas.

I bought some souvenirs here in Tucumcari, NM

A little park to stop at and eat our our take-out lunch from Del's in Tucumcari.

A quick partial fill-up in Adrian, TX. 

A fill-up at Buc-ee's in Amarillo, TX. This must have been built since we were there in 2021.

A rest-area in Oklahoma

Oklahoma. It was damned hot AND humid there.

Arkansas

Major Tom, Weatherford, OK  and out-of sequence.

Somewhere in Tennessee. It was a long last day on the road.

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