VISUAL STORYTELLER

I wake up this morning to see that a thick blanket of snow has covered the city. Beautiful. Then I open my door and a small avalanche hits me in the head ❄️ (at Near North Side, Chicago)

Figure if there was ever a time to let my beard get out of control, now’s a perfect time. - - - - - - - - - - - - #beard #selfie #trucker #trucking #overtheroad #beardlife (at Chicago, Illinois)

• Threading An 80,000 Needle • Now that the snow globe, with flakes fat and heavy as marshmallows is behind us, traffic gets a little bolder. As I'm finally getting Greta into 10th gear for the first time today, my GPS says it's ok to go seventy. I laugh. Greta is fully loaded at 45,000 pounds, and my memories of slush and ice thickly slathered across the road, like a thousand pounds of frozen latte, are only a few minutes old. We won't be venturing anywhere near the speed limit today.  After the hours of driving in slow-mo, 55 feels like we're flying. My GPS squawks that I need to exit in a half mile. I'm about to check my mirrors when I get a warning there’s an accident up ahead. How many is that? I've lost track. I shoot a glance at the screen to see how far up the road ... but something’s already happening. All the cars in my lane swerve wildly to the right, revealing a black car lying like a wounded animal in the middle of the highway. As Greta and I barrel down on her, adrenaline kicks my mental processing into high gear and time slows to a crawl, so I can do the math: What are my options? Option 1 ... Follow the herd and swerve to the right ...  Nope. I’m flanked on that side. Option 2 ... Hit the brakes, hard ... Not enough time. I’ll still T-bone the car. Option 3 ... Swerve left! ... Is there anyone to my left? Not sure, but I don’t think so. If I take time to look, it’ll be too late.  Gonna hafta risk it.  Let’s go with C ... Oh, and remember to pump the brakes, then turn. Don’t do it at the same time or you’ll lose control. Ok. Here we go.  Pump pump, turn. Pump pump, turn Ok! We made it into the left lane. We’re going to miss the car! Woo hoo! But ... what's that white car ... it's stopped in the middle of the lane! 100 feet and closing fast!   What are my options... — Instagram limits the length of posts. To read the rest of this article, visit my blog: https://www.kasperkavalaris.com/blog/2018/1/13/threading-an-80000-lb-needle - - - - - - - - - #trucking #blizzard #trucklife #internationaltrucks #travel #adventure #artist #writer #blog #hashtag #writing #travel #vagabond #vagabonding #art (at Memphis, Tennessee)

Woke up at 5 AM in Iowa. It’s 10:30 PM here in Pennsylvania. Ate a quick dinner so I could have some time to work on the storyboards before I crash in the bunk. Tomorrow it’s a small town near Buffalo NY, then from there to Memphis. I wake up and have to work to remember what state I’m in, and what season it is outside. I love it. - - - - - - - - - - - #storyboard #artist #filmmaker #trucker #otr #storyboards #screenplay #screenwriting #adventurer #adventure #america #americana #pennsylvania #newyork #memphis #truckinglife (at Pennsylvania)

I feel an REM song coming on. (at Savannah, Tennessee)

When traffic is at a dead stop for over an hour, I use the time to get some work done on my most recent screenplay. ——————————————————————- ——————————————————————- ——————————————————————- ——————————————————————- ——————————————————————- #screenwriting #filmmaking #writing #writeeveryday #art #freetime #trucking #trucker #otr (at Savannah, Tennessee)

Ice storm in Georgia. Last night I pulled off the highway, heading for the truck stop, only to find parked trucks lining both sides of this road. I knew that meant I wouldn’t find a spot in the truck stop. I just pulled over to the side, put my blinkers on, and got into my bunk. (at City of Savannah)

Getting in touch with my inner Viking — @sheabaker7 always takes the most interesting pictures of me ❤️ (at Duluth, Georgia)

Got to spend #nye with my cousins in Atlanta. Always positive vibes with @sheabaker7 and @jasondavidbaker What a great way to ring in the new year! (at Pilot Travel Center)

I love when I sit down to eat at a restaurant and the tablecloth is paper. A beautiful little angel asked me to draw either a moose or a giraffe. I chose giraffe. - #2017 was the most challenging year of my life by far. I can’t say it was the worst, because aside from the fact that there were a lot of amazing times, I also know that the challenges I encountered would have destroyed a younger version of myself. To me, that’s an empowering affirmation. I’m up to the challenge. - “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.  I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.” - Mother Teresa (officially sainted this year) - - - - - - - - - (at The Crossing Steakhouse)

I love when I sit down to eat at a restaurant and the tablecloth is paper. A beautiful little angel asked me to draw either a moose or a giraffe. I chose giraffe. #2017 was the most challenging year of my life by far. I can’t say it was the worst, because there were a lot of amazing times. Bi more importantly, I know that the challenges I faced would have destroyed a younger version of myself. To me, that’s an empowering affirmation. I’m up to the challenge. “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle.  I just wish that He didn’t trust me so much.”  #quote Mother Teresa (officially sainted this year) - - - - - - - - #nye #nye2017 #challengeaccepted #motherteresa #saintmotherteresa #giraffe #tableclothart #drawing #ballpointpen #ballpointpenart #penart #art #artist #draweveryday #draweverydamnday (at The Crossing Steakhouse)

Look at this little angel. I feel lucky that I have the chance to spend time with my cousins for New Years. (at Duluth, Georgia)

Character sketch of a creepy old dude for a short film project I’m storyboarding. - - - - - - - - - - - #shortfilm #film #storyboards #storyboard #drawing #sketch #sketching #art #artist #storyboardartist #filmmaking #filmmaker #filmmakers #ballpointpen #ballpoint #penart #pen #characterdesign #independentfilm (at winnie I-10)

The California morning air is crisp at elevation 4000. I found a place to stop at the top of the mountain pass. One side is California, the other side is Arizona. If you look close you can see the windmills on the ridge in the distance. There are hundreds of them all around. At night they have lights that all blink in unison, like a massive field of alien sunflowers. Greta is anxious to go but I have to wait for my logbook to reset. We’ll be in Tucson for Christmas. - - - - - - - - - - - #trucking #otr #truckinglife #adventure #adventurer #adventurelife #roadtrip #usa #california #arizona #internationaltrucks #jacumba #sunrise #mountains #goodmorning #beautifulday (at Jacumba Mountains)

Good morning Big Springs! Doing a little #storyboard work for a friend’s #film project before heading out on the road. ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________ #trucking #otr #texas #internationaltrucks #drawing #moleskine #sketchbok #draw #sketch #ballpointpen #art #ballpointpenart #bic #adventurelife #storyboardartist #storyboards (at City of Big Spring)

Today is the first week driving solo, and since I always named my motorcycles, I had to name the vehicle I’ll be basically living in for the next year. So I was walking up to the grocery store and the name ‘Greta’ came to me. I looked it up and found that it’s Swedish for “Pearl.” Then, when I was checking out, I noticed my cashier’s name-tag. Guess what her name was? (at Columbus, Mississippi)

at Division station