The Stop Sign – John Fraim – Ft. Collins, Colorado – 10/19/26

The Backward Step

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The Symbolic Content of an Image

Do We Recognize A “Sign” In Life When We See It?

John Fraim

We drove from Columbus, Ohio to our home in Ft. Collins, Colorado in three days. Averaging 450 miles a day on I-70, it was a tough drive. Sections of the interstate merged into just one lane and there was construction for long stretches in various states. The radio helped pass the time but it was full of political attack ads a few weeks before the midterm elections. As usual, I had to take a few of those littler energizer bottles (sold at all the service stations) to keep awake on the long stretches of road. I’d watch myself getting closer to that car about a mile ahead and this activity was a good occupier of time.

The final day of travel took us from Sedina, Kansas into Ft. Collins, Colorado. It was a tough drive after a few days on the road at 450 miles a day. Not much for truckers but a lot for me and my wife. Finally, we passed the Colorado state line and are happy to be in Colorado. as it is a major milestone on our trip. But much of eastern Colorado is not much different from Kansas Prairies drifting far off into the horizon on both sides. A small town or restaurant of I-71. But little mote. In a few hours, we went over a large peak in the interstate and saw the Rockies for the first time off in the distance.

All, driving west on I-71 experience this spellbinding view of nature. The Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Denver in the middle of the scene maybe fifty miles away. It is around noon in late October. And we are still a number of hours from Ft. Collins. Still, the Colorado prairie on both sides with the splotch of developments here and there on both sides of the road. The West of the Tecova Boots brand.

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Finally, into Denver and the 470 bypass to I-25 North towards Ft. Collins. And then, heading North on I-25: the final leg of the trip from Ohio. I’ve been driving a couple hours since the energy at the place in Colorado. I’m having a form of anxiety attack from all the energy drinks I’ve probably OD’d on. But there was also the experience of driving across the country. Staying in lanes. Watching for cars to come up onto you when you are in the fast lane. Very close lanes in cities where new roads are being constructed. Not much distance between you and big trucks on the road. Close to a state of hypnosis when you spend all day concentrating on the road ahead. (It would be interesting to look up any research on the mental state of long distance drivers).

Driving up I-25, the final miles of our 1,200 car trip to Ft. Collins from Columbus, Ohio. The effect of the energy drinks I’ve taken – those innocent looking tiny little 2 oz bottles – are having major effects on me. Maybe it’s the change in altitude of Denver and all that. But I’m sure it is something in the energy drink that should be investigated by the FDA.

The last few miles into Ft. Collins were tough I was having a hard time controlling myself with all the energy drinks. Everything was racing ahead and not too interested in focusing on the present. I pulled off the exit for our home and headed for it just a few miles away. I am having a mile anxiety attack with the energy drinks I’ve had. They don’t mix well with my anxiety symptoms. Energy drinks never do. It’s like combining combustible materials together.

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We’re close to home. But I am not feeling good. The energy drinks I tossed down at the service stations on I-71 are like shots at some whiskey bar. Tossed down with strong coffee. Tossed down like they are harmless. But nothing “tossed down” is harmless.

The arrival at our home was around three in the afternoon. Our kids came up to meet up which was great. But I told everyone I had to lie down for awhile after the drive. My stepdaughter gave me a hydrating pill for water and I drank it in a glass of water and went into the bedroom to lay down.

Welcome to your new home in Colorado. I was breathing fast from the last few hours on the road. What a way to arrive. I slept a few hours. I was extremely tired. I woke up around nine the first night we got into our home. I had been sleeping for a few hours since we arrived. Our children had welcomed us in this time and put me to bed,

That first night back in Colorado at our home after the three months since the hot summer. I woke up maybe around ten. Everyone had come and one and my wife apparently gone to bed. The house dark. I Got my camera and went out on the front porch of our new house to get a time exposure of the Stop sign right in front of my home. How often does this happen. That one has a stop sign in front of one’s home?

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Played around with some time exposures and selected the above. Around nine at night, I capture traffic on the above road on my photos. Like a multi-colored neon sword in ways. The streak of traffic lights hitting the Stop sign in front of my office window in my final photo. Merging in some way. The Stop sign and the traffic streak from the above community out here in the nether part of Ft. Collins, Colorado.

The photo was taken from the porch of my home the night of the dramatic arrival in Ft. Collins. The stop sign is at the end of our street and under a street light that fills in for a full moon. Behind the scene are fields and above the fields a road. A car moves by on the road forming a horizontal line with the five second exposure.

I was testing out night photography and fooling around with difference exposure times. The above image with the stop sign and street light was a five second exposure with my Sony. Reflecting on this photo now, there might be a reason I have a home near a sign that says STOP. behind seems a metaphor for the end of the long car trip.

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I’ve been interested in symbolism – researching, studying, publishing, speaking about it for most of my life. It’s mixed into my other life as career. Like, I suspect many today.

The symbol of a STOP sign in front of my home suggested I need to stop the onslaught on all of this anxiety in my life. This moving ahead, rushing ahead, into the future without any reflection on one’s current life.

Yet, seldom have I experienced a situation where I was placed in contact with a particular fixed image like the stop sign in front of my office window after a rushing nightmare of a trip to Ft. Collins from Ohio. than seemed to have a message to me. In just four letters: the word STOP. Certainly some type of message it seemed to me after all the stuff I’d been through the past few days on our trip from Ohio to Colorado

In effect, slowdown from rushing ahead into a future that is not good for anyone today. Including all members of the Republican and Democrat Parties. The application to midterm DSA candidates.

A sign for me to slow down. But also my generation? Reflect on the past. Remember.

into the symbolism of what I believe in.

ymbolism seemed to be studying me. Or at least turning the tables on things.