We're in for Some Chop

To plan and prepare for the conditions I will be facing while camping across the country in the middle of winter I set up weather and daylight hour widgets to correspond with each stop.

click for bigger version

So it looks chilly.  Little bit of snow in Utah and Arizona right now, but not cold enough to stay on the ground.

If you are curious, in the widgets on the bottom row, light blue is daylight, dark blue is night, and the medium blue is nautical twilight, when I hope to be doing quite a bit of shooting.

Map Posted

I have placed some links in the left column, including an evolving Google Map of the trip.  The current plan:

1. Death Valley, CA
2. Valley of Fire, NV
3. Zion National Park, UT
4. Petrified Forest, AZ
5. ??
6. Nashville, TN

The problem still remains that between Petrified Forest and Nashville, there isn't a lot of prime camping and photography territory.   So I'm thinking that I will spend more time at the first four stops and take the last legs in two long driving days.

Gear: Stuff I'll need, the current list

1. Storage and Transport for Camera Gear
2. Sleeping Bag & Tent
3. Thermals & Cold Weather Clothing
4. Trail Shoes
5. Sunglasses
6. Power Inverter
7. First Aid Kit
8. Cooking/Eating Tools
9. Food and Water Storage
10. Folding Chair
11. New Tires for the Subaru
    

I am sure I will find more things that I need, but that's the short list.

It's pricey, I just placed orders for some of this stuff, so if you are interested in helping out in exchange for a print of one of the (hopefully amazing) pictures from the trip, shoot me an email. It will be the first time I have been to any of these places so I can't promise the pic will be beautiful; however as an object, it will be meaningful.

The Plan

Even though the trip is only 3 weeks away (crap!) I don't have any solid plans other than this:

1. Leave on the 28th
2. ???
3. Arrive in Nashville on the 8th in time to get keys.

Places I would like to photograph along the way include Death Valley, Manzanar, King's Canyon/Sequoia, Devil's Postpile, Valley of Fire (Nevada State Park), The Grand Canyon, The Petrified Forest, Petroglyph National Monument, El Malpais, Carlsbad Caverns, Gila Cliff Dwellings, Zion National Park, Rainbow Bridge, Arches, The Golden Spike, Washita Battlefield (Custer's massacre of Black Kettle), Fort Donelson (in 1862, the first real victory by the Union), and Shiloh (Civil War Battlefield where in the first 20 minutes more Americans died than in all previous American wars combined).

I could spend a week or more at each of these sites, and I only have 10 Days to get across the country. Fortunately, some of these decisions are made for me: Devil's Postpile is closed for the season, The Golden Spike, Carlsbad, Gila and most Utah sites are too far out the way to make a go, and Sequoia will be covered in snow (beautiful, but impractical). On the flip side, Shiloh and Donelson are close enough to Nashville to go another time.

It's overwhelming to try and plan something like this, with only a handful of hours to photograph some of the most beautiful and important places in North America. My defense mechanism, of course, is to chuck the whole thing and just drive; it's too painful to be in these places and not take advantage of the opportunity.

But these 10 short days will be more than some people see in a lifetime.

Inaugural Post: Crap on a Stick, Look at the Gas Prices!

More about the trip to follow, but as I was filling up the Subaru today (the car that, if mechanically able, will be my Chariot across the country) I realized I am about to embark on the longest road trip of my life at a time when gasoline costs $3.50/Gallon here in Cali.

Dear Diary, I am an idiot...