Road trip, Part 0.5

T-3 hours and counting

Packing is happening. Camera stuff is charged (modulo minor OQO issue, which I'll come on to) and in its cases ready to go. I am up, though not entirely ready myself yet (I'm a terrible bath robe lurker in mornings). As promised, I took a few photos of the packing progress:

Camera bags

These are my three camera bags. The closest is the huge Pelican case with the Cambo in it, then the Bronica gear, then at the far side it's the smaller Pelican case with the BetterLight system in it. The blank area of foam is usually where my laptop sits when I'm on location.

OQO

This is the OQO I use with the medium format system. Currently, I'm having problems with 2 of the 3 batteries I have for it -- the working battery is currently attached to the computer, and the two dead ones are on the table next to it. The one that's facing down shows the clip that Megavision add so you can clip the OQO either to the back or to the battery pack -- there is a narrow air gap between the clip's back plate and the battery, which I fear is probably acting as a thermal insulator, so I suspect that the two dead batteries bought it through overheating. I'll have to attempt to get OQO to replace them under warranty, but I somehow doubt I'll get very far with that. I'll mention it to Megavision, and suggest that in future they glue the clip directly to the battery pack so it will just conduct the heat rather than insulate it.

Clothes for packing

Clothes and other stuff ready to be packed once I manage to find my rucksack. Which is, apparently, definitely here, but just, er, somewhere.

Road trip, Part 1

We are go for launch

Hmm, that's a lot for one week

Sorry, couldn't resist it.

I finally set off at 2pm, about an hour behind schedule partly due to being overoptimistic and partly because of the mysterious disappearance of my nice big rucksack. Nevertheless, I did still manage to pack everything. Carrying it all down to the car (4 floors below) wasn't fun. Ground floor for me next time I move, I think. The trip was surprisingly simple. Turn right out of apartment building. Turn right onto Shoreline. Turn right onto 101. Drive for several hours. Turn right into Goleta. Turn right into motel.

Nevertheless, like the devout geek that I am, I still navigated by GPS. Of course, I like to get my driving environment nicely set up:

Going roughly clockwise, GPS, $10 bill (I'm in a drive-through queue waiting for lunch here), water bottle, iPod sitting in transmitter thingy, bag of emergency food, crate of water, map.

The trip was pretty uneventful. I arrived at the Super 8 motel ahead of schedule, plonked my bags down, phoned for delivery food, then curled up on the bed with my laptop and the free wifi. Yaay, free wifi.

Road Trip, Part 1.9

Cold feet

It's now about 11pm, Sunday night, in Goleta. Some of my plans seem a bit unravelly at the moment -- it appears that I40 has snow forecast for tomorrow and the day after around the Grand Canyon and further east. This is (was?) my intended route. I am currently seriously considering a change of plan and taking a more southerly, lower altitude route that would take me through Phoenix, AZ instead. Though it buggers up my chances of photographing the Grand Canyon, it's probably better to be alive. I've just arranged to stay over with friends in Phoenix, so it's all good. I don't need to be there until quite late, so I have time for a photo-stop along the way. The obvious place on the route is Joshua Tree National Park, but I'd already intended to go there at the end of the week, so I might go and take a look at the Salton Sea instead. Or something. We shall see.