These are the Google maps I created after the fact of the tour I completed last Fall. So as not to get them intermingled with the current year-long trip I figured it’d be best to assign them to their own page.  It might have been better visually to have it all on one map but the Google Mapping system only allows 25 waypoints on a map file. I suspect I could have photoshopped them all into one but for simplicity’s sake I’ve broken them up here into five segments. The point-to-point journey ran roughly 12,000 miles start to finish. But taking into consideration travel in and around parks and in local stop-overs, especially in Los Angeles, the distance tops off over 14,000 miles.

The trip started in mid-August from home in Reston, VA. The first stop, as has become my custom, was the Cemetery at the University of Virginia to spend time with Ruth. From there is was on to Elizabethtown, KY to spend a few days with my friend David Toczko. It was a productive stop because I not only got to shoot some with David – and gain the benefit of his knowledge – but I also accepted his offer to lend me his Canon EF 100-400mm  4.5 – 5.6  L IS USM lens. I was well equipped for wide and medium angle glass but had nothing in the long category. David’s generosity proved invaluable for both shots of wildlife one can’t or shouldn’t approach and for macro shots and for starbursts at f39. The lens is amazing and, as Canon L lenses go, not ungodly expensive. That lens also accounted for my favorite capture on the entire trip.

All I need do now is add a category of “Better Late Than Never” to the blog.