About a month before the trip I finally switched to digital photography. I waited for a while to let the dust settle and the first generation cameras to go by. I then picked up a Nikon D-100 (sorry I didn't have 3+k for the nicer models) and a few new lenses to add to what Nikons I already had. You got to go wider to get the same shot with digital because of the 1.5x crop. Which means the my widest 28mm lens, which was fine for my film slr, was effective as a 42mm on the digital slr. Good for the tele side, bad for the wide-angle side. My nice Sigma 70-210 f2.8 is now good to 315mm on the D-100.

I played with it a little at the airport, panning and shooting stills and using the features, setting and the editing. No longer can a photographer not be very capable with a keyboard and mouse too. I was not sure what to expect and not real confident in the digital yet, so I took film shots in Florida as well just to be safe. I also had to back up the files so I had 2 sets of pic files on seperate media after the show. I now bring an ext. hard drive for the laptop, backup files to the HD and ship them in different bags. If I had a larger web server (and I could always get broadband traveling), I would upload the image files to the server for a backup.

Now I don't need a huge film bag, but I have to take other stuff, more electronics to make life easier once I'm there. So I crammed as much crap as I could in my photo bag, drug my laptop around and then packed a small bag for clothes and headed for SJC. Gotta connect in DFW, but that's just fine. After 3+ hours I am ready to get off and walk around. I actually ended up running in DFW because my connection (with the same airline) seemed to be miles away. If your gate number starts with a different letter you better start hiking. I came in at B16 or something and had to connect at D14, now that seems close, but it aint. I was one of the last ones on, but made it in time. Now all I have to do if find place to stuff my carry-ons...

The flights were good as far as boring flights go but it took all day to get there with the time change. I'm staying in Orlando, in a way too cheap place. You know that kind of place - looks ok when you're tired, then in the morning, you go outside and look around and hope your lousy rental car is still there.

Got in late, get up early, find some food at the local cafe, service was bad, the place was dirty, I almost walked out, but hey I'm hungry so I pound a few pancakes, a couple eggs, links and some oj and I'm gone.

Oh, remember when in Florida they have toll roads. Carry change. I got on the freeway and have a nice ride to the southwest (I think) to Polk City, it's 8:00 am or so when I get off the freeway and it's a very short ride to Fantasy of Flight. After parking in the wrong area, I found the front door. They were very friendly there, had a pass for me and showed me around. I headed out to the Tri-Motor first, some very nice Roush Mustangs surrounding the corrugated Ford Tri-Motor.

They started the Mustangs & Mustangs pics early and after that was done, I did the rounds and checked out all the cars. I was tired of lugging some photo gear around, so the guys and gals at Imperial Mustangs were kind enough to let me drop my bag in the room where they were doing the editing and printing for the show placques. I don't think I ate or drank anything till about 2pm. It was a busy morning. Had a nice lunch and some lemonade, then went back for another round of the cars, watched Kermit do a nice job flying the P-51C, looked at some of the museum aircraft and then the Mustangs started to file out one or two at a time in the late afternoon.

I walked back and forth all day taking different shots with different lighting. When I was using my flash for detail shots and the like, I have to turn my hat around to clear the flash head. Well, I forgot about it much of the day and ...

Later in the day is one of my favorite time to shoot when you can get a soft light with a little color to it. The longer shadows have to be watched or you will get in the shot. There are also less people to dodge for clear shots as the day gets long.

They were giving out the awards for the fantastic cars that were there and when that was over, most everyone started to pack it in. I hung around to get some parting shots of the nice rides in the late afternoon sun. Said my byes and headed back to Orlando. Got in the lousy rental car and noticed the white stripe on my red forehead (what a geek). Nice ride back with the windows down. I think it was Sunday, but I forget.

The next day I went to Kissimmee (which is very close to Orlando) and stopped by Stallion 51. I had lucky timing as Lee came around the corner and I introduced myself. He took me into the conference room, then Candace and Lee told me about the plans for the "Last Roundup" coming in June of 2006 in Reno, NV. He was getting ready to announce it at Sun 'n Fun in Lakeland later that week. I waited until the Friday he was hosting a forum at Sun 'n Fun and then posted the awesome news. Lee is a great guy and takes on everything he does very professionally. I got a nice tour of Stallion 51 and a look at the many P-51s in the hangar that day. Nice people there in Kissimmee.

My flight leaves at 5pm so I gotta get going. I drop off the lousy rental car and carry/drag my junk to check-in and I'm home by 11pm or so. Unpack only what I need the next day and get in bed. Traveling is fun but way too tiring. I was very busy with work at home so I couldn't allow a recouping day after the trip. Slowly I'll go through the 1200 shots or so in all my free time and ... I won't be any better prepared for next year.