Well, I am about 5 days away (one work week) away from leaving the Chicago area and traveling west via parts of Route 66. God, how I want to leave tomorrow morning. I am so full of anxiety and wanting to see new things out west. I have gotten most of the photo, computer, video items I will need together.  From a fairly inexpensive Sony “Bloggie” HD flip cam to a nice Manfrotto tripod and head to a few polarizing lens filters. I even went the extra mile and bought two high candle power flashlights to light up my subjects at night. Also, I will try my hand at “light painting” technique of photography where the subject and scene is lit up with a mobile light source (i.e. flashlight) and the light is shined through theatrical gels to give the scene different shades of color.