Preparing For An Upcoming Road Trip, Part VI; Do You Have A Plan B?

From my last road trip to Yellowstone National Park. LeHardy's Rapids on the Yellowstone River. (click to enlarge)
Nikon D800E, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens @ 130mm; 1/2 sec. @ f/11; ISO 100

I've been writing a series of posts about my photographic preparation for my wife's and my upcoming extended road trip.  You may want to look at the entire series for continuity.  You can read Parts I-V here, here, here, here and here.

For some background, when I travel, if at all possible I travel with very little or no specific agenda.  This mindset greatly reduces stress and allows almost unlimited flexibility.  The only time I make reservations is when we are going to a national park or tourist area and we expect things to be very crowded.  Each day, we end up wherever we end up.  It might be 10 miles from the night before and it might be 500 miles.  We decide the night before where we will go the next day.  As the day comes towards its end, about  5 or 6 p.m., I figure where we will want to stay for the night, get out my smart phone and call a hotel of my choice.  I always call the front desk and not the toll free corporate number.  I always ask what discounts are available and almost always find one.  In all my travels, I have never not been able to find a nice room in a quality hotel.  Stress free traveling.  Now, onto the main post.

As the time for our extended road trip to the western United States draws near, I've been monitoring the weather and atmospheric conditions from Montana to New Mexico.  I've been especially monitoring the hundreds of wildfires that are fiercely burning throughout the western United States.  This is a phenomenon that occurs each year at this time, but the experts say, due to climate change, the wildfire season has become extended.  

When looking at live web-based cameras in Montana, Yellowstone, the Tetons, Colorado, etc., current photographs from places we are thinking about visiting as well as reading National Park Service, EPA and other data, it is apparent that in many place in the west, the atmosphere is hazy, blue and smoky.  In fact, the western half of Glacier National Park, including the western half of Going To The Sun Road, is closed due to a huge wildfire.  Glacier is one of the places I had in my mind of places to visit.

The question for me and for you as a traveler is, when weather, natural disasters, man-made disasters, or other things occur that may make your visit less than ideal, do you want to keep your original plan or is there a Plan B or alternative that you can invoke?  Do you want to spend your limited time and money in places that are not conducive to photography?  For example, I have no desire to spend my time and money in areas where the atmosphere is hazy with smoke.  Been there, done that last time I was to the Tetons.  Nor would I want to spend many days breathing in smoky air.  

What about a Plan B for your gear?  What if your camera fails just before you leave?  What if it fails during the trip?  Do you know how you will handle those scenarios?  You may have a backup camera but what if you drop that primary lens that you keep on the camera?  What is your plan to be able to continue with your photography?  Phone?  I would hope not.  What if your camera's battery charger fails?  Little things like this can easily happen.

I think a Plan B is a must for any traveler.  Many things out of your control can happen and I think contingency plans are a necessary part of the smart traveler's preparation.

In my case, I'm closely monitoring the conditions in the states and places I was thinking about visiting.  If, withing a few days of leaving, the conditions have not improved, I'll invoke a Plan B to travel elsewhere.  I have now fully devised my Plan B.  My Plan B won't be to Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Parks or places in that general geographic area.  Plan B will take us on a more southerly route, a route that keeps us south of Central Colorado rather than north of Central Colorado, where the atmosphere and weather is much more conducive to fall foliage photography in the Rocky Mountains..  

I can't control the weather, wild fires, Mother Nature or other variables.  I can control where I go and what I do.  When something occurs that is out of my control, I just need to reset my plans, find other places of keen interest, then change my mindset and plan to enjoy!

Join me over at Instagram @dennisamook or my website, www.dennismook.com. 

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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