Phaeton Journeys Goes on Hiatus

Saturday, 29 August 2015
Advanced RV Resort — Houston, Texas
Temps: HI 91F (33C) / Lo 72F (22C)

It’s time for us to go gallivanting overseas again.

The big-city shopping that I mentioned as a reason why we returned to Houston early is completed.  Our bags are packed and zipped; passports tucked securely into our wallets.  The car service that will take us to the hotel for our overnight stay is booked.  One airline check-in is completed; the overseas haul will be done this evening.  And the Phaeton is all but ready to go into storage later today — Mui’s winterizing our home on wheels even as I write this quickie post to put Phaeton Journeys to rest for a while.

If you’re curious about where our overseas travels will take us this time, hop on over to Two to Travel.  I’ll probably be too busy to write much — exploring new-to-me places in Italy and elsewhere and visiting family in Turkey will keep me plenty busy.  But there will most likely be some “post”cards to keep you abreast of what we’re up to until we return to the US in mid-November.

See you when we get back!

© 2004-2015 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.

Back in Texas

Thursday, 27 August 2015
Advanced RV Resort — Houston, Texas
Temps: Hi 89F (32C) / Lo 78F (26C)

We’re back in Texas again … have been since we left San Patricio, New Mexico on the 10th, but not all of that time was here in Houston.  And none of it was at our home pad in Port Aransas.

We would have stayed longer at our quiet spot in San Patricio, where it was comparatively cooler, but a couple of reasons played into our decision to return to Texas where it is still broiling … although the temps have moderated a bit these past few days.  First reason: to catch up with friends; and second: to be near big city shopping before we set off on our fall trip to Europe.

Inn of the Mountain Gods … X-T10 Testing: Landscape & More

Tuesday, 4 August 2015
Deer Crossing RV Park — San Patricio, New Mexico
Temps: Hi 93F (34C) / Lo 63F (17C)

We would have gone out yesterday to continue our sightseeing with a purpose — the purpose being to continue to test the FujiFilm X-T10 I am considering as a replacement for my DSLR kit.  But there was a more important matter that Mui wanted to resolve — resetting the TireTraker system … safety comes before fun.  Since replacing the sensor batteries, the monitor was refusing to clear alerts.  Determining that the monitor was faulty, TireTraker replaced it … to no avail.  So troubleshooting the problem with the help of a tech support agent was scheduled for yesterday.

I am happy to report the system is functional again.  While we don’t rely entirely on TireTraker for monitoring the tires, it does give us a little more peace of mind and we’re happy that it is working once again.

Postcard from Lake Mescalero.

[The postcard above and the scanned image below are the only ones in this post not taken with the X-T10.]

So we drove to the Inn of the Mountain Gods Resort & Casino (Inn) today instead.  We had more blue skies today than yesterday, so the delay worked out to my advantage ;-)

X-T10 … Testing Continues: Wildlife … Kinda

Saturday, 1 August 2015
Deer Crossing RV Park — San Patricio, New Mexico
Temps: Hi 86F (30C) / Lo 64F (18C)

As most of you know, I am a mixed-subject photographer … landscape, cityscape, art, museum exhibits, wildlife, and more.  I’ve petty much decided I like the results the Fuji X-T10 gave me for museum photos, so I have moved on to more testing in other fields.

Wildlife photography usually requires a long lens.  Equally important — or perhaps even more so — is the speed of the camera/lens combo.  A DSLR is perfect for wildlife photography — especially when animals are in motion.  How will the X-T10 perform was the question on my mind?

Today I attached the 55-200mm lens and went out to find out … my models were the black-chinned hummingbirds that visit our neighbors’ site and some horses on the other side of the fence at Deer Crossing.  The sky clouded over with storm clouds by the time I got around to the horses, but I wasn’t testing color, so it didn’t matter that the light wasn’t great for today’s testing purposes.

Photobombed!

Overall, I am pleased with the results — especially considering this was a first-effort to photograph animals.  The hummers were buzzing about, and the horses were a-twitching, trying to get some relief from the swarming black flies.  I have a sense now of what kind of results I can get with the X-T10 when I’m around wildlife … and even improve upon them as I become more familiar with this new camera system.

© 2004-2015 Two to Travel's Phaeton Journeys.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.

Hubbard Museum of the American West

Thursday, 30 July 2015
Deer Crossing RV Park — San Patricio, New Mexico
Temps: Hi 84F (29C) / Lo 62F (17C)

We’ve been planning to visit the Hubbard Museum of the American West since arriving here.  But we were waiting to do it on a really hot or rainy day.  We had such days in recent weeks, however, we decided to delay our visit until after my new camera arrived.  That happened on Monday; the museum is closed Tuesday and Wednesday … bringing us to today!

You see, traveling overseas with DSLR equipment is getting to be more of a pain in the you know what than it used to be.  Not only is the weight of the camera and the lenses an issue while wandering around to see the sights, but it’s also a problem on airlines, which are paying closer attention than ever to the weight of carry-on bags.  We almost got into trouble on the way back from New Zealand when the flight out of Auckland had a carry-on restriction of 22 pounds (10 kg).  My equipment far exceeds that!  Crazy, I know ;-)  Mui got us through by hefting the bag like it was empty and the agent believed him without weighing the bag.  Had he asked us to put the bag on the scale, my goose would have been cooked to a crisp!

Anyway, with Mui’s encouragement, I recently started looking at alternatives to my Canon DSLR.  Don’t get me wrong, no camera can match what a DSLR can do, but considering my photos are mostly for publication in the blog, and I do little more than look at them on occasion in my online galleries, we figured I could find a reasonable alternative.  And I think I have.

Anne Stradling — a lifelong collector
Blaze — Trail … Alfred G Haigh (1920)

All this to say that the photos in this post were taken with the FujiFilm X-T10, a recent — like May 2015 recent — entrant into the mirrorless camera market.  Its newness not withstanding, there are already very happy users out there and I am leaning towards being one of them even though my “testing phase” still has a few weeks to go before I have to make a final decision — thanks to B&H’s 30-day return policy.

OK — so let’s move on to our morning at the museum and the pictures I took.