Best Laid Plans of Mice & Men: Start of a Twelve-Month Photo Trip in the United States
Text and images copyright George McCarthy, all rights reserved
Introduction by Heather Forcier

INTRODUCTION
United Kingdom photographer George McCarthy had the idea years ago to take an extended photo trip through the United States, and the idea never really went away. A pro wildlife and nature photographer since 1986, George travels frequently but to date had not taken on an endeavour of such magnitude. The twelve-month trip was planned out during 2004 and the dream turned into a reality in January of 2005 when George and his wife, Angie, departed for their great adventure.

ARRIVAL
Following a superb flight, at around 5pm on January 19 we touched down in the winter sunshine of Miami - the first leg in our trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, two of our suitcases did not arrive with us. They remained, along with the cases of several other passengers, on the tarmac at London’s Heathrow airport.

The airline staff reassured us and indicated that the suitcases would be placed on the first UK to Miami flight the next day, to be delivered directly to where we were staying. However, we did not have a USA address as we had arranged for a Winnebago RV which we were due to collect in Tampa the following day. This caused some consternation amongst the staff and we were eventually referred to the senior manager on duty. His advice was to stay in a Miami hotel overnight and come back to the airport the following day.

We did so, but once again our cases failed to arrive. Nobody could explain why but the airline staff was confident our belongings would arrive the following day, especially as there were two UK flights on Thursday. Angie and I did not share their confidence, and unfortunately, were proved right. In total we had to spend three nights in Miami hotels and wasted three days at the airport until our cases finally turned up. We did receive compensation from the airline in the form of $300 in cash and peanuts, with hotels and meals paid for, but this did little to mitigate our frustration.

A NEW HOME
As a consequence, we arrived at our RV dealers in Tampa late on Saturday to find that our salesman would not be in until Monday, so we booked a room at a local hotel. Taking delivery required several more days, almost a week, as we had to become acquainted with how everything worked in the vehicle. We were given a “walk through”: a member of the staff walking around first the outside and then inside pointing out a multitude of features. Just that took almost three hours! We both had headaches as we struggled to remember what had been said. Looking things up in the plethora of paperwork and manuals proved equally perplexing and difficult.

An additional day was spent at the company’s driving school, which we both had felt in advance would be prudent as neither of us had ever driven anything of this size, and Angie had never driven an automatic vehicle, let alone in the USA. It proved a worthwhile exercise that I would thoroughly recommend to anyone contemplating driving an RV for the first time.

We also acquired a 4WD SUV from a local Honda dealership that would be transported in tow behind the RV. The SUV would be absolutely essential in getting to out-of-the-way photography locations and, not least of all, for nipping down to the local store whenever we ran out of provisions.

Then we hit unforeseen trouble once again – insurance. Not having a USA address meant that we had to pay top dollar for our insurance and a Florida driving licence would be necessary for both of us. The insurance agent indicated it would be no problem - just pop along to the local tax office and show the UK driving licences and Florida licenses would be provided for about $20 or so. We “popped along” and then sat in line for one-and-a-half hours before giving up to make it to a prior appointment with a bank.

The following day we returned and again sat in line for almost three hours before finally being seen. “Sorry,” said the clerk, “you will have to take written and practical driving tests as well as having drug tests.” I will not dwell over what was said at this interview but essentially the tests were necessary for Florida licenses and the next available date to take them was four weeks later. We left completely crestfallen as our plans to get on the road, already delayed, would have to be set back even further.

Several days later we eventually found two other insurance companies that did not insist on USA driving licences. The first wanted an exorbitant $3,000 and, in desperation, we nearly paid this. But fortunately at the eleventh hour we found an acceptable alternative at half the price. In the meantime we had had the towing rigs fitted to both vehicles and, with all the necessary paperwork in place, were now set to leave. Except . . .

CAMERA GEAR
Before leaving the UK I decided that I would sell all my photography equipment for two reasons. The first was that if I were going to be here for a year I needed everything. I couldn’t just make do with a couple of lenses and one camera body; to be able to work properly I needed the lot. But just the thought of bringing all of this gear over in the hold of a plane filled me with trepidation, never mind the cost of excess baggage.

The second reason was that the US dollar was at a twelve year low against the British pound, meaning I sold used and bought new, and it did not cost me a penny.

I had opened a trading account in the UK to buy US dollars and have them wired over either to a bank or to meet invoices such as those from the RV and camera dealers. Now, opening a US bank account proved impossible from the UK. I emailed, I wrote letters, even telephoned several times but to no avail – no bank wanted my money. It appears that since 9/11 things have really tightened up and money can not be moved easily from country to country – not that I had that much to move! This was especially frustrating when we got to Tampa and went into a Bank of America branch; within 45 minutes we had opened an account that included a cheque book and ATM cards.

Before leaving the UK, through the recommendations of NatureScapes.Net members, I had placed my camera equipment order with Allen’s Camera in Philadelphia (not a bad football team). But Allen was reluctant to take a wire transfer and insisted on a cheque, apparently due to problematic transactions in the past. But he was happy to take my credit card or a cheque so I arranged for the currency dealers to send him a cheque – big mistake. The cheque, of a substantial amount, went missing and I had no equipment. A clerk had sent it general post and the cheque had been in the mail system for 19 days. Thankfully, it finally arrived and Allen shipped the order perfectly. I would recommend him to anybody without hesitation.

FINALLY ON THE ROAD
Finally we were on the road, albeit three weeks later than intended. As I write this I am in Texas and look forward to sharing more of my experiences with you as I travel on my epic journey around North America. Look out for my rig and if you see it, stop by and say hello – Angie and I would be delighted to meet you!

Finally on the road and taking photographs! Photo captured yesterday at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.

George McCarthy, a professional wildlife and nature photographer from the United Kingdom, is internationally published, including two books on fungi entitled "The Wild Mushroom” and “Photographing Fungi in the Field.” George also offers lectures and workshops and travels widely in pursuit of nature photos. For more information on George or for updates on his twelve-month USA road trip in 2005, please visit his website at www.georgemccarthy.com.

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