The Planning

The trip... the planning, the equipment

Dark sky's,  that is what I need to capture the Milky way.  In West Virginia the Milky Way was amazing, so vibrant.  Mike even was amazed at how bright it was. Where we will be out west will be even darker then in  West Virginia.  Plus the closest light will be at a minimum. The "Moon" will be going into a new moon. As it transitions, it will rise and set pretty much during the day. The trip was planned around the moon.  June is pretty much the last month of the year that you are able to capture the arch of Milky way (which is my goal). Fingers crossed, 

I'm an amateur,  but determined. I've studied,  I will probably drive Cheryl into boredom with my experimentation.   For that Cheryl I apologize in advance. 

Once we get to our locations then I will scout. I have some apps to help to visualize the placement of the Milky way at night. That will help me to scout a location to set up at night. The longest we will be at one place is at Monument Valley.  Which will be three  nights. We will be in a cabin with an unobstructed view to the amazing sights!
I use Nikon for my camera. A Full Frame D750, my go to lens for Astrophotography is my Nikon 14mm prime.  I have a tripod, and a corded shutter release. Head lamps with red light... (this helps in very dark areas to not interfere with night vision.)
The Apps I'm using are PhotoPills and Stellarium.