Anyone who's had the pleasure or punishment of traveling with me and my camera knows of my penchant for long-arm group-self-portraits. Maybe it's the Minnesotan in me that's doesn't want to trouble passersby to take the photo, or maybe it's the geometrician in me that loves calculating how to maximize light, minimize shadow, and capture something telling in the background.

This montaged set is from my road trip with Christa "No Home, No Job, No Fear" McDermott earlier this month. Here's the run down:

• Title: somewhere in Illinois . . . or Iowa . . . or Nebraska

1. Ann Arbor (don't worry -- we drove the car and towed the bikes, not vice versa)
   
2. Colorado (still waiting on the North Face royalties check)
   
3. Utah (one of us is cold and one is loving it)
   
4. Berkeley (Christa was doing her Old Argentine Man face and I was about to shave my California-or-bust beard)
   
5. Joaquin Miller State Park (Redwoods make for luxurious light)
   
6. Muir Beach (with Kurt Denk SJ and grub from Gregoire)
7. Muir Beach Overlook (with Kurt and a tiny shard of the Pacific -- sorry, my inner geometrician was getting sloppy)