Yes, this was my drop-off ride for ops in Nicaragua. Ours had no doors and was really loud. Jolly Greens would pick us up.

One of myy lenses (Nikon 24-120mm f/4) has a VR-Active switch. You might look into getting a lens that has that feature for extra bumpy photo ops. It is costly but your tour is worth it. The landscape you will see is beyond words, so the pictures will do the talking.

I got my 750 two weeks ago, also have a D5200. The menu system alone is very intimidating at first, but I bought a book on the D750 by David Busch. The book size is also intimidating but it is full of extra explanations of more in-depth photo info for later reading. Get a book, slowly read it and make menu changes as you experiment. I found that after a week of reading, tweaking and experimenting that I now feel comfortable with most of the camera's operation. I would never go back now that I understand more of it's capabilities. I have 5 grandkids, all under the age of 7yrs and I use continuous burst with them, also bracket with 5 frames at 1 full stop per frame. Works exceptionally well with their erratic movements. Have patience, you will not regret the purchase.

Love the signs that say "Rough Road Ahead". Pretty rough for pavement. When the water from the outlet freezes and thaws, it causes the ground to heave, thus the humpy road. 30 yrs ago the road from Summit Lake and up was paved directly over the rocks which poked thru everywhere. So it is an improvement but still very testy. The shoulder that is crumbling added some more challenges for the "flat landers" who decided to drive down the middle of the road and would not move over. We had to stop and pull over and let them by or they would just sit in the middle of the road waiting for whatever to happen. You ever come back, let me know and I can possibly give you some other very interesting, out of the normal, places to see. Texans are always welcome, you seem to appreciate Colorado more than most of the visitors.

I was just up there a few days ago and the same goats were there, right at about 13,800ft. The old Billy was picking on the young one. The wind was screaming at about 60-80mph, temp at 43 degrees. Lots of people, parking lot was full and overflowing. We went down to 12,800 ft at Summit Lake and still lots of people but the temp was 59 degrees and the wind was about 10mph. There were 4 mountain sheep in the parking lot and a park ranger was watching to ensure nobody was feeding the sheep. I fished the lake, ice was all melted, and caught one small cut throat. Then drove down just below timberline and took some pics of the bristlecone pines, again lots of people.

One of the first I have heard from that went south and not to Nam. I went to Nicaragua in '69 since I already had a brother in Nam. Nasty duty. I love the "rant" and totally agree. We had handlers that would pit our spooks against some other handler's spooks just to win a bet. A good read is "The final mission, Spooky 8" by Bob King. The author hit it on the head. I fear my government and have since Reagan left office. And now we have a supreme court that violates the constitution on a frequent basis. I would not want to be a young person in this world, they have no patriotic role models and have a very bleak future.

In photography, bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-
focus parts of ... The term bokashi (暈かし) is related, meaning intentional blurring
or gradation. The English spelling bokeh was popularized in 1997 in Photo ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh

you are correct.

, You think that one is scarey, you should some of the ones us natives call scared. And this one is paved. We have some really unbelievable dirt paths they call roads, 4x4 all the way, and crawling at 3 mph. But the photo ops are worth every change of underwear.

Looks like Newfoundland Hounds to me, extraordinary swimmers used for water rescue, super family dogs. Too bad they only live about 10 yrs. They are real heart thieves

Nothing like 14,000 ft up into the thin air. You were lucky to get these, they are the moochers and people are not supposed to feed them. But, as you can see, there they are. If you would have stopped at Summit Lake, just below, you could have some really cool pics of Ptarmigan, Blue Grouse and lots of Picas and some very very old Bristlecone Pines. Looks like you got some smoke in the background, maybe from the forest fires. I use to hike down from this road to the Bear Track Lakes and Chicago Basin just fish. Hope you enjoyed the drive up and back. Love the capture, brings back some great memories.

I have been thru the same with a few friends. I stopped asking why and just stood by them until the end. Seems like such a waste of potential. Drugs are their own punishment but they also effect so many innocents. People cannot understand how horrible drug dependance is until they are personally effected. My sympathy.

Again thanks for all the info and suggestions. Per your advice, I rented each for a week. I am leaning more towards wildlife, (I am by education a biologist), and landscapes. I purchased a demo D750 with the 18-120 f4 lens, but have to wait until Nikon starts to produce product again due to the earthquake. The camera shop did not want to part with the only D750 they had until a replacement shows up. The 85mm f1.8 that I already have is a ff lens, not a DX, so I should be covered at least for another month before I go searching for more lenses. I am keeping my D5200 as a backup since it takes some pretty good pictures. I have a trip to Alaska planned for next year, had to cancel it this year due to back surgery in a couple of weeks.

is this still for sale??? I like it, maybe want it.

Very cool. Do you ever go to any of the Rendezvous? Here in Colorado we a big one every year and at different locations. Is that a Brown Bess?? I do Cowboy Action competition (SASS) with black powder, have a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.

Nice area, like around Silverton, Durango or Wolf Creek Pass?? Can't go wrong with the American and Yankee Boy Basins. You would try the Black Bear Pass, yes haw. Lots of snow this year so the areas over 11,000 ft could be very wet for hiking. Very nice pics. Flowers are awesome right now in the Crested Butte/Gothic areas.