Well, film processing in the right places is very cheap-$5.00 for C41 prints in an hour.

Numbered roads tend to be smoother, some Vermont roads can end in dirt-there are still towns with no pavement. Signs are generally good, drivers are often bad, especially during tourist season. The motto in tonier areas is "Fine Cars Driven Badly". Wildlife-you'll see a lot of signs warning of moose. Not likely you'll see a moose, but a collision with one is very bad. Deer, too.

Foliage season can last pretty well, and you can drive further south as the season progresses to keep with the colors-but a good storm can call "game over". It's nature!

Oh, don't try drinking "tea" here. You will be very disappointed unless you find a private home with ex-pat British, or Canadians. Fish and chips are pretty much as you'll remember!

Let's see-first, ignore the global warming bit-foliage peaks vary hugely year to year. Driving distances are likely to be much longer in terms of mile per scenery change, even here (going out wesst would drive you mad!)

Roads-in New England the surfaces can be challenging, especially on un-numbered routes-but those give the best feel for the area. Interstates are quite good, if boring, and are the key to travel from area to area. Vermont has I-91 and 89, actually pretty scenery, and will take you to the heart of things there. 93 goes through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, which is probably another must see.

Food is a whole lot better if you avoid chains and anything that has a buffet (Indian restaurants excluded). Baldwinville, Massachusetts is devoid of decent restaurants, Northampton is chock-full, as are most Vermont towns.

Easy to find great shots of scenery. Traffic on weekends during "leaf-peeper" season can be horrid, but weekdays are great.

Pre-booking is best for the peak times-our Columbus Day weekend, around the 9th of October, is a madhouse in say, Manchester, VT-a foliage/shopping/dining center, and may have been booked for months. If you're adventurous, it is possible to gypsy a bit and take a chance.

Weather can be anywhere from 80 to 25 degrees F. Sweaters are in high fashion, and you'll be able to buy your fill! Film is widely available, and Northampton has same-day traditional B&W and E6. 1 hour C41 is on every street corner. Oh, I can go on..

I live in Massachusetts-are you planning to come for the foliage?

My personal suggestion for someone who's not been here before, and wishes to come at that time of year, would be to avoid a motorhome. Rent an economical car and stay at various bed-and-breakfasts, or failing that, more mainstream hotels. Campgrounds with facilities to handle a large RV can be pricey, and fill up quickly.

If camping and such seems best, I'd say a class B camper would be more useful for running around-the big ones can be very difficult to handle, and make trips into scenic places difficult.

States-Vermont is classic, and with New Hampshire provides the best scenery most of the time. Massachusetts and Maine are great for coastal/rural scenery, more built up in Rhode Island and Connecticut. I'll talk more..

The Photobucket link brings up "not found", try grabbing the tag from the 'Bucket page.

Nah, that was Euthanasia.

Velvia is the standard answer, 100 if you can, 100F if you want less saturation, Provia 100F for (I think) the best all around performance.

Wouldn't it be simpler to get a roll of Provia?

I had some company over the other night, and they were looking through some of my slides in a little viewer. They asked me how I got the pictures on slides, and were also amazed at the viewer-sort of an analog iPod Photo.

In the Leica's defense, it's quieter than the MX even when I do the MLU trick-and I'm using external finders tha are amazing.

Still, with an SLR, I can see what I'm really going to get!

Thanks, John, that's exactly the sound. I'm running a roll of old drugstore film in it now to check for light leaks, and I'm shooting it next to my Leica IIIf, which just sort of "swishes".

Well, the MX is a fun camera, but it seems a bit louder than I expected- a resonance can be heard after each shot. Definitely louder than an MEF.

Is this to be expected?