FORT COLLINS, Colo., Oct. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Dawn Wilson, professional wildlife photographer, launched a solo excursion today to photograph the wildlife of the U.S.
The adventure, which started with a trip from her home state of Colorado to southern California, will be completed in a 24-foot Thor Chateau recreational vehicle.
"I gave myself a six-week trial period to get used to driving an RV by visiting familiar locations in Colorado and Wyoming," said Ms. Wilson. "It was quite overwhelming at first but I am excited to launch the adventure and blog about my travels."
Ms. Wilson, 44 years old, has never owned an RV and had never driven one before the test drive in July 2015. Having the RV, and the towed Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, will give her the access she seeks for photographing wildlife throughout the lower 48 states and Alaska.
"Most people wait until they retire to make such a lifestyle change," said Ms. Wilson. "But too many tragedies have happened in my life over the last few years, and those events convinced me that life is precious, fleeting and fragile. It was time to go for the golden ring."
According to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, the $14.5 billion RV industry consists of nearly nine million households owning RVs in the U.S. The association estimates about 500,000 to one million of that population lives in RVs full-time.
An increasing number of RV owners are women traveling solo. The specific number is unknown, but associations like RVing Women have seen their membership steadily grow over the last few years. RVing Women, which started in 1990, has a current membership of 2,300 women.
Ms. Wilson's goal is to photograph as many mammals as possible, including:
She will also photograph a variety of birds, including:
There are close to 500 different species of mammals in North America, with many quickly losing habitat to development. Photographing these animals will help visually present the uniqueness of the wildlife in the U.S. and the lands where they live.
During her trip to California, she plans to photograph:
"Traveling in an RV isn't really roughing it like some nature photographers will do to get their shots," said Ms. Wilson. "But it provides an excellent opportunity to safely and effectively work from the road while being flexible enough to access a wide variety of locations."
Ms. Wilson grew up in southern New Jersey. In 2002, she completed an MBA in marketing and moved to Colorado. After quitting a full-time corporate marketing job in 2013 to pursue wildlife photography and travel writing full-time, Ms. Wilson found the hassles of homeownership an inconvenience to photographing wildlife. On September 1, 2015, she sold her house and moved into the RV.
Although she does not travel with human companionship, she does travel with two Siberian huskies and two cats. She plans to travel solo in the RV for one to three years, including several months in Alaska.
For more information, visit www.DawnWilsonPhotography.com
Images available at: http://www.dawnwilsonphotography.com/press-materials
About Dawn Wilson
Dawn Wilson (www.DawnWilsonPhotography.com) is a professional and award-winning wildlife photographer who specializes in photographing the wildlife of high altitudes and high latitudes of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. She currently writes a monthly travel column for the Fort Collins Coloradoan and has been published in numerous publications, including Nature's Best, Outdoor Photographer, Wyoming Wildlife and Colorado Outdoors.
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151021/279319
SOURCE Dawn Wilson
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