I finally reached the waypoint I tended to hit last night (for some weird reason I was a popular person last night with a lot of people contacting me). I have realized, why the rush? I plan to spend the time and look around.

Omega Nebula, my third waypoint reached. So many wonderful Nebulae!

One item that has been on my list for a while is a Wolf-Rayet Star. All I want is one. Now, I have a choice, continue on to Waypoint 4 and do this on the way back or take a 59 Jump deviation to a possible WR?

Keeping with the original plan, exploration (in depth) will be for the return voyage. I have bookmarked a possible WR for investigation on the way back if I have not found anything on the way out or returning back to this area. Course is plotted for the fourth waypoint and onward I go...

My sense of curiosity has got the best of me, again. I am 15 Jumps away from a possible undiscovered WR. I will have to say, the deviation provided a metric ton of undiscovered systems, had these been discovered already, I most likely would have reached my target destination this evening.

Calling it quits for the evening. For 3 hours I have done quite an amount of scanning and jumping. Just to think, 1700Ly course deviation, but this is what is all about.

On DW2, I did a few of these, of course my Anaconda had 77.4Ly jump range, so I did it in no time.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

As always, everything in and around (for at least 25Ly) has been mapped and discovered.

I am 10 Jumps away from my next waypoint but turning in for the evening. I am making good headway, 5290 Ly from "Home", 5230 Ly from Sol. Though I plan to slow down once I am near the Galactic Core and where the density of undiscovered systems is greater.

First thing in the morning, Notable Stellar phenomenon;

First jump of the morning. A good omen?

A little jump through the Lagoon Nebula and on the way, a photo of the first base camp of Distant Worlds Expedition

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

"Shapley 1 is an uninhabited system in the Inner Orion Spur. It is located at the center of a small nebula, also called Shapley 1 or the Fine Ring Nebula. The primary star is part of the Norma constellation, and the nebula was first discovered by astronomer Harlow Shapley in 1936"

From Shapley I am making a direct route to The Lagoon Nebula. I managed to get 3/4 of the way to my first major way point, 4800Ly outside the bubble.

With 59 Jumps left, and 2.5hours of play time I decided to hunker down for the night.

The day before, I decided to have a few drinks to mark the occasion. A few turned into many, I am in a sorry state.

Rather than risk doing something stupid like flying into a star or doing something equally dumb, calling it a night besides, have made good progress.

Impressed at the amount of still undiscovered systems so close to the bubble. Though there is a great many more than have been discovered and not mapped, sadly I did not equip a Surface Scanner for the trip out to Beagle Point.

If I can find one on my return voyage, I will also map the bodies as well.

Tomorrow I should be in the Lagoon Nebula where I plan to poke around for an undetermined amount of time before heading towards my next major waypoint.

I slipped quietly and unceremoniously into the Black. No fanfare, not even a passing mention. I simply pointed in the direction for my first jump and my big adventure begins...

Pallaeni was the launch point and has been the start point to all these expeditions.

Starting at Bakewell Point, I jumped over to HIP 63835, into the Coalsack Nebula, HR 4747, Fine Ring Sector and my final jump into Shapley 1;

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

"Nothing worth doing is easy."

With those words, a large helping of patience and the excitement today is the day I leave the Bubble for a few months.

I plan to recreate the initial Journey that Erimus Kazmel took back 3300. Which means, no engineering, no jumponium (I have some for the way back), no station visits, no carrier visits other than the Distant Worlds Carrier at Beagle Point when I arrive.

I plan to fly the Route one way (to Beagle Point) as it was originally done.

The return leg however, will be a massive deviation and one stop on the top of the list is Explorer's Anchorage. After that other sights (Void Hearts) and sites.

My expectation is since I have no time schedule I plan to do a heck of a lot of exploring as I go. Yes, I understand a great deal will be discovered, but small deviations will be in order to poke around to find some undiscovered items.

I am signing up with a Power to get my Exploration Bonus after I return and do a round of fortifying.

Weekly updates, while as I stated previously, if something super neat happens than I will add a few when it warrants one.

This is intended for a solo voyage. I have enough music here to keep my occupied for along time. A few times, I will open things up for a virtual presence co-pilot.

Just looking forward to getting this underway. 5pm is racing up fast.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

Tying up a few loose ends and making my way to Hill Dock tomorrow for the big launch. I have been anxiously awaiting Launch Day.

I look forward to the one thing I love doing the most in this game... exploring.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

I flew over to Hill Dock last night and put on the new Azure Paintjob on Messier. Wow, not bad at all. In fact, kind of suits the ship.

This will be the official paintjob of Messier.

Just finishing up my final runs, unlocked a few engineers and getting ready for the grand adventure.

Weekly updates will serve better than daily. While I may enter a journal here and there, I plan to journal on a weekly basis.

I may, at some point, open up the seat for a virtual presence, still considering that.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

Officially one week from this Journal Entry, I will be in final prep for Launch out into the Black for a while. While the original course was 165K, I may do a bit more as there are a few sights I wish to see on the way back.

Quite honestly, I am looking forward to it. Silence and tranquility of deep space exploration mixed with the feeling of doing something that I wanted to do but never really had the chance.

Bring it on.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

Once I transfer my PS4 Account to PC, I will have a total of 38,126,873,048 credits at my disposal.

Needless to say, the Expedition is about the Journey, not the credits. I am really looking forward to get out there and start things, one week and counting.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

Messier is docked, had her shakedown run and now sits awaiting for my arrival to launch off into the black for a several months.

I have been bumping around unlocking Engineers, so it is giving me something to do and gaining rank/credits at the same time.

Not in a rush, I know that once the PS4 account transfers over, I will have close to 40 Billion, credits will be no object.

Though until then, the goal is to buy as many ships as I can with my current cash on hand to save dipping into the main balance. Only makes sense right?

Really looking forward to this journey. Something I wanted to do on PS4 but never got the chance.

CMDR MAD DOG MacD

I took Messier out to Davs Hope for a flight shakedown. Performs as expected. Just waiting for the 27th of October so I can get the free Azure Paintjob due to having purchased Horizons.

How I miss the view of the Asp Cockpit. Will be a treat taking her out on the Maiden Voyage on the 1st.

She will remain in Docked until then. Plan to dock in Pallaeni or a system close by (did this for DW2 as well) so that the day of, I am not jumping to to jump...

CMDR MAD DOG MacD