Last call: LA2Vegas Tour—and a NEW 1-day 'Kirk Trek'

It's been 20 years since Generations gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "Captain, you have the bridge."

It seemed like a great anniversary reason to spur something we hadn't done in 2012 with our debut "LA2Vegas" Trek Film Site Tours with moi: make a stop at Nevada's breathtaking Valley of Fire State Park, site of "Veridian III" and J.T. Kirk's controversial death scene after he and Picard battled with that living Nexus magnet, Dr. Tolian Soran.

After Teras Cassidy of Geek Nation Tours and I decided to make our tour bi-annual—and still keep it a lead-in to the annual Vegas Khhaaan bash in August—we tweaked this year's itinerary to include this awesome new stop in the desert canyon, by popular request! 

And now, it's "all aboard" with a last call deadline of this Sunday, June 15—and you can still jump in with a deposit, for now.

We kept most else from what fans loved on the 2012 debut: the stops famous and not-so, with guests like Bobby "The Gorn" Clark on hand to talk about filming the iconic scenes at Vasquez Rocks from "Arena."  All stops are Trek-related, plus make pretty good snaps to impress even your mundane friends, too (Santa Monica Pier and Griffith Observatory, anyone?). And who can resist a stop inside the Q Continuum? Or Starfleet Academy in both its Prime (above) and SubPrime versions?

We've talked about the tour many times on podcasts near and far, my original post about it in 2012, and of course the tour description here. So I won't go on and on about it, if you promise you'll take a glance and just know that we've traded in the mountain leg to Lone Pine for the day out on "Veridian III"—which includes not just the film site (right) but a visit to the KIRK DEATH BRIDGE itself, which was donated by the film crew to the park after they wrapped! As well as a stop in the (air-conditioned) visitor center for the park's real-life petroglyphs, Native American spiritual vibes, and more natural history.

What's NEWS this year is the simple OMG thunderbolt we had this year: Offer the new Valley of Fire segment, a trip the day before the Vegas Convention opens, as a ONE-DAY TRIP for those coming into Vegas a day or two early, anyway. It's a smaller hit to the wallet, you get a taste of what the full tour of Trek in-your-face awesomeness is like—and you see some jaw-dropping scenery far from the Strip. His work schedule permitting, I'll be joined on host duties by our buddy and now FaceOff star Mike Westmore, who as makeup designer was among the small skeleton crew who shot the beautifully bleak scenes for Generations in the gorge 20 years ago.

PLUS: A big new wrinkle this year are all the sponsors we have on board with goodies for tour-takers: Robe Factory, Bye-Bye Robot,  Stronghold Games, con-producer Creation Entertainment themselves—and now Anovos costumes.

Again: Deadline for the main tour sign-up ends June 15 —and you only need a deposit to hold your seat for now. Plus, 5 of the 12 add-on day trips seats are already gone. So hey, read up, check the site and then give Teras an email so he can call you back and get personal on this. It's what his boutique GNT offers—amid gaming, convention, military, historical and other geek-out topic tours around the globe, all listed on his main site.

And may I say: you expect the awesome tour stops, Trek tie-ins, all kinds of Trek shooting data from me and our guests. What you don't expect is gaining all the new friends on the bus—many of whom are from other countries. Don't forget: they're all bound for the very same Vegas Khhaaan you are. (So look out: If you come alone, after this trek you're guaranteed to waltz in the front doors of the Rio a stranger no more.)

Aside from the Tour pages and my post, you Facebookers can also check out our fans' many photos from the debut 2012 tour over on the GNT Facebook photo gallery for "LA2Vegas."

See you on the bus!