It's kind of annoying to look for nodes before having goggles because you have to look using a Thaumometer. It has to be in your hand to look, so it interferes with mapping, and occasionally with having a weapon ready. But, it seems there's nothing to be done for it, so out I go.



I head out towards where I found the cows and find my first node in the lake next to where I found the cows. It's Aqua and Terra, so not either of the ones I need (Ignis and Perdito). From there, I head east, planning to search the areas near my base (to minimize travel time for recharging).

I cross the entire land area just north of my base without finding another node. This doesn't entirely shock me, as I've found nodes are hard to find in snowy areas - the glow is distinctly harder to see against snow, even with a Thaumometer. I do pass through the Ice Spikes area, and they're pretty cool, but I forgot to take pics.



It turns out I'm actually near the end of my continent. Apparently in my search for sugar cane I partially rounded the cape at the end without realizing it.

I find another node here:



This one has Ignis, one of the things I'm looking for. I had actually found Perdito, the other, on my previous expedition, but mis-remembered Aqua/Perdito/Tempestas (a really cool combo) as Aqua/Aer/Tempestas (an even more cool combo). So I kept searching.

At this point, in addition, I'm starting to worry as a modder. I've found three nodes so far, and all have been on water - even though my searching has been on land. So I'm concerned that there's some interaction between Thaumcraft and one of my mods which is preventing nodes from spawning on land. From a game point, that would be no big deal, but from a mod point of view, it would be a major bug.

So I keep going.

I take the sea route along the coast back to the Steppe where the chickens were. Flattish areas with little vegetation and no snow are the best places to look for nodes. On the way I find one more node on the water, which doesn't improve my mood.

Walking next to the Extreme Hills towards the Steppe, however:



Phew. A node on land. I've just been having some weird luck.

I also find an Aer/Terra node in the Autumn Forest near the lava pool location, and Aer/Aqua/Ignis on the Steppe near the cave area.

I still think I need to find a Perdito node, so I keep going. I want to head north, but i have to go further west because there's some rugged terrain directly to the north.

To the west is a Highland Dunes biome:



It's quite rugged and barren. The good thing is that Climate Control has worked for the second journal in a row: I have all the climates within 1000 blocks of spawn. That was the original motivation for Climate Control: shrinking the climate zones so you could find non-temperate climates without (usually) having to cross multiple maxed-out maps. It's since morphed into a broader world generation mod with controls for land sizes and ocean percentages, biome frequency controls, and systems for preventing chunk walls. Some of the other stuff will get tested later in this journal, if I survive long enough.

I do find an Oasis sub-biome:



Would make for an interesting survival start.

At one point climbing up the massive dunes I get stranded near the top and have a hard time digging down. I find no nodes, however, until I'm almost to the north edge of the dunes.



There I find an Obsidian Totem, which contains a Sinister node. These nodes convert their surroundings to Eerie nodes, which have a number of moderately unpleasant effects like souped-up zombie spawns. That's the cause of the darkened sky in the pic.

The totem node turns out not useful for Vis, but it does have Alienis, one of the last Aspects, and one of the hardest to get.

At this point I transition into a swamp. This is a good thing, as several of the base biomes are associated with particular Aspects (Terra in woods, Aqua at sea, and Ignis in Desert) and Swampland tends to have Perdito, which I'm looking for.  I find another sinister node, and then finally:



I find a Perdito node. OK, expedition goals complete.

From here I turn back east, towards home. First I cross a desert, with a few more nodes, including yet another Sinister node. This neighborhood is going to go seriously bad if I hang out here because the Sinister nodes grow their Eerie zones over time.



I reach an inland lake (or possibly very deep inlet) which lets me speed my trip home.



I reach the Birch Woods north of the steppe. Here's my map, showing the coast I discovered on the east and the Dunes/Desert on the west. The blank areas on the coast to the east were places I was busy with my Thaumometer or tricky terrain and forgot to switch back to my map for a while. I did have to go off the west edge of the map but since I don't have an Explorercraft Atlas yet I didn't generate a map for that area.

Heading home I encounter yet *another* Sinister node. I get a bit turned-around in some hills but no big deal.

Back, home, *finally*:



I have my goggles.

Next episode: some home improvements, my first level 30 enchant, and using some Explorercraft mapping features.