Challenging Myself... I Think

Back in March on my road trip to Central Oregon I took my last photo with my Nikon D80.  I had tripped the shutter hundreds of thousands of time on that camera and the mechanical parts had simply worn out.  This is actually a known fact that mechanical machines eventually wear out and no longer work.
And to be candid and realistic, the Nikon D80 is considered an entry level DSLR by most photographers.
So today I have my Sony NEX-6 DSLR with a single zoom lens.  It actually is a nice camera.  It has some nice features.  I've had it for four years and over time it has picked up some sensor dust contamination that I try to avoid by not shooting the sky or using high number F-Stops.  I really don't ever want to get into cleaning the sensor with anything more than a Rocket Blower bulb.  I have had a bad end result with liquid cleaners.
And so my challenge to myself is this,
I'm making a cross-country trip this summer.  I'm heading to South Carolina for both a family reunion and a family wedding.
I'll be driving while my family will be flying.  I could fly with them but I hate flying these days and I really want to do another cross-country photography road trip again.
I've thought about buying a replacement for the D-80.  My common sense tells me to stay with a Nikon that has an F-Mount so I can use the F-Mount lenses I have purchased over the years.
But my thoughts go back to my first cross-county photography trip back in 2003.
I tagged many popular bases like the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, and similar places on the way to Hickory, North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with my wife's family.
During that trip my photography equipment consisted of one 3.2 megapixel Olympus digital camera and two 35mm film cameras.
Many of my photos were captured on film.  Back then my digital camera was kind of a novelty but it gave me instant gratification of the scenes I wanted to capture.
My more serious photography was done with my Canon and Nikon 35mm film cameras.
Today that seems odd.
And to continue my challenge description here, I'm considering not purchasing a replacement for the D-80.
Looking on Amazon and the various kits that are sold with DSLR cameras, I figure it would cost me around $700 - $800 for a similar replacement.
But I'm looking at this trip in realistic terms too.  It is quite likely this will be my last cross-country photography road trip.
Recently I did an inventory of all of my cameras and decided to photograph them on my dining room table.  Fourteen of the cameras were film cameras.  And of those fourteen cameras there are some very good cameras.  My Nikon-F and Nikon F-4 cameras are among the best 35mm cameras ever made.  I also have an Olympus XA considered by some to be the best compact film camera next to something like a very expensive Leica camera.
And this has me thinking.  I've often said that I can teach my dog to shoot digital photography.  It doesn't take much skill or experience to get lucky with a digital camera to find one in a hundred digital frames to find a keeper.
And for the record, I'm OK with that.
But my self imposed challenge is to get back to my film skills.
And I'm going to do it.  I'm going to forego buying a replacement digital DSLR camera and shoot with the equipment I have including my film cameras.
The money I don't spend on a new digital camera will go to the film processing.  It isn't cheap these days.  About $15 a roll to get it developed and digitized.
And consider this, twenty years ago, most photographers would love to have the equipment I have to use on a trip like the one I have planned.
And so I'm accepting my challenge to use what I have.  I'll use the money I don't spend on new equipment to get the film processed.
And here is that photo of my cameras.