It seems like the Oly e-420 is the ideal camera if only because it very small. You really don't want to be carrying a largish camera round on a month long road trip if you aren't used to it (imho).
And yeah, you really need to take a *lot* of pictures with it (whatever it turns out to be) before you go.
And yeah, you really need to take a *lot* of pictures with it (whatever it turns out to be) before you go.