JOURNEY is a suite of watercolors created during one of Achepohl's month-long travels in 1990 from Aswan, Egypt to Venice, Italy.  In these earlier works the blue seems most representational even though the artwork overall is highly abstract. The blue represents the Nile and Egyptian sky, or often it is a background color of the desert sky, as the images shape-shifted in the water trails inspired by the Grand Canal of Venice.
Just as with Achepohl's Mediterranean watercolor series, EGYPT: DAY & NIGHT, MOZAIK,  and CAPRICCIO, he repeatedly created variations on a motif, exploring its nature, showing a sophistication of composition in the relationship between colors and shapes, distinctive in his changing interpretations of the ancient landscapes he explored.