On the Road With "Discoveries...America"
Travel with the video crew of InDemand’s new High-Definition television and DVD series.
Story and Photos by Jim Watt
Please allow me to introduce myself and this new series of articles. My wife and business partner, Kelly and I are the producers of a unique and interesting series of one-hour, High-Definition (HD) television and DVD programs about the United States.
Each program is a one-hour collection of video essays about a particular state and is available on Comcast cable channels INHD and INHD2, and also for sale on DVD. The INHD schedules can be found on the Internet atwww.INHD.com
New Assignment—Stateside
When we began production of “Discoveries…America” we had just finished up with a seven episode series, “Discoveries…Spain” and a three episode series, “Discoveries…Ireland” and figured we would produce the “Discoveries…America” shows in much the same style…driving around the country in our GMC Yukon staying in various hotels and motels and eating out at local establishments.
It didn’t take us long to figure out a couple of differences in working here—in the United States—as opposed to Europe or South America where we have filmed extensively. Food in small town America is not all that great, nor are most of the motels and hotels.
Self-Containment
By the third week on the road filming the new series, we knew that a camper, motorhome or truck trailer combination was the key to our comfort and for that matter, sanity, and it would definitely have a positive effect on the bottom line—the show’s budget. We both like to cook, so there was no doubt food would improve dramatically, too.
But now we face the dilemma of making a decision on what sort of rig to buy.
Rigging for the Road
Our first obligation is, of course, to produce a good television program, so we had to find some sort of rig that was comfortable, yet agile enough to pull over if we say a shot we wanted.
We considered a motor home behind which we could tow our Yukon, but decided against that for a couple of reasons. When you put together the motor home and towed vehicle, the combined length dramatically reduces where you can pull over. Same goes for a trailer behind a truck, so we finally decided on a truck camper.
Camper: Fold or Full-Dress?
Our first thought was to find a 4-wheel-drive crew cab pickup and go for one of the campers that go up and down which would decrease wind resistance, yet still give you some room inside. We looked at several models on the internet and at dealers, but once we started thinking about the time it would take to raise and lower the unit and the fact that we would be shooting in winter locations, some of the time, our choices became much more focused.
Frequently we spend only one night at a location and this started leaning us toward a standard cab over camper unit.
Rolling Stock
We purchased a 3/4 ton, long bed, Chevrolet Silverado Crew Cab with a Duramax diesel engine and then started looking around for the right full-sized camper. We were only a couple of weeks away from our departure date, so we had to look quickly.
We finally found a unit that we fell in love with, a Snow River 810D/S model made in Penticton, B.C. Canada. It’s barely longer than our truck bed (10 inches over) and has a 24-inch slide-out in the dining area that dramatically increases the feel of spaciousness inside. It also provides a full-sized queen bed with enough headroom to sit up n bed, a shower, toiled, stove with oven, heater and water heater with a 36-gallon fresh water tank.
The camper is also equipped with a set of electric “Happy Jacks” so it’s a breeze to move off and on the truck, which we do frequently.
Weather Ready
The camper is rated to 10 below zero and is as perfect as we anticipated it would be. The only extra we added was a two-battery golf cart battery system which provides us with at least three days of independence from hookups and probably more—we just seem to keep it to three days, which is right about the time the holding tanks start getting full.
Comfortable Independence
At the outset we honestly thought we would spend at least a night or two a week in a hotel. The reality, however, on our first trip—almost four months—we only stayed in a hotel three nights and that was at the insistence of the Philadelphia tourist bureau, otherwise we would have been quite happy to have never stayed in a hotel. We only ate in restaurants perhaps five or six times, and that was mostly entertaining others. Camper life and the comfort you have in your own space is awesome!
Working Conditions
Even though we’re a little over 12 feet tall, the truck handles the height beautifully and the Duramax Diesel allows us to travel at the speed limit while delivering a decent 12.5 miles per gallon.
We have se up a 17-inch flat screen HD monitor/television on the wall behind one of the dining seats so we can screen and write the shows when we finish filming in a state.
We’re using our cell phones as modems to check email. Kelly has hers set up with Verizon and on the first trip I had a GSM phone from AT&T, but didn’t have coverage about 90% of the time so I decided to switch to Sprint to see if coverage improved. So far with the two different systems we have had coverage on one or the other—or both—almost all the time.
We use Mac Titanium laptops running OS X 10.2.2, and the phones are great as modems. They may be a little slow for surfing the web, but with patience, it’s possible. We’d really like to find a high-speed PCMCIA card that would work with the Macs, but so far haven’t been able to find one that works to our satisfaction. I know it’s possible, we just haven’t had any success with ours. If anyone has any solutions we’re all ears.
Of course, a satellite system is the way to go and you can have satellite television and fast Internet connection with one antenna.
16000-Mile Shakedown
On our first trip in the camper, which was about 16000 miles, we started near Seattle in Issaquah, WA, and then filmed Colorado, followed by Pennsylvania, then New Hampshire in early October to capture the fall colors. We then stopped n New York for some meetings with InDemand who pays for the shows, then went south to South Carolina. This was followed by Kentucky, after which, we hot-footed it back home for Thanksgiving.
We spend about two weeks filming in each state, then park for three days or so to screen the video, write the shows, and do a narration track. This is also a great time to do laundry or even bake a pie. We then ship everything off to our editor Sterling Noren, who puts it all together in a television presentation. He then will author the DVD and send us artwork, so Kelly can then design the covers and send the computer files back to the office where the DVD covers are generated.
Storage and Stash
The way we have everything setup works perfectly for our style of filming. We removed the back seats in the pickup and built a shelf that covers the entire area. On the bottom level, what we call our poor man’s basement, we have long items like tripods, light stands, dolly and jib.
On the top shelf are lights, video equipment and computers, most secure in Pelican cases so we can lock them up to cables attached to the truck frame. This gives us some peace of mind if we go off filming somewhere and also a secure place to store shot tape which is our most valuable commodity, particularly as the shoot winds toward completion.
That funny contraption in the front picture (basically a teeter totter) with the camera on it is a jib, incidentally.
More to Come
We have filmed nine states so far in the series, with 41 more to go. We’ve met some incredibly nice and interesting people and as these articles continue we hope to share with you some of our rich experiences on the road.
"Discoveries...America" Filming Utah In The Winter
Story and Photos by Jim Watt
We’ve just finished a little more than two weeks of filming in Utah…a spectacular state with a terrific variety in climate and terrain.
We’re “holed up” in the Cannonville KOA on Utah Scenic Route 12 for three days of screening video, writing and narrating the Utah show, which we’ll then ship on to our editor, Sterling Noren, who will add the final touches leading to a finished program. He’ll then author the DVD and we should have it on the market within the month.
This is also the time when I bake one of our traditional apple raisin pies (secret ingredient: 1 Tbs. Cracked black pepper), roast a chicken, make biscuits and just mellow out. We always have our Cuisinart with us and it’s not uncommon for us to bake on a weather day (that’s when we don’t want to go out and film because the weather is bad.
Matter Of Degrees
When Kelly and I purchased our camper for the Discoveries…America series we thought we might do some winter camping, so our Snow River camper seemed fine since it was rated to 0 degrees F. They do offer a model that goes to 10 or 20 below, but we decided not to spend the extra money for the winterized unit with thermo pane windows.
Our first stop on this 6-7 month filming odyssey is Utah. We started in Dutch John, Utah, located in the northeastern part of the state, with a feature on an old friend, trout fishing outfitter Denny Breer and his hobby…racing pigeons.
The trip from our home/office in Issaquah, near Seattle, was uneventful, roads bare and dry, for the most part. We do have four-wheel-drive with chains in reserve, hoping of course, never to need either.
It was spectacular weather, bright and clear with a blanket of snow punctuated by red rocks and sagebrush at Flaming Gorge.
However, temperatures in Dutch John, UT on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam were getting down to single digits at night and up to the high teens, low 20’s during the day.
Our propane furnace was working fine and everything in the camper functioned perfectly. A condition that would change as we moved on to Park City and temperatures dropped to minus double digits. But more on that later
Pigeons and Plow Horses
Racing pigeons are about as far from the garden-variety park pigeons as thoroughbred horses are from a common plow horse… not to belittle plow horses, but you get my drift.
We were pleasantly surprised to find Denny’s racing pigeons to be beautiful, exquisitely developed athletes.
When dealing with these birds it doesn’t take long to see that the term “bird brain” just didn’t seem to fit. Consider the fact that Denny’s pigeons, and thousands of others like them, can be transported 300 or even 500 miles away in a cage in the back of Denny’s truck, released in a completely strange environment and then fly back to their loft at speeds in excess of 45 miles an hour. No GPS, no map, no road signs-and they traveled to the release point virtually blind in their cages.
How many of us could even find our way back to our “nest” in a week or two under similar circumstances. These are remarkable creatures.
Fishing on the Green
Since the Green River is one of the best trout stream in the world, we couldn’t pass up an opportunity to film a little dry fly fishing on the Green.
Four abut two hours in the middle of the day, there were literally hundreds of rising trout just a few hundred feet from the Little Hole parking ramp.
We were lucky enough to put together the “three old wise men” of the Green river… Denny Breer, Emmett Heath and Doug Burton… who collectively have nearly 100 years of experience fly fishing and guiding on the Green. When they come to the river, the trout quake in terror!
Next stop…Park City
Park City is where many of the 2002 Olympic events were held. Located here are three ski resorts boasting 8500 acres of ski able terrain and nearly 50 ski lifts. On the day we arrived at Hidden Haven Campground, just 10 minutes from the ski slopes, high temperatures were in the teens and lows dropping to below zero… well below zero we would find.
We unloaded the camper from the pickup and took off for a day of filming at Utah’s Olympic Park.
Winter Vacation Thrills
It is no surprise that there are a number of winter activities here in Utah for those willing to venture out in the cold. There are bobsled rides for the public, a public Luge run, along with a museum and exhibits from the Olympic games.
At Park City Mountain Resort their jumps and pipeline bring out the best in free style skiers and snow boarders, so give it a look even if you only plan to spectate.
Pipes and Presumptions
In the snow, we know not to hook up water or sewer until you get ready to dump or fill tanks. We also presumed our furnace, running at decent temperatures, would keep everything sufficiently warm to prevent any frozen pipes. Which it did, until we awakened in the middle of the night when our water pump started pumping with a tap turned on.
We shut off the pump switch and decided the fresh water fee in from the tank to the pump had gotten too cold.
We started searching around behind cabinets and under shelves looking for the feed line. We finally determined it was impossible to reach, but that the feed tank and the gray water tank were visible from our stair storage tunnel. So we placed an electric heater in there and within a few hours all water systems were up and running fine. When initially packing for the trip, we threw the heater in at the last minute, not knowing exactly what purpose it might serve. We found out.
Later in the day we were dumping tanks and a fellow came over to give us some winter trucking tips, since he related to us he had many, many years of truck camping experience.
He suggested putting six cups of rock salt in the black and grey water tanks to keep them from freezing. I suppose since most, or I hope all, the parts and pipes in the water systems are plastic, that it might not be a bad idea. We didn’t need to try it so we don’t have a clue how valid was his suggestion.
Another valuable lesson learned in this very cold weather camping expedition: Sewer drain hoses can get extremely brittle when use din the cold!
We dumped our black water, and because it was extremely cold and an uphill dump, we needed to frequently raise and lower the flexible hose to get it to drain properly.
Kelly started creating a “wave” motion to get everything moving and it worked great with the black water. When we got to the grey water, she continued with here great wave motion.
I’m sure you can anticipate what happened. Fortunately we were at the end of the grey water dump when the hose separated on the upward stroke of the wave sending enough grey water flying to make us appreciate the fact it waited until then to surprise us
On to Salt Lake City
We spend a total of four days filming in Park City, then moved down to Salt Lake to do a segment on the temple of the Latter-Day Saints (LDS), the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a piece on the church’s humanitarian efforts. Being videographers, this proved to be an extraordinarily interesting few days.
We were able to move virtually anywhere during rehearsal and spent some time focusing on Tabernacle Choir director Craig Jessop, who we interviewed later after their presentation. The one thing that struck us while filming Craig is how aerobic is the discipline of choir directing!
Canyons of Red
Finished in Salt Lake, we headed south to the red rocks and hi desert of southern Utah. Located along Utah rout 12, National Scenic Byway, Red Canyon is the gateway to some of the most spectacular scenery you can imagine.
We had a short amount of time, but had a chance to film scenes at Bryce Canyon, without question easily as impressive as the Grand Canyon.
Kodachrome Basin
Following Grosvenor Arch, we back tracked to Kodachrome Basin State Park. It was obvious to us when we arrived why National Geographic Magazine gave it this name back in the 1950’s
The park features multi-colored rock formations in various shades of red, yellow, pink, white and brown. These formations, together with the deep blue sky and seasonal green vegetation led the National Geographical Society to so name the area, with the consent of the Kodak Film Corp.
DVD’s of the entire “Discoveries…America” series are available online atwww.Bennett-Watt.com for $24.95 each, or you can call toll-free (800)327-2893.
"Discoveries...America" Article #3
Mardi Gras!!
Fat Tuesday is only a memory now…well at least for those who can remember it!
The “Discoveries…America” production team filmed Texas after leaving Utah. This is a big, big state, but we managed to capture a flavor in a couple of weeks, visiting a longhorn cattle rancher, whooping crane tour along the coast and Goliad, which is an important historic fortress and mission south of San Antonio…Of course the river walk in San Antonio and the Alamo can’t be missed.
Next stop…Louisiana for Mardi Gras in the heart of Acadiana, Eunice.
Here was a party of extraordinary proportions, the highlight of which is a 15 mile “Mardi Gras Run” through the farmlands surrounding Eunice. When we talk about a run in the northwest we’re referring to our own two feet, sweat and muscle. Not so with this “run”.
3500 people dressed in the outlandish, wild and colorful costume of Mardi
Gras parade the countryside on flat bed trailers and horse back (1200 or so), celebrating the end of winter, entertaining their neighbors…begging for chickens and other ingredients for the finale’s big gumbo pot in town (a dinner to which everyone is invited) and generally having a great time…
There are two or three wagons with bands strategically place in the caravan…many stops for dancing and beer refills. The group consumed about 1700 cases of beer, plus a wide variety of other adult beverages. The following morning Kelly and I, since we were working, were sure we felt better than about 99 percent of the others who made the “run”.
BETTYS RV Park in Abbeville, La.…This place is a hoot. We pulled in there after traveling the Creole nature trail, looking for a little quiet, cable TV and a leisurely dinner. HA! Betty has 13 spaces and she had another 4 or 5 boondocking. When we pulled in they were in the midst of a pre Mardi Gras barbeque and dance with a live Cajun band. Betty is this vivacious lady who loves a party and runs a fun RV park…needless to say we gladly gave up the quiet night for something a bit less so.
Louisiana is an excellent state filled with music, good food, and extremely nice people… we enjoyed it, however they may have the worst surfaced roads of any state we’ve traveled so far. It seemed worse than highway 40 through Arkansas. We did find a couple of nice campgrounds in Louisiana, one KOA near New Orleans in Kenner, even had high speed wireless Internet. (A key in our search for campgrounds around the country
Kelly is hosting a new television series for Comcast Cable’s INHD high definition channel called “INHD on Tour”. This is also the channel that broadcasts the Discoveries…America series. First location, one of New Orleans, “cities of the dead”, St. Louis Cemetery #1, the oldest of the above ground burial sites there. This is the jib shot opening scene.
After Louisiana…we continued the “Discoveries…America” odyssey in Alabama…about a week into the trip we had to fly down to Chile and Argentina to film another show for a couple of weeks…while we were gone our trusty little Snowriver truck camper magically turned into a Montana 3255RL, 5th wheel trailer. Wow!!! What a difference!
We started doing a little research on our filming habits and found we were stopping in places for 2, 3 or 4 days, dumping the camper and filming the area with our crew cab pickup, so once we decided we didn’t need the agility of a truck camper…it was an easy decision, though a little costly.
Of course, Alabama, may be the worst place in the U.S. to trade in a truck camper…everyone there seemed to be into motor homes or trailers. One dealer flat refused to take a truck camper on trade, but fortunately Dandy RV in Birmingham agreed to take it.
We told the salesman how many miles we were traveling each year…30k or more and he allowed as how Keystone Industries’, Montana would hold up to the punishment. It will be interesting to see how it goes. Next summer we may be taking it to Alaska. That should be a hoot.
We had the dealer take out the hideabed, and we built Kelly a desk…a couple of file cabinets with a pine top. Imagine trying to run a million dollar business from a truck camper. She deserves a huge “star” on her chart for every time she had to dig through her files buried under the Snowriver’s dining room seats.
We also installed a full-blown High Definition, on line, edit suite…it’s based on a dual processor Mac, and has a raid array of 720 gigabytes. Editor, Sterling Noren is still finishing the shows in Seattle, but I was able to give him a very tight rough cut of the Chile/Argentina show, which should save a week in editing. Same for the Alabama show.
This is a snapshot of Lago Ilanquihue in the lakes district of Chile’s Patagonia. It’s a beautiful country and there are even a few RV’s down there. Mostly travel trailers, however there is a lot of tent camping. Their economy is strong so it’s ripe for an RV “invasion”.
We spent quite a bit of time in Gadsden, Alabama, north of Birmingham about 50 miles. Our choice there was River Country Campground, since (again) they have high speed wireless Internet.
One of the last stops in Alabama was the Coondog Cemetery, just outside Tuscumbia in the Northwest part of the state. Yes this is a cemetery into which only the best coon hounds are allowed to enter. We interviewed a couple of old coon hunters who are the caretakers here. It was in better shape than a lot of “people” cemeteries we’ve seen. September 4th 1937 was the first burial here…Coondog “Troop” will be fondly remembered for being the first resident in the only Coondog cemetery in the world. Now he has about 175 neighbors. Tuscumbia, incidentally is Helen Keller’s birthplace. The community, though small, 7000 or so residents, boasts more antebellum homes than any other in Alabama.
We’re in Virginia now at the end of the first day filming. It was a terrific day with some down home old style country music with guitar maker and recording artist Wayne Henderson. His shop is just out side the town, of “Mouth of Wilson”, on the Crooked Road Music trail. He was just installing the strings on a guitar he finished and once strung had to take it on a test run, picking several old time favorites. It brought goose bumps!
One thing I haven’t addressed writing these articles is the responsibility we feel to the folks with whom we make our programs. They open their lives to us...sharing their hopes, dreams, successes, celebrations …a window into whom are these folks.
Wayne epitomizes the heart, intelligence, wisdom, soul and spirit of the mountain people in Virginia. He’s a famous, talented artist, who spent his entire day with us. He has 6 CD recordings released, a national heritage award winner who has played in more countries representing the United States than we can count..,a well traveled, brilliantly talented, humble man, who loves his art, life, and those who surround him…which really adds up to his music…you’ll love this show!
So with that piece of our emotions out of the way…back to the mundane, but real issues of “life on the road”.
As we’ve been traveling with the new trailer we’re learning and becoming a bit less nervous…wide turns and planning ahead is key. Kelly likens pulling the fifth wheel to rowing a drift boat through white water…you have to plan about 50 strokes ahead…
The wide turn aspect was reinforced when a fellow in a similar unit pulled into the campground near us with a rather large divot taken out of the left side of his trailer…turned too short around a light pole…that was just after he had ripped off his awning on a car door. That definitely qualifies as a bad day, but was a good example for fifth wheel nimrods like us.
We’re finding we can unhook and set up faster than we could dump the truck camper so that’s nice and the space is wonderful. When you consider we left mid-January and won’t get back to Issaquah, WA until November it was a necessary change. We’re pretty well full time in it. We even had one of those Italian washer dryer units installed. Our comment to the dealer was that we wanted the shortest 5th wheel possible, and still be able to get a washer/dryer unit inside. We have spent one too many hours in a sleazy, smoke/drunk filled laundromat with screaming kids running wild, when the campground machines were full or not working. Incidentally…why would a campground with 100 spaces have only 2 washers & dryers?? I guess the answer is fairly obvious.
After Virginia, the next stop will be Delaware. This unit came only with one pretty small battery for rough camping, so as soon as we find a large RV dealer we need to get a set of double golf cart batteries. The one we have will only run lights a couple of hours. I don’t think folks do a lot of boon docking in Alabama, the way this particular 5th wheel was set up.
On our way “West” we plan on stopping at Keystone in Indiana, just to say hello, and perhaps film a segment on their factory. The RV business seems to be growing exponentially. It’s a good story editorially and even though all the networks chase the “18 to 27 year olds” we all know where the power and money lies.!!!
Judging by the DVD sales of the “Discoveries…America” series the ‘boomers” are taking a lot more interest in our country with fewer air trips and more driving and camping vacations. “On the road” is a great way to see America…especially if you stay off the “interstates”.
“Discoveries…America” programs on each state are released monthly so new shows are constantly being added to the list of available DVD’s. To purchase a copy of the Discoveries…America series on DVD, please contact Bennett-Watt Entertainment, Inc., 13021 244th Ave SE, Issaquah, WA 98027, Phone: 425-392-3935, info@bennett-watt.com, www.bennett-watt.com. Or if you have access to High Definition television and cable, tune into INHD. Their website for programming is www.INHD.com.
States released so far: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Kentucky, Louisiana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Wyoming, Washington, Coming soon Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska. Currently filming South Dakota.
