Thursday, June 5, 2008

Eve

It's been a hellva day.

Yesterday, my car died. I think, for good. We'll see. I'm trying not to stress about the car or money or all the things that are sitting in judgement in the back of my brain.

Last night, Double Secret Probation (that's our Quizzo team) played in our last game before heading out tomorrow. We won!...by a narrow, narrow margin. It was a great night to end on before the trek. Geo and K both brought cameras last night...and folks at the bar were buzzing both about our (insane) plan to attend the Finals and the doc.

This morning my extremely generous neighbor loaned me her car and all my errands - including dropping off my dog at my dad's. I'm hoping she won't be too much of a handful for him. We also had RV orientation and picked up the behemoth that we'll be trekking in. I'm packing now...waiting to hand the car keys back to my friend and then hopefully getting some sleep so when I get up at 3am to shower and take the trash out (I'm waaaay too beat to do it now), I'll be able to either drive or help navigate our way east.


Not sure that I'll be able to post much on the road, but I'll try!

Here's to an open road and safe passage to the coast!

Monday, June 2, 2008

T-Minus 4

The countdown has begun

We're four days away from climbing into the RV and heading towards AC. It all seems so confoundingly insane to me - but every person I tell this story to - the trip, the finals, the doc - gets so excited by the idea (and trust me, I'm underselling this crazy scheme) - that I'm thinking we must be onto something. The rampant enthusiasm quite honestly baffles me - but solidifies my idea that this doc needs to happen.

In terms of hitting the road, I'm fairly unprepared at this stage - I need to spend tonight getting my ducks in a row. Between making sure I don't leave any unattended fires at the office, making sure my dad is ready to watch my dog (in 9 yrs, I've never had to ask him to watch my dog as she's kind of a handful) and, most importantly, prepping my doc needs (releases, interview questions, shot list, tech needs, etc.), plus all the normal trip prep (pack, bills, where to park the car, etc.)

It's all a bit of a whirlwind in my head.

Wednesday - at Quizzo. Our last game before we head out!
Thursday - our 3 designated RV drivers have orientation/training...then we pick up the RV!
Friday - Hit the road!
Saturday - Film in AC, attend finals, shoot more! (mayhaps play a few games of chance!)
Sunday - Head home.
Monday - Recouperate



Rain or Shine

We're meeting up at 4am on Friday with the intent to be on the road by 4:30am. Hopefully, avoiding the majority of the Chicagoland/Gary rush hour. This means, we should arrive in AC sometime around 7pm or so. Not sure how long stops to gas up with take (or how often they'll occur.) So it could be later than that....due to the weather.



Right now, the forecast for Friday is Scattered Thunderstorms (in Chicago) from Fri-Sun - which means we'll be leaving and coming back thru some pretty crappy weather. It looks like much of our route to Jersey will be stormy/rainy on Friday. Makes me a little nervous as 1/3 of the RV driving team. But, as long as we take our time and pay attention to the road, we should be good. The good news is that Saturday in AC (when we'll need to get the most footage) is going to be party cloudy and in the mid-70's.


I'm prepared that we won't be able to film during the actual Quizzo Finals, as it's at a casino and they are kinda anti-video cameras in those places. But, we should (fingers crossed) be able to bring in some still cameras, which is why I'm basing part of the look of the film as still shots...who knows if we'll be able to get audio....?

A lot of our local footage will be shot after we get back, but I'm getting itchy and excited to start the ball rolling with the filming!



*For the record, I'm not sure if we'll take the Skyway, as it doesn't seem worth it to pay $12-15 (RV price) to cross the bridge when it won't save us that much in time or gas at that hour in the am. I just threw it up since that glowing neon is one of my favorite signs of home from many road trips of yesteryear.