Five years ago Lois and I moved to Baltimore on a whim, I am doing all right as a freelance editor and union studio mechanic and Lois has quickly risen through the ranks to mid level municipal employee. This is a comfortable life, but we both feel ike we need drastic change- the same feeling that got us here five years ago. For some time we have been talking about making our own film. Travel was the main motivator. So we have been trying to come up with an idea that will allow us to travel and end up with a film that has a shot at being marketable.
A couple months ago we went to visit Lois' cousin in Oregon. We ended up traveling up the northern Oregon coast with his band. The music is not what I am usually into, but I had a blast. The folks in the band are all really good people, and the music is honest. It's original, but very accessible. People respond to it and everybody has a good time. Last year two of them tried to tour the west coast by bike, playing shows both booked and impromptu along the way. they made it to San Francisco where their bikes and gear got stolen. The band is a four piece now, and all of them are trying to do it again at the end of summer.
On a whim I said, hey that would be a great film.
This has snowballed into Lois and I selling or giving away most of what we own (not the CB) in an effort to get out there and spend 6 weeks traveling with them, documenting the tour. We have no plans to come back either. I have a possible job in northern California in the fall and we have enough in savings to get some modest camera gear and survive until then if we use dispersed camping as our main accommodation. If there is enough time between the end of the tour and the gig in the fall, I would come back to get the bike and use my superior survivor skills to solo across the country on my 550 (a longtime itch which will only be itchier after putting her up for two months of the season.) I held out for a while, but agreed to leave the bike behind in the interest of not complicating an already impossibly complicated situation, and with no trailer, making Lois drive alone the whole time.
I know there's a recession on. Gas is out of control. Good jobs are hard to find. But both of us are more afraid of the known than the unknown right now. Lois has gotten to the point where every week she has a new responsibility but no new authority, basically tasked with making her whole department appear functional minus the credit. With five solid years of experience I think she will be highly employable wherever we end up. And I am just becoming prematurely jaded with my chosen industry. It's a lot of very hard work for people with very large egos making largely worthless cinematic crack. (like that old saying about religion, hollywood is the crack of the masses.) I figure I can find production work wherever I land, or even better, find a new line of work I never would have thought of here in my rut. Worst case at least, after the trip, when i am broke and homeless, I will know how to live out of doors.
We have been going camping every weekend to hone our skills and test our cat's ability to be a road warrior (she is a vicious rescue that only loves (doesn't want to tear limb from limb) us and has diabetes, so having someone look after her is next to impossible- anyone good with a syringe and know kung fu?), and somehow, so far, things have gone really well. It's like she is determined to not be our excuse for chickening out.
With just a little more than a month left to get rid of the rest of our pile of crap and hit the road, I thought I would reach out for advice.
Amongst the random feedback I expect to receive here,
I am looking for hidden gem backwoods campsites from Baltimore to Washington state (accessible by car or short hike.)
I am looking for people places and things that you wont find in the guidebooks. If there is anything you want to see documented on video, I will be testing our gear and road production techniques on the trip out, so suggest something cool and you might get a minidocumentary of it.
I am not looking for a voice of reason, but probably should be, so will begrudgingly accept such a voice if you feel compelled. This does not mean I want to hear how dumb I am or that I am crazy to be doing this. I know. but nothing ventured nothing gained and there is nothing you can say that will make me want to trade relative security for a shot at something great.
I dont know why exactly we feel the need for a hard reset of life. the way I am figuring it is that we are young and have no kids (diabetic cat aside) and may never get a chance to do something like this again, but in all likelyhood we will probably feel the same way in another five years in another brand new rut. Ending up with an experience is all i expect, so don;t assume I am deluded. crazy for sure. but not deluded. If it doesn't work out I feel pretty certain that the de-excessing and travel will do wonders for my outlook.
We need to start getting this thing out of our heads and on paper, and writing this out helped a lot- so thanks for reading what turned out to be a megalong post about myself. apologeez to those I bored to death.
