Dear
Reader,
It
is early morning in Moab, Utah; the streets are empty, with only the occasional
big rig passing through. It is a lonely
time of the day; it is my time. My day
starts early and ends late. My motor
home is already parked at the location; I arrived yesterday and position it at
our base camp. It is a scrappy dirt lot,
that a water truck has to keep wet otherwise the camp would be buried in a red
clay powder when the winds hit. My ride
arrives and in fifteen minutes I am at the motor home getting it ready for the
day. I check the generator to make sure
it is not low on oil; today the generator is going to run long and hard to cool
the motor home. I do a little last minute cleaning; it is going to be a
challenge to keep the RV clean, I will need to keep my broom nearby.
I am
at an event called “Rally on the Rocks”, at the Old Spanish Trail Arena in
Moab, Utah opened to UTV/SXS. A UTV is a
small 2-person, 4-person or 6-person, four -wheel drive vehicle also known as a
(Utility Task Vehicle). A SXS is side-by-side off-road vehicle, essentially the
same as a UTV. All the major
manufactures like Can-Am, Polaris, Yamaha, Artic-Cat, and others are showing
all their latest vehicles and letting people do a test ride. The course is great; it has a lot of banked
curves, and places to really open the throttle.
I know this because I had a chance to take a demo on the Can-Am UTV, the
Maverick and their ATV the Outlander.
I
went inside the convention hall and dozen of venders were selling third party
upgrades like tires, suspension systems, clothing and other items essential for
the off-road experience. There was even
a company selling a trailer for the UTV, which had two queen size beds, a
kitchen and a bathroom, that could easily be pulled by one of these vehicles or
a small car.
This
was not a typical commercial for me; there was no clothing stylist, no make-up
and hair artist. The crew size was
small, a few production assistants, a couple of grip people, a few camerapersons,
the clients and the production crew. The
talents are owners of UTVs/ATVs and/or people interested in purchasing UTV or
ATV for the first time. Cameras were
mounted on the vehicles and the drivers tested the UTV or ATV on the
course. This was repeated throughout the
next several days with a few variations.
This is what it takes to make a thirty or sixty-second commercial, a lot
of repetition. The commercial looks
really cool because it (Commercial) took a lot of people including a good
editor to make the product a must have item.
Personally after taking the Maverick for a spin, I was convinced that I
wanted a UTV.
When
I first got the job I had to do a search on the Internet for Moab, Utah. Moab is 725 miles from Los Angles or 354
miles from Denver. It took me about fourteen
hours to get to (Moab), driving up the Baker grade, past Las Vegas, through the
top of Arizona and then taking Interstate 70 east for about a hundred and
thirty seven miles, then south on US-191 for about 31 miles.
Moab
is great place to shoot; there is the Arches National Park, a large rock arch
that is a Utah icon. The valley itself is amazing, something you can only find
in Utah. In the town of Moab, there are
numerous places to stay; I stayed at the Roadway Inn & Suites Landmark Inn
435.259.6147. It was a nice Inn, the
rooms are spacious and clean, adequate parking for cars, large vehicles can
park on the street. There is a pool with
a slide and there is a 4 x 4 four tour.
It was a busy week in Moab; therefore our crew was placed in several
different hotels. Moab is a small town,
very RV friendly; there is a dump station in town, plus numerous RV parks. There are a number of gas stations that also
sell diesel. I stopped in Green Valley,
Utah at a Pilot (truck stop) before I landed in Moab. Restaurants lined the main street in Moab; my
clients and crew had plenty delicious options in terms of ethnic and American foods. There is a super market in town, so picking
up our favorite foods and beverages was not a problem.
At
last it was time to go home, the next morning I stopped at Denny’s for
breakfast, then drove to Interstate 70 heading west. I stopped off for the night in Primm, Nevada
at Whiskey Pete’s 702.386.7867, played my favorite slot machine, lost a couple
of bucks then called it a night. If you
have a CDL (commercial drivers license you get a discount at Whiskey Pete’s.
If
you plan on filming in Moab, Utah, call the Moab to Monument Valley Film
Commission at 435.259.4341. If you any
questions or need a motor home please feel free to call me Mike Green at 818
317 7099.
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| Whiskey Petes-Primm, NV |
