Dear
Reader,
Last
month a good client of mine asked me if I was interested in doing a photo shoot
in the Grand Canyon. I made a search on Google and discovered that the Grand
Canyon is about five hundred miles from Los Angeles or about a seven and a half
hour drive. In my motor home it took me
about nine hours because I had to refuel a few times and I drove about sixty, a
lot slower than most people would drive. Actually I had enough range to make it
all the way to the Grand Canyon, I can travel about 900 miles on a tank. I wasn’t sure if there was a diesel station
in town. There is a Texaco in town that
sells both gas and diesel; I discovered when I got to the Grand Canyon Village.
When I am on the road in a motor home, I like to take my time; I like to
conserve fuel, that doesn’t mean I don’t push it, when I need to. I am not trying to set speed records. There were plenty of troopers searching like
sharks to prey upon any would be speeders.
I
left at five-thirty in the morning and arrived at our hotel at two forty five
that afternoon. I checked in, with the
production coordinator and let her know that I arrived and waiting for further
instructions, she indicated she would call me later. I decided to check out the
town of Grand Canyon Village. This is a
McDonalds, Windy’s, Pizza Hut, a couple of steak houses, pizza places and a
number of souvenir shops. We stayed at
the Holiday Inn Express, it is nice, rooms are clean; staff is awesome, plenty
of parking for large and small vehicles.
The breakfast bar was amazing; there were hot food items like sausage,
bacon, eggs, pastries, coffee, tea, a large seating area, TV and a newspaper. For dinner we ate at the Best Western, for a
Best Western, this is the most upscale BW I have ever been to; it looked more
like a 5 Star Hotel. The restaurant had
a great menu and the food was amazing.
The bar served pizza, chicken and finger foods, with a good selection of
wines and beers.
The
Grand Canyon Village is a tourist trap and I found the food, lodging and other
items on the expensive side. What do you expect, from one of the most amazing
places on earth. We are not talking New
York prices either, compared to NY, the prices for lodging, food and other
stuff is reasonable. Most of the businesses
are on State Route 64. There is a tram
that takes passengers from the Grand Canyon Village for free to the Grand
Canyon.
The
downside to my job is that I very seldom have time to enjoy the locations that
I go to; I usually arrive the day before the shoot, work for however many days and
when the project is over head back home. The Grand Canyon is on my bucket list,
it should be on everyone bucket list, it is beyond breath taking, there is so
much to see and do. If I had the time I
would like to take a helicopter trip over the Grand Canyon, a Jeep trip into
the canyon, a bus through the canyon and my personal truck to explore the
canyon. All the above options are all
available in the Grand Canyon; Village except for my truck, sorry I need my
truck.
My
photo shoot was unusual for the reason that there was a lot of traveling in
such a short period of time. Sunday I
traveled to the Grand Canyon Village, as I indicated about a nine hour drive
for me, Monday we shot in the Grand Canyon, Tuesday we traveled back to Los
Angeles, Wednesday we traveled to a film set in Palmdale. Most of the crew flew to the “Grand Canyon”,
except the driver of the production truck which had most of the gear and of
course me. There is a small airport in
the village, most people fly to Flagstaff or Phoenix, then rent a car and drive
the “Canyon”. The flight is not so
simple, if you plan in advance one might find a direct flight to Flagstaff, and
then you would have an hour and half drive to the Village. Our crew flew first to Las Vegas, a short
one-hour wait at the airport, then flew to Phoenix an hour flight, then drove
four hours to the Grand Canyon Village.
On the way back they had to repeat this process. This was one time I can say my motor home
trip was faster than a passenger jet with less hassle. Personally if I wasn’t driving my motor home,
the train is a better option, then rent a car. Amtrak stops in Flagstaff, and
you don’t have to go through all that security hassle.
On
Monday we left early to drive to the GC, we actually drove through it; then
stop about a half hour outside the park at a Navajo reservation. A couple of Navajo rangers greeted us at the
location, showed the crew where to park and then we proceeded to get ready for
the day. This is when the fun started;
first there was a little rain, no problem.
Then there was a little wind, no problem. Then the rain and wind hit us like a Mack
truck. Tables, chairs, our catering
gear, heaters, anything that was not tied down was blowing down the canyon. Eventually catering was set up in the RV,
since it was raining so hard, the photographer shot a few photographs with the
model relaxing on the sofa, the Grand Canyon in the background. By the end of the day they got all there
shots, the rain and the wind subsided.
As I
drove back to the Village it started to snow, a light snow, it was a beautiful
way to end one my most interesting days.
The next morning I headed back to LA around eight in the morning. I stopped in Barstow to get my RV wash, it
was so dirty from all the rain and snow from the previous day. The next morning I was up at four in the
morning, heading to Palmdale. No snow
and rain in Palmdale, just blue skies and sun.
Ten thirty that night we were finished.
As a
service to my clients I can scout locations for them, provide a comprehensive
list of locations to lodge at, nearby grocery stores, dump stations, service
station, truck stops and other vital information. Since I have been in the business for over
thirteen years I keep a good data base of all the locations I have been to, so
call me Mike Green if you have any questions.
MIKE
GREEN RVs
818 317 7099 LA/Palm Springs/San Diego
415 730 7127 San Francisco/Nevada
541 619 3934 Portland/Arizona/Colorado
206 777 5192 Seattle/Idaho/Canada
323 927 1546 Fax
Mikegreenrv.com
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