The Dalles in Oregon; A great place to do your next film, commercial or photo shoot

Dear Reader,

It has been a couple of years since I have been to The Dalles, about a hundred miles east of Portland, Oregon.  The first time I was there was in 2005 on a Ford commercial, we stayed at the Shilo Inn (541) 298-5502.  It is a decent no thrills Inn, plenty of parking for large vehicles, next to a 24 hour Chevron station that sells diesel and gasoline.  The best rooms are the ones that over look the river.  I found the staff friendly, but they are not use to large groups checking in; our producer got frustrated a few times because the staff got overwhelmed with changes in rooms that often occur with large productions.

The Dalles was use as our staging area, we drove to Wasco on our second day, about forty-five minutes southeast of The Dalles. Wasco is a small town with a library, liquor store and a few other stores.  What is amazing about Wasco and the surrounding towns, miles and miles of wheat, corns fields and other crops, with hues of golden brown blowing in the wind with white windmills darting the landscape like trees. At night the only thing you see are red lights blinking from the windmills and thousands of stars.   

The Dalles is interesting town, there is the Dulles Dam, the largest hydroelectric power plant in the United States tours are available at the visitor center.  From the Shilo Inn there is a good view of the dam, some assorted crumbling buildings and the The Dalles steel cantilever truss bridge which crosses over to the Columbia River.  Personally I think the view of the Columbia River from the Shilo Inn is a great place to do a photo shoot at, an added bonus you won’t have the leave the parking lot.  

The Dalles has the cheapest cab fare in Oregon, Five Dollar Taxi 541.926.7272, charges only $5.00 anywhere in the city, that is a bargain.  I took the cab to find an RV dump station that I discovered using RVdumps.com, a web site that I employ for finding dump stations when I travel.  It was not an easy site to navigate a large forty foot motor home. I had to go wide and then back up to get the right pivot point.  The cost is reasonable $3.00.  To get to the Dalles dump station from the Shilo Inn, take I-84 west, exit West Dalles (2^nd Exit), right at Webber Street.  Webber will turn into River Road as it veers to the left, at Kindt Drive make a right, the dump station will be on the left about a mile down.

The Dalles is centrally located next to numerous locations that producers like to shoot at, including Mayer State Park.  Mayer offers a great view of the Columbia River and it has a large parking area for crew parking, it is only minutes from The Dalles.  The Rowena Crest Viewpoint, this look out point offers a great view of Columbia gorge and the surrounding valley.  I have been to this location numerous times on different photo shoots and commercials.  There are two ways to get there, the best way to get there from The Dalles is to take I-84 west, exit 76 towards Rowena.  Turn left at U.S. 30 W/1^st Ave and follow U.S. 30 and travel 2.6 miles to the Rowena Crest Viewpoint/Tom McCall Trail on the right.

If you are planning on filming in the Columbia gorge and the surrounding area please call me if you have any questions or if you need a motor home at 541 619 3934 or 818 317 7099.

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Moab, Utah-A great place to do your next shoot or visit

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.

 

Whiskey Petes-Primm, NV

Grand Canyon-A great place to do your next shoot

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

mgreen2528@sbcglobal.net

Mikegreenrv.com

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon Village

Grand Canyon Village