Got the hang of things

At least for now.
Have to start my work. NOW.
Ten thousand calls to the west coast.
NOW.
They're just waking up.
Researching human interest stories for a travel doc series.
Unique Americans, the client said.
Sponsored by a beer company.
Small towns.
People who mean something.
Do things because they're passionate about them.
Not for the fame and glory. (Like me for instance).

Life's simple for them.
In the Redwoods. Fremont. Camas Prairie.
Cottonwood. Temecula Valley. Fort Bragg.
Caspar. Willits. Bear Valley. Red Lodge. Hamilton.
On ranches. For generations. Families. Loners.

Off the grid. Celebrate their diversity, the client said.

Cutting champions, grave witchers, loggers, mustangs, tree climbers, rangers, base jumpers, sheep herders, rodeo champs, dune boarders, avalanche patrols, rescue dogs, surfers, tarot card readers, crystal healers, micro-brewers, artists, biologists, Big Foot enthusiasts, self proclaimed sausage kings, visionaries, chainsaw queens, "45 year old dirt veterans," "high tech rednecks," vintage roadsters, builders of a 7 foot Lenin Statue, (not John), in the middle of nowhere.

Real, salt of the earth, the client said.

The weather is pretty bad in Oregon in March.
You never know when it's going to rain.
Going anyway. Got a dead line.
The launch. The website.

Not like these people. Honest. Authentic. Blunt.
Crusty. Warm. Generous. Trusting. Open.
Big hearted. Take things at face value.
I understand.
Know what it's like to work on a farm.
Plant corn. Ride a 1904 McCormick
Hay Cutter hitched to a 1989 Toyota. Dig ditches.
Ride horses. Make apple cider. Live for a dream.
Get hammered by life.

Hope they don't take advantage of them.
Hope their foot print, their website, their message
is as meaningful as they say it will be.

Will be and is are two different things.
Believing is seeing. Seeing is believing.
And we shall see. Sooner than later.

(c) 2010