My convention reporting will not be as detailed, as energetic, or as full of vitamins and minerals as it has been in previous years. Why? Because 12 days out west will do that to a person. I'm exhausted and I'm whining about it. I won't have pictures developed for quite some time, so I have to type up my synopsis of the trip from my notes and from memory. Apologies in advance for all errors, forgotten names, and misspelled names.
Please follow along with me as I detail my trip out to the Mild Mild West.
Part 1: New Mexico
Friday, June 30
I spent the afternoon completing Choose Your Own Journey flowcharts because I wanted to show people how complex they are. (The first book: about 4 feet long and 8 inches tall. The second book: about 5 feet long and 5 feet tall. Monstrous.) I paused from flowchart-building just long enough to win the big poster from Char on Ebay, the one autographed by Clancy. I asked Char to ship it to the hotel in L.A.
Rushed to a T-shirt shop to pick up my EvacPod shirt, the one I'd been putting off making for three years. I wanted it to go to New Mexico with me. Getting that shirt done was a comedy of errors, including a faulty color printer and a disagreement between the people at Office Depot and the guy at the T-shirt shop as to which side of the transfer the print should be on. I was just happy to get the thing done and get out of there.
Home. I put First Contact in the VCR and started packing. I knew I needed to take the sleeping bag because we would have 3 people in the room in L.A. Will it fit in the suitcase? No. Can I check it as a piece of luggage? Well, Southwest Airline's web site has a list of items which may be checked. Hmmm. The list doesn't seem to include sleeping bags.
I called their 1-800 number. They've got operators standing by at 2:00 AM. Isn't that nice? A nice woman listened to my question and thought about it for 30 seconds. She finally said, "Yeah, you can check sleeping bags."
No photo albums. No way no how. Clothes, yes, I'll need those. Camera. Forgot to buy film, damn damn damn. Magazine for Joey to autograph. Extra shoes. Novels to read on the plane. Paperwork for the convention. Plane tickets. Call a cab company, arrange for a ride at 6:00 AM.
Sleep a little bit.
Saturday, July 1
I flew from Dallas Love Field to Albuquerque without a hitch. When the people beside me saw me take the sleeping bag off the luggage turnstile, I just said, "You never know when you'll be sleeping in an airport."
I caught a shuttle into Santa Fe. The land was pretty and I was still sleeping.
The New Mexico crowd consisted of Cathy, Cheryl, Deb, Kim, Amanda, Bettina, Nicole, Donna, Kelly and myself.
I arrived at the hotel around 11:00 AM. No one else was there, yet. I left the front desk a list of people's names, asking that those people be told which room I was in. I found later that they ignored the list.
I ate lunch, rested and read some more. At 4:00 I met Amanda and Nicole for the first time, along with Bettina again! I was very happy to meet my two co-authors on the CYOJ.
We walked over to another room to meet Cheryl, Deb, Cathy and Kim. Kelly arrived, and Cheryl cooked us dinner. Donna called from L.A. saying she'd missed all her connecting flights and couldn't join us until the next day. It was a bit heartbreaking because she'd really wanted to see the dream plane.
By a complete coincidence, Cheryl, Deb and Kim's room was the same one that Char and Maddie had three years earlier in 1997 during EvacPod. That was kind of neat.
Hotel management called and asked us to keep the noise down. Now, are we Earth 2 fans rowdy? I mean, are we really?
Sunday, July 2
I had a personal goal in New Mexico to see three things: Nambe Pueblo, the Dream Plane, and the crash site. Almost everything else I'd seen three years ago during EvacPod.
New Mexico in July is HOT. We each drank about a gallon of water a day while we were out there.
We convoyed in three cars out of Santa Fe and stopped on the highway to take pictures of La Bajada. This is a mesa on which most of the traveling scenes were filmed, as well as several scenes which took place on the edge of a cliff (Alonzo in NBG and the four travelers at the beginning of SOTF).
Then it was up to White Mesa, aka the Dream Plane. This is a large area of white rock and sand on the top of a hill, and very windy at times.
We believe we found the place where the transrover came over the hill at the end of 1C; where the entrance to the HUD cave was built; where Devon drove up to the HUDs with True in the back; O'Neill's grave from 1C; and where Danziger went tumbling down the hill at the beginning of TGLSNT.
Cheryl got all this on gear.
Donna called while we were there to say that she'd landed at Albuquerque. We waited while Cathy and Deb went to pick her up, so Donna got to see the dream plane, too. However, Donna did miss Nicole doing cartwheels down a rocky hillside.
From there it was on to Tent Rocks. They now charge $5.00 a car, but it doesn't look like they enforce it. There's a place for you to fill out an envelope and stick it in a box.
This is where TMWFTE(2) was filmed, and we discovered the shot they used of the campsite as seen from above. It's a state park with really neat rocks formed into the shape of cones by the wind.
There's a cave some ways off, and we all hiked to it. It was hot, so we all collapsed when we reached the cave. Cheryl and Deb were the last ones to arrive. As they trudged up the hill, huffing and puffing, Cathy said, "Two humanoids on approach: they are alive."
Some of us climbed into the cave. We took a bunch of pictures and left.
It was on to Cochiti Lake (Martin Lake as Mary knows it). We hiked around looking for the shot in "Water" where Danziger went tumbling down towards the lake. Cheryl insists it was on the other side. Where she was pointing, I saw a cliff that looked like any other, but I'll take her word for it.
We ate at Applebee's and came back to the hotel, where Deb had received an e-mail from Joey Zimmerman's mother saying that Joey and Clancy would put on a fencing exhibition at the con. Clancy's attendance was news to us, so we got Kim to ask him to confirm. (He knows Kim.) He said yes, and a great shout of triumph erupted from the Lamplighter Inn in Santa Fe.
Monday, July 3
Not many people realize that July 3 is "National U-Turn Day." We did, and we honored it accordingly.
We shopped at the grocery store for lunches to take with us and headed for Chamisa Trail. This is where the biodome was set up, and many scenes were filmed in this area. We searched the mountainside to the right and the woods across the street. We're pretty sure we found the place where Julia was left at the end of TEW, which seems to be only a few feet away from where the dunerail broke down with a flat tire in that same episode. We also think we found the place where Morgan set off the geolock.
Up the road is the building which used to house the Evergreen Restaurant. It's closed now, but the hillsides behind it were used for sledding scenes with Uly, True and Devon; where Julia slid down the hillside to discover the frozen Terrian; and where Baines stuck two sticks in the ground in TBWWBTK. We also think it's where Devon and Julia faced off in VR.
On to Diablo Canyon, where "Water" was filmed. This is where most of our U-Turns were executed. The road was gone, and no matter how many times we traveled up and down the highway looking for it, it persisted in being not there.
We found another road. It's long and bumpy. We have directions, if anyone is interested. We hiked around for a bit while we were there, and took pictures of the place Devon was driving in the dunerail to get Danziger at the end of the episode, and the place where the rest of the Edenites were camped.
We stopped at another vantage point on the way back to take more pictures of La Bajada. Cheryl chased Kim around with the video camera.
We returned to Santa Fe and dropped Kim off at The Jackalope to meet her friends so she could go to Roswell, then we went to Austin's to eat. In the hotel room we caught a Frankenstein movie with Clancy as the monster.
Kim came back briefly to get her stuff and we took a group shot of all of us in the hotel room. Being the same hotel room as the one used by Char and Maddie during EvacPod, it was a bit of deja vu for me. We took the group shot in the same place as the EvacPod shot, with the same camera.
Tuesday, July 4
We went to Nambe, which is a very beautiful place. The touristy side of Nambe features a trail up a mountainside. It ends at a point overlooking a beautiful waterfall. It's quite spectacular.
We went to the non-touristy side of Nambe. On one side is a fence saying "No Trespassing," but on the other, it's clear. We found the place where Alonzo sat on the rock and where Julia threw away her communicator in "Redemption"; the place where Julia was looking for Alonzo in NBG; Eben's grave; perhaps the place where True screamed in MP and made everyone come running; and where Morgan played the drums in AAE.
Ever onward. We took pictures of Black Mesa (Morgan Mesa) from the highway. This is featured in COM when Bess tells Morgan about her "thoughts."
We tried to get into Santa Clara reservation, where COM was filmed, but they were closed.
Traveling through Los Alamos, I could see why the town was evacuated during the fires. The hills above the town were covered with the blackened, upright remains of trees. The Jemez Mountains told the same story.
We stopped at Valle Grande, the huge volcano, and took pictures. This volcano is now a large field, and it's what Danziger sees through his jumpers at the very beginning of ATT.
We kept stopping to compare David Bergeaud's pictures with the surrounding landscape, and finally found the crash site. It's right by the road, and a beautiful place it is, too. The day was just as bright and as green as it was on the show. We took 1,000 pictures before leaving.
A little further up the road is the Soda Dam, a limestone (I believe) wall which was deposited by the water, then eaten through by the water, making a nice waterfall and a water slide for the adventurous.
Back at the hotel, we learned that our one and only dealer for the convention had canceled. We now had no source of pictures for people to buy. This was a problem.
Wednesday, July 5
Garson Studios. Perry Kesler was our guide. He showed us the studio floor where the show was filmed and the place where they built the sets. There is a large poster of Earth 2 in a glass case still hanging in their offices, and we took pictures of the corner office which Steven Spielberg sat in when he visited.
We hiked across the campus of the College of Santa Fe to see Amy Morrison, a member of Earth 2's art department, and chatted with her for a while. Back at the studios, Perry introduced us to Chris Quintana, a teamster driver who had driven the cast and crew out to the filming sites. He remembered the show and described how to get to some of the places, including where the cargo pod was located in 1C. They were all very friendly and thought it was neat that fans of the show were still around and still interested in it.
At this point, Bettina, Amanda and Nicole set out driving for Los Angeles, and Donna went to the airport. Deb stayed in the hotel to take care of con business, and the rest of us set out for the cargo pod crash site. This is a canyon with white cliffs, called "Plaza Blanca."
It was obvious upon arrival that this was the place, but we were never sure about the exact spot.
Thursday, July 6
Cheryl, Deb, Cathy and Kelly left in the morning to catch their flight to Los Angeles, leaving me all alone in Santa Fe. So I rented a car of my own, drove out to the ranch owned by Antonio Sabato, Jr., knocked on his door, and chatted with him all afternoon.
Not really.
I did rent my own car. The guy at the car-rental place recognised my Doctor Who T-shirt and we chatted Who stuff for a few minutes.
I drove to Albuquerque to ride the tram up to the top of Sandia Peak. (I had learned that Sandia means watermelon.)
The tram ride is gorgeous, and I highly recommend it to anyone going to Albuquerque. At 2.7 miles, it's the longest tram ride in the world, going over pine-covered valleys and cliffs. It ascends 4,000 feet, and at times the ground was around 900 feet below. Parking for the tram ride is $1 per car, tickets for the tram ride are $14 per person. There are hiking trails all over the mountain, skiing, and a restaurant at the top called "High Finance." And the best thing of all is that the temperature at the peak is 20 degrees lower than at the base. It was great!
I drove back to Santa Fe to collect my luggage and return the car, caught the shuttle back to the Albuquerque airport, and flew to Los Angeles.
I arrived in L.A. just before 10:00. I met George Cifrancis, coming in from Ohio, and we drove to the hotel together.
Part 2: Los Angeles
Friday, July 7
I got to meet Maggie, Kay, James, and John again, and I got to meet Nancy the (still) Newest Heller's Angel for the first time.
I was slated to go to Universal Studios, but I was needed to help with the convention, so I put off the trip to Universal. Cathy, Cheryl, Deb, Ona and I did con stuff. This included contacting other potential dealers to replace the one who had canceled. (We couldn't find one.)
In the evening we had a party in the con suite. I met fans of The Pretender and we watched music videos and the blooper reel and all sorts of other stuff.
Saturday, July 8
Kim and I spent a couple hours going up and down Hollywood Boulevard buying any pictures we could to bring back to the convention to sell to the attendees. We didn't get back until 11:30, so I missed the first set of The Pretender guests.
Lunchtime finally arrived. I sat with the Zimmermans and Joey's girlfriend Mindy, who has a smile like a 600-watt spotlight. Lisa Ebeyer was there with her little one, as was Kirk Trutner, Jana Marie Bonar and Bill Traetta. Kevin Pike was scheduled to appear, but he had to work and did not show up.
This is the very first Earth 2 convention ever at which Rockmond Dunbar did not appear. He is the only Earth 2 person who, until now, had attended every single fan-run event to which celebrities were invited.
After lunch we had the main Pretender people go up on stage. I was sitting at the registration table when a man came walking in. I nodded a greeting to him before I realized it was Clancy Brown.
I had always wanted to meet Clancy because I have read in interviews about his love for sci fi and how well educated and well-read he is. But I have always feared that to really talk with him I'd have to hack my way through a crowd of adoring women (adoring him, not me).
He spent a few moments looking at all the stuff laid out on the table, then crouched down to look inside the box which held The Pretender scripts which one of the crew had brought. While he crouched down out of sight, he caught my eye and waved me over. I bent down next to him.
"Who are those people on stage?" he asked quietly.
I told him they were The Pretender Exec Producer Craig Van Sickle and actors Jamie Denton and Richard Marcus. He tried to recall if he'd ever met them, but he evidently hadn't.
After the Pretender people were finished, we had an autograph session with them because Jamie Denton needed to leave early for a play. We sold most of the photos which Kim and I had bought that morning, and I sold a few of the CYOJ books.
Then we had the Earth 2 panel. It was all the people I mentioned earlier, plus Patrick Bauchau. They were funny and witty. We learned that Jeff Diest passed out from heat stroke his first day on the job, and almost got fired because of it.
The cast and crew of Earth 2 had to lug cameras and wear costumes in that 100+ degree heat we encountered in New Mexico. Something to remember.
Clancy was charming and funny, and he's very quick-witted. He seems like the kind of guy who is very easy to like. His wife and little girl showed up later, and his little girl and Lisa's little girl had fun running around the hotel.
If I heard correctly, Joey Zimmerman is now old enough to drive.
Halfway through the panel, Patrick Bauchau somehow slipped off stage and out the door with hardly anyone seeing him go. Earlier, Cathy had asked him and Clancy about Devon's choice of whom she would have stayed with. I honestly don't remember the answer. I think Clancy pointed at Patrick. ☺
I asked Clancy about Starship Troopers, and we talked about that for a while.
When the panel was over, Clancy and Joey donned fencing outifits and put on a fencing demonstration. Clancy called Kim by name to come over and help him put his outfit on. ☺ I'm not sure if Kimmie really remembers the rest of the day.
The fencing was pretty neat. Clancy won, 5-4, because of his longer reach.
During the autograph session I got Clancy to personalize the poster I'd won, and Joey signed it as well. I gave Joey the second CYOJ book (I'd given him the first last year). Nicole, Kim, Amanda and I all signed it for him.
(Damn! I just remembered that I was already collecting autographs in my calendar. I could have had Clancy sign that and I completely forgot.)
We ended up going to the City Walk at Universal Studios for dinner, at a place called Bucca di Beppo. It took a long time to get seats, but when we did, we were loud. Kirk stuck wine corks in his ears and hung spoons from his nose, while Cathy crawled under the table. When we left the restaurant, Nicole did another cartwheel right outside.
I am not making this up.
After dinner we hung out at the Hard Rock Cafe for a few minutes before heading back to the hotel.
Jana told us she was planning on having a barbecue at her house for Earth 2 fans the next evening.
Sunday, July 9
We piled into a van supplied by a company called Van Go and went to Leo Carillo beach, where they shot scenes for BNP. There was a small sea lion sunbathing on the rocks, and the people who went this year found a few filming places we'd missed last year, mostly because Kim had screen captures with her.
In the afternoon I went with Maggie, Cathy and Donna to Hollywood Boulevard, where we purchased more Earth 2 pictures and some of the scripts. Back at the con, we were hoping Kevin Pike would show up during the afternoon, but he didn't.
We watched more videos and had a few discussions. Then we announced the winners of the Koba Awards and the winners of the Centre Awards (for Pretender fan fiction). I won two Kobas! Nicole won four awards, the most for anyone, I believe.
Ashley, Kay, Jim, and I went to a club called the "L.A. Connection" to see Joey Zimmerman perform improv comedy. When we walked in the door, we were asked to write a funny quote from a TV show or movie onto a piece of paper. I wrote, "There's only so much reality a man can take. – Earth 2" and put it in the pile.
Joey has recently been moved to the advanced class and it was obvious why. He was really, really good. My favorite that he did was an impression of Christian Slater that was so on-target it was frightening. Ashley got video footage of it, for they allowed cameras.
There were about 10 performers, only three of which performed in the skit in which they took quotes from the audience. Joey was one of those three, and the first quote he pulled out was the one from Earth 2! That was so cool. He told us after the show that he saw the Earth 2 on the paper, but it didn't slow him down at all. He just read the quote and continued on with his performance. He really is very funny and very professional.
We spoke with Joey briefly after the show and went to eat. Jana was having a barbecue at her house at this time, but I had completely forgotten. ☹
Jim went to the airport, and Ashley, Kay and I hung out in Ashley's room at the hotel. Ashley showed us the Captain Power episode where Jessica's character dies, and we chatted for a while.
When I got back to my room, I found I had a message from The Pretender actor Paul Dillon. He said, "Sorry I couldn't make it, hope you guys had a good time, I have a few things to donate. Thanks, bye."
I wrote down his number, resolving to call him in the morning.
Monday, July 10
Took care of some last-minute convention business. Tried to call Paul Dillon, but found it was a voice mail. I decided to call again later because I've never seen the point of playing phone tag. I put that piece of paper in my day planner, and I went to Universal Studios with Cheryl, Deb, Ona and Kim. Cathy left to visit a relative.
We saw the Terminator show again (which is just sewper!), bought some souvenirs and other stuff. We returned to the hotel to see Ona off, then returned to Universal for more rides and more shopping. Kim desperately wanted to go on the ET ride again, so we did that. This time I heard ET say some of our names at the end of the ride, but I didn't hear him say mine. Hmmm.
The names we gave to ET were not our own. Kim was Bess, Cheryl was Julia, Deb was Devon, and I was Danziger. I think.
We got back to the hotel. I looked for the piece of paper with Paul Dillon's phone number on it. I couldn't find it anywhere. I searched my day planner three times.
Tuesday, July 11
Cheryl, Deb, Kim, George, Kelly and I went down to Hollywood Boulevard again and did some more shopping and sightseeing. We got Kim back to the hotel in time to see her off to her flight home, then went to the Universal City Walk again for more last-minute shopping. We saw The Patriot in the theater which Universal has right there at the City Walk. It was a pretty good film.
When we got back, I searched for the Paul Dillon phone number again. Still didn't find it. By this time, I've got Deb e-mailing Leslie at the Pretender production office for help contacting him, as well as trying to check the phone logs from her room.
Wednesday, July 12
Cheryl and Deb checked out of their room, as they had to leave that night, and I packed. I was going home. :::sniff::: I was able to say good-bye to Donna, Maggie, and Nicole, who were in another hotel in Anaheim by this time, and I got to say good-bye to Amanda and Bettina. George, Kelly, Deb, Cheryl and I ate lunch, and I was off to catch a plane. It took me back to Dallas.
I unpacked and found that damned phone number. It was right where I'd been searching for it all along, buried inside the folds of one of my purchase receipts.
All in all, I had a wonderful time. Hope everyone else did, too.