Day One (08.23.09) Crossing the border from Alberta into Montana wasn't that big of a deal. But as we sped to reach Salt Lake City before 1am we did get to see the first evolution of the landscape. Over several hours the prairies started to disappear and rolling foothills replaced them.
In contrast to the Alberta Rockies around Banff, I was surprised to realize that we had actually reached the mountains at first. That's not to say they weren't beautiful, but with the gradual ascent it was more like driving around peaks than being dwarfed by towering monoliths. Mind you, this was just the impression from the interstate.
Dave and I cruised south listening to everything from the Top 40 to a crazy Christian radio show where the host had the guts to go on and on about the supposed end of the world in 2011. Everyone was really friendly when we stopped for breakfast food in the afternoon in Great Falls, but stereotypes about how red of red state Montana was were easy to spot. It's kind of exactly what we had hoped for to keep the drive interesting. Montana was awesome.
Nearly running out of gas once (thanks for keeping an eye on that Dave) Montana was an otherwise fairly relaxing (if not relatively familiar) way to start off an ambitious road trip. The first day of the week long excursion had been spent, amounting to over 12 hours in the car.
It's been months since my friend Dave and I found ourselves in Southern California lounging in the desert, which is why it's great to finally have all this footage edited and ready to share. The wait and process of revisiting this footage after a few months break makes this feel brand new to me also. There's not much to say about the introduction because I explain everything within the video. For all of the edits that follow I'll explain a bit more of the back story, how we came to be in each spot, and my reactions to the destinations within these blog posts. My goal is to paint a picture of the journey as this wasn't about taking a vacation, it was about experiences. So, care to go on a video road trip? This is Indio Outio.
The evolution of Indio Outio is something that I've enjoyed sharing since the trip took place in the late summer of 2009. I never really knew how it would all turn out as my plans for editing it continued to change over the months, but part of that was because of how much great footage I was able to capture. Better to have a lot of options than too few I suppose.
This intro was initially cut in September of 2009 and helped to establish the preview trailer that I debuted at the time (hence the same opening cuts, just played in reverse). The project was going to take on more of a documentary vibe, but the challenge to screen it or successfully upload the full project the way I wanted kept things in limbo.
My decision to share a series of edits as one loose project (Indio Outio) ultimately won over my personal documentary concept, but that's not to say that the edits aren't still personal. I did cut shots of my buddy Dave and I in where available, and all the music I selected was either stuff we listened to on the trip or that I had been listening to leading up to it. In any case, the individual edits for the various destinations replaced the need for a longer set of titles, but just to share a bit of the process I thought I'd still share this portion that had been sitting idle for so long. Enjoy!
