Coach D's Blog

Post-Bus

I’ve had a week to reflect on the 2009 HTV Bus Tour, our 3,400 mile journey to the east coast and back.  

Some random thoughts in case someone is still checking this blog:

*Teachers I heard from wanted to know how we did this, especially how we funded it.  I wonder how hard projects like this will be to finance in the coming year given the economic mess we’re in.  It was not easy for us to fund this trip—we found some real heroes in the 11th hour, or we would have been forced to turn around somewhere in Indiana and cut it short!

*The Internet access we had on the bus was crucial.  It was often slow, and on two days, pretty much non-existent for some reason, but geez, it was nice to have access to the world outside the bus.

*Just as in any broadcast competitions we enter, written feedback is golden, and the comments left on our website about the students’ stories were so nice.  Thanks to all who took the time.

*A good bus driver relieves you of a lot of worries.  We had one.

*The reason I can not live in a big city is the time-consuming aggravation of just getting from one place to the next.  I can be at work in 12 minutes, at my parents’ home in five, and there are places to eat, groceries to purchase within ten minutes of my house.  I don’t need 40-minute commutes, or bus, train and subway schedules, to complicate my life.  I’m spoiled by Springfield’s simplicity, I guess, and this trip reminded me of that.

*If we had it to do over again, I would have stayed two nights here and there instead of so many one-night stay-overs.  Of course, it would have cut down the distance we could have gone, but maybe made it less hectic.  

That’s about it.  Overall, we had a blast.  What about next year?  We’ll see.  You never know where the 33rd HTV trip will take us.

Zzzzzzz.....

Got home at 6:30 a.m. and yes, we had to unload in the rain. 

Hit the sack at 8 a.m., got up groggy, but somewhat rested, at 1 p.m.

Watched last week’s “24” at 1:30 p.m. because well, Jack is in deep trouble.

Now rooting for Mizzou against UConn, and trying to stay awake.

Exciting blog, exciting day.

Rainy Return

We are driving home and it’s a little after 4 a.m. and we are tired.  We are riding through southeastern Missouri in a dark, heavy downpour.  Eli says we’ll make one more stop in Willow Springs, then the next time we pause, it will be to unload in the Hillcrest parking lot, where we began ten days ago. 

Kids are still finishing final edits on the last stories we shot in Nashville Thursday night and Friday.  Their deadline is well, daylight.  

All but one team has done voiceovers.  That’s an interesting event on the bus.  The kids get under a blanket, use the boom mic, and record directly into Final Cut Pro via the “Voiceover” tool.  Everyone on the bus gets quiet when someone yells, “Speed!” We’ve borrowed that word from Hollywood for years.  It’s a simple, easy way to get everyone to quiet down.

Nashville was a great place to wrap up the trip.  We shot some great stories Thursday night and Friday, had some great food, and some of us went to the Grand Ole Opry for the first time ever.  Rodney Atkins and BIlly Currington definitely had our HTV girls singing along from the 22nd row of the balcony.

So in a couple of hours, the most ambitious trip we’ve ever taken will end.  It is the 32nd time an HTV staff has traveled since our first journey in 1994.  I think this has been the best educational experience possible.  I hope you have enjoyed reading about it on this blog, and on the student blogs.  

Watch our website the next two days for fresh stories.  The way our production cycle worked, we were always two days behind our actual location.  That bought us time to edit, and time to see the sites along the way.  All work and no play makes even teenage broadcasters a lot less fun on the road.

Oops.  Gotta help a crew about six rows back.  See you later.