Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink ;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Rime of the Ancient RVer Mariner
Water — it does a body good.
For the moment, our Long Long Honeymoon is veering into edumacational territory. It strikes me that the gigantic edumacational elephant in the corner is made of water.
So I’m putting together an extensive video discussion of RV water management. This is the first bit of the first bit (hence the “Part 1, Part 1” designation). FRESH WATER! How much is there to say about water? So much that I can only fit a tiny fraction of it into this video. And it’s probably already too long for the average ferret on amphetaminesInternet surfer’s attention span.
Many of you more experienced RV campers will have long since mastered the nuances of water management. But for newbies, water management skills are a must! (Why does this sound like a job description?)
I’ll never forget the first time Kristy and I took our Airstream out camping. I couldn’t believe how quickly we drained our fresh water tank, and heard the telltale gurgle of a full grey water tank. (“Noooooo! NOT the gurgle!”)
When you are dry camping (camping without any water hookups), you have to become a water miser. You must learn how to shower using no more water than fills the average cola can. But more on those skills in a future video.
For many of you, this discussion of fresh water will be old hat. But many visitors to Long Long Honeymoon are newcomers to Airstreaming and RV camping. Wise ones, camping is kind of like American history. It never hurts to review what you’ve learned.
GMAs, you’re a tough crowd! However, I don’t take exception to your critiques.
I will lose the white shirt under the dark one, at least when shooting in the studio. (Why? Does it just look discordant?)
I’m with ya on the lavaliere mic placement. I was trying to ensure it wouldn’t pick up any rustling of clothes, but maybe I overcompensated.
With regard to the lighting… well, at the moment it’s winter, and I am pretty much a pale white guy. 😉 But I hear ya… Maybe a little color correction is in order. Don’t expect George Hamilton, but I might be able to jazz up my skin tone a bit. 😉
I agree that the use of VO and video inserts needs some tweaking. At times on this blog I feel like the guy who reads a rough draft of his essay in class, and then gets dressed down by the teacher. Hey, the other video bloggers give you a grainy webcam! 😀
Good point on the different hoses… another nice example of the variety of water issues we face. Yes, I’m trying to compile EVERYTHING into a series of videos. I think this will be hugely helpful for first-time RVers, and even the old veterans might benefit from the exercise.
Cheers!
Yeah! That’s why I appreciate the feedback. My goal is to produce the best quality we’re able to create…. no excuses.
I had a teacher at NY Film Academy… When we were reviewing films and a filmmaker started to make excuses (“What I meant to do here was…”) this teacher would stop and say, “What matters is what’s on the screen. Nothing else matters.” Which is true. It doesn’t matter what you “meant” to create… what matters is what you created.
With regard to studio lighting, we have a basic three-point setup. But I have modified it over the years to include CFLs (compact florescents) because they generate less heat and suck less energy. The basic setup is okay, but could probably use some tweaking.
With regard to the studio audio, I’ve tried shotgun and cardioid mics, and keep coming back to the lav as the most consistently reliable for the acoustics of our space. I just need to do a better job with mic placement. Hmmmm, I’ll consider the tape. 😉
Yes, these videos should be a big help to newcomers! When you think about it, most dealerships stop the educational process the minute you pick up your RV. Airstream gives you a gargantuan instruction manual that looks like someone Xeroxed an Encyclopedia Brittanica of engineering diagrams. These videos will help break through the clutter and speed up the learning for newbies. We pretty much had to learn the ropes the hard way (nothing like filling up that grey water tank when you are camping without a sewer connection!) so maybe we can help others have an easier time of it. Plenty to discuss! 🙂
Sean,
Good job! Looking forward to part duo.
GMAs….AKA Francis Ford Coppola…..while I agree with your attempts to improve Sean’s filming….it does not have to be entered into the Cannes Film Festival 2010.
This blog is Sean and Kristy’s experiences RVing and advise to other RVers. I only mention this because someone I know who owns a trailer and I thought would be interested in the blog and movies asked me, after viewing and reading the comments, why there was so much discussion on film making instead of RVing? That being said…the microphone on the neck did make me want to flick the :bug” off Sean’s neck!!! LOL
Ray
Fun stuff!
Sean has a minimum amount of Internet time/bandwidth to communicate a message (3-5 minutes max) and in that time he and Kristy create fun, informative videos that I check out nearly every day. I don’t even give that amount of time to my local news station! Another job well done.
The only thing I could think of Sean when you were saying that line “the good ‘bad and the ugly was Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti western with a cigar hangin out of his mouth. People forget just how much water weighs. I see so many people carting 3 full tanks. I very early on decided to purchase a portable dump tank. their expensive but well worth it. I do hope you kept the sprinkler!
Once again great job! Show season is coming I do hope you cover a show. I do think you need to wrap your entire body in plastic wrap then don the LAV mic.
LOL, thanks Ray… considering that this is mainly a camping blog, a bug-themed microphone clip might not be a bad idea! Maybe it will become my trademark… 😉
Thanks Christina! Yes, I feel this one was probably pushing the time constraint limits of Internet video. I am steering these recent videos toward more information, and that seems to take a little longer.
lol with regard to the evening news… I stopped paying close attention to the news several years ago and have been much happier since. 🙂
Matt, if I could only get the music rights to Clint Eastwood’s old whistling theme song! Then I would turn this whole video into a spaghetti Western for sure.
Great idea on covering a show. We always enjoy attending the shows, so we’ll look into it!
For my next video I plan to tape a giant shotgun mic to my head…
Bluuuuueeeeeeee Velllllvet Great movie!
Paranoia.
….and that, in a nutshell is why I always manage to completely fill my fresh water tank even if only dry camping at the races for the weekend with my pub buddies. And we all know….they ain’t drinkin’ no water…..unless you count what’s already in the beer.
Some day maybe I’ll try to stop myself from filling that sucker all the way up, but it’s tough.
So between 75 gallons of fuel, and something like 65 gallons of water? Yikes.
Now for the anecdotal portion:
Once upon a time, when “camping” at Darien Lake in upper New York State for a weekend, there were four adults and two kids using the “facilities”. We were hooked to water and electricity, but that was it.
Apparently it’s not that hard to fill a grey water tank!?
Who knew??
Um…it just sort of started coming up in places. Kind of like that opening scene from the Beverly Hillbillies, only it wasn’t worth anything.
Thankfully it didn’t smell…..
I’ve since learned that having a plastic dish pan in the sink in which to do dishes is the way to go, and then the soapy left over water goes down the toilet. Saves heaps of water, keeps you from filling the grey, and the soapy business keeps the goodies in the black tank nice and lubricated for easy extraction.
Not an original idea in the least. Read it on the internet somewhere….
Only thing is, I think I lost a knife once that way. Came up short on the knife count at one point…..
Enjoyed the video. Thanks.
Don’t fret the small stuff. (all that technical mumbo jumbo….I just gloss over it)
Keep it between the ditches.
Bob.
Sean,
Interesting what a pro video guy notices that I did not. The white tee shirt, the mike, the lighting, etc. I am sure GMA’s knows his stuff. After watching it twice, the second time looking for the shirt, the face lighting and the mike I saw it.
This is a good topic, keep it up. I hope I am not ‘all wet’ in my comments, ohh, bad joke for a water video.
lol on “Blue Velvet” Matt… maybe I’ll start the next blog with an image of a severed ear…
Thanks Bob, great tip about the plastic pan in the sink when doing dishes.
We also occasionally use paper plates … and the new pseudo-metal plastic silverware almost looks like the real thing. 🙂
It would be nice if there was some way to optionally redirect the soapy shower water to the toilet. Ah, the nuances of grey water management.
I also top off our fresh water tank any chance I get. But the most common problem we encounter is filling our grey.
Tough break for that Netherlands Olympics skater, by the way. Tougher break for his coach!
JM, if you look for errors or flaws, you will always find them. There are many websites dedicated to finding mistakes in multimillion dollar Hollywood movies and TV shows (for example, http://www.moviemistakes.com/). Those productions had multimillion dollar budgets that included staff members whose sole responsibility was ensuring no mistakes were made (for example, many films have people in charge of script continuity). And yet, there are mistakes. BIG mistakes, like cowboy hat wearing crew members being plainly visible on deck in Pirates of the Caribbean.
Suffice to say that the budget on our humble blog is a bit less than $300 million. And yet, I think we do pretty well most of the time.
With regards to wearing a white t-shirt being a “mistake?” I’m not so certain. But exposed chest hair and gold chains? THAT would be a mistake… 😉
Mommy……..mommy……….mommy! Were you ever a fan of twin peaks? I loved that series. The Movie fire walk with me was awesome. It explained the series. maybe open the next episode as “bob” from twin peaks oh man would just be great!
The movie mistake that drives me up the wall is in Top Gun. Goose would NEVER have died that way. I worked on ejection seats in the Navy and the slightest stream of air at the speed jets travel would have torn that canopy back and sheared the bolts holding the canopy hinges to the aircraft as designed. No canopy…no Goose face plant!!!
I spent ’71 stationed at Miramar, Ca with Top Gun. Now, it’s a Marine Air station and Top Gun is moved to Fallon, NV….what’s even worse…I went to aviation mechanic school in Millington, TN outside of Memphis…..Millington is now a federal prison!!! SHEESH!!!
Ray
GMA’s,
If I were making videos I would like your input. You have an Eagle eye. As to movies, contrails are in many westerans, the Under Siege movie when docking with the sub in the middle of the Pacific is dropping the anchor like it is two miles to the bottom of the ocean and ships carry that much anchor chain, or even in Twister when the 18 wheeler gas truck and cow fly? I don’t think so. But, they are entertaining. I like Sean’s videos and think he is doing a service for the RV community and Airstream. The topics are good and show people using the product for freedom and travel. So many RV videos and books are all about how to fix a 12 volt problem, or to fault check the refer dyno board, or something else. Sean brings inspiration to actually getting out there and using the RV for what it was intended for. And that is good. And that is why I watch them.
Thanks JM & GMAs for your comments.
GMAs, very interesting bits about the tornadoes. I hope you had a camera when frozen horses started falling from the sky! See, this is why I carry my cameras with me everywhere… you never know when something bizarre will happen. 🙂
I agree that a lot of RV video is a little “techy” and a little dry. My goal with these educational videos is to bring a little humor to the information, and hopefully lighten things up a bit.
For starters, I’m trying to tackle “stuff I wish we’d known,” if you know what I mean. A lot of you guys will already know much of this stuff, but for newcomers, it will explain things in plain English. As every football coach will tell you, one must start with the FUNDAMENTALS. We need to block and tackle before we start running flea flickers.
Eventually I’ll group together ALL of these videos. Believe it or not, there is an outline! 😉
These videos are more about information than artistry. (Maybe I should come up with a name for the educational stuff? Hmmmm) But I will try to toss in some good humor along the way.
That bit about “54 gallons” in the water video? In the original piece, I mistakenly said “60 gallons.” Even though it really DOESN’T MATTER, I knew someone out there would give me a hard time about it. (“Hey! A 2003 Classic only has a 54 gallon tank, not 60!”) So I added the silly voice and popup, and I think it actually made the video better! I want to do more of that stuff, to surprise the audience from time to time.
One of my goals this year is to do some shooting on an Airstream documentary that will be more ambitious from a filmmaking standpoint.
On a side note, this week I created a short film about one of our favorite artists, a painter named Justin Gaffrey. I will post it on the blog. It will give you a taste of what films I might create outside the usual Long Long Honeymoon entry. It’s a little different from our typical blog, but you may like it. Stay tuned!
GMA’s,
I forgot to mention that it only took one viewing of Twister and I was at the Dodge dealer purchasing a Cummins 2500 king cab 4×4 truck. I know the movie used a gasser but I wanted the diesel. Movies can have a powerful purcahse influence on us.
I always look at the sky in movies as it can tell a lot about the different days it was filmed. A classic example is American Flyers filmed in Colorado (mostly) in the Grand Junction area. In some of the bicycle racing scenes in the Colorado Monument the sky is clear, in some almost thunderstorms; obviously a cut and paste from different times. Still, an excellent movie and one of only a very few about bicycle racing.
Sean,
One thing you do with the cam is to attach it to the Airstream while underway. That has a great effect and is very interesting to watch. You have never put out a boring video and I hope you keep ’em up. The videos come across as ‘feel good after watching’ and I like that and am sure most viewers also do. I think you are on to something good.
Thanks JM, I appreciate your noticing the vehicle mount shots. Those aren’t always easy to do! Sometimes we burn through a lot of camera media because it takes an eternity to find a place where we can stop and dismount the cam. For example, in Maine when we were crossing this huge bridge…
Today I am posting our video about the artist. Next week we’ll return to more water discussion!
LOL GMAs, we still have the Wii Fit, although it’s not exactly worn out from overuse. 😉
Wii Fit is a great exercise tool, but we had some issues using it in our Airstream. My advice to anyone getting a Wii Fit is to start it and stick to it! The key is to establish habits for using it. My habits were broken when we hit the road last year (if you’ve ever tried exercising inside a 25-foot Airstream, you know why).
One of the best aspects of Wii Fit is that you can use it 10-15 minutes at a time… In other words, instead of one 30-minute session, you might do 2 or 3 shorter sessions, whenever you want to take a brief break from work. But you gotta be in the habit.
We are actually kicking around the idea of getting personal trainers. It’s kind of expensive, but I suspect half of Hollywood (the fit half) stays fit that way! At this point in my life, I have no goals of being Mr. Olympia… I’ll settle for just being somewhat normal… 🙂
Sean,
For fitness, one thing I try to do is go on serious bicycle rides. None of that around the campground stuff in the evening waving at the other campers. The bike can be ridded almost everywhere you camp, for any length of time, and is relatively inexpensive (well, sort of inexpensive after the inital purchase price as bikes are expensive), and should you and your wife opt for a tandem you just solved the unequal fitness and stamina issue. Winters can be tough to get out, but if you can head south for some time or to California you can still ride. Also, the friendship factor is there as is going someplace in deference to being in a gym, etc. There is also an elation feeling of completing a century ride, double century, etc. Stuff you were way to smart to do when 16-17 years old, we now do to see if we still have what we never had before when younger. . Not for everybody, but since you have bikes you might try it. It is also easy on your joints, probably the most easy outside of swimming. We typically take a tandem with us on camping trips and use the TT as home base at camp. Hook up that helmet cam and head off into the sunset. Just a thought, it might work and combines fun with exercise and going someplace beyond the four gym walls.
Thanks JM, I will look into the tandem biking. I’m sure it would be fun. We do enjoy riding our bikes, but ours are not anything special (just your basic off-the-rack el cheapo bike).
I have a friend who lost huge amounts of weight — and kept it off — by simply WALKING. He walked about 6 miles a day, 3 in the morning, and 3 in the afternoon. He didn’t really do anything radical to his diet. He just … walked… EVERY… DAY.
GMAs, this gets to your point. Wii Fit is a cool device, but in the end the device won’t make you exercise. Hopefully it will encourage you to exercise, but ultimately it’s up to you!
With regard to the 25-foot Airstream, I simply mean to say that it’s a tight space to do Wii Fit. Impossible? No, but very tight, especially if you are 6’2″ and your floorspace is consumed by a large Porta-Brace bag, a Sony EX1, a tripod, a PC, etc. It requires quite a lot of packing just to clear out a space where you can exercise.
There’s fantasy and there’s reality. The fantasy is that we travel to exotic locales in our RV (where the weather is always perfect), spend all of our time exploring the great outdoors, eat healthy low calorie organic meals, and are perfect specimens of physical fitness. But reality for most RV owners is a little different, especially for full-timers. You end up spending a lot of time in your RV (it’s tough to edit video in the woods, especially on a rainy day). This is why people buy those big 5th wheels…
I’m not making excuses. Like I said, you can lose a lot of weight by simply WALKING if you walk every day. It’s crucial that we establish the right habits and stick to ’em.