It was great, but I'm happy to be home.

We left our hotel room in Tennessee just before daybreak yesterday morning, and drove for an hour before stopping at a Shoney's in Bristol, Virginia, where we ate their breakfast buffet. Afterward, we continued driving north, making many stops along the way for bathroom breaks and snacks. I filled that time shooting video, as well as devouring Filmmaker magazine, which we got in the SXSW Goody Bags for free. It was weird reading an interview with Barry Jenkins just days after speaking with him extensively. For dinner, we stopped at The Country Cupboard for dinner. I had some type of hot roast beef sandwich with onions and melted cheese. The Country Cupboard also has an adjoined store that sells candy, baked goods, and many other things. I bought a smidge of Peanut Butter Oreo fudge and ate it on the way home.

The last piece of video I shot was the sign that read "Welcome to New York". It was very dark, and my battery power was very low. I got back home around 10 O'Clock or so, took a shower, and went back to sleep.

Now that this is all done and over with, I'm more eager than ever to work on the DVD. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can work on everything else. A big priority for me this week is to finalize getting the interviews scheduled. There is one thing that is of concern to me, however.

From the time I first saw Mutual Appreciation, I have wanted to make a narrative feature film. For awhile now, I've kind of set the idea aside because I've been preoccupied with putting together another documentary, and also, I couldn't find anything worth pursuing. Yesterday, somewhere in Virginia, I came up with a perfect idea--or at least one that for me would be worth my time. I don't want to abandon the documentary, but I feel like this idea comes from a much deeper place than anything I've pursued to date. If I'm able to get this one off the ground, it would the type of movie I've wanted to make since I was in college. An idea I had well before Andrew Bujalski and others were on my radar.

Right now, though, I have to go get my father's truck, help him e-mail pictures, and work on a panel for The Film Panel Notetaker.

Walking In Memphis

The first thing we did after we crossed the Tennessee Border was miss a ramp into Memphis, which had us driving around to find it again for 20 minutes. Then we stopped at the Lorraine Motel, now the Civil Rights Museum. They had the lunch counter from the Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth's where a sit-in was held in 1960, the bus where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, and the room where Martin Luther King was staying where he got shot. I really want to go back to Memphis, and spend an extended amount of time there. So much to cover.

We drove through Tennessee, and through the northern part of The Great Smoky Mountains, through Nashville and elsewhere. We ate at a place called Peerless in Knoxville for dinner. Since it's lent, I ate a shrimp po-boy. We drove another hour before checking into this Super 8 in Morristown. During the drive, I shot video, a book on making documentaries, and re-listened to a panel on self-distribution.

Hopefully I will be home late tomorrow night. Oh yeah, tomorrow night's screening of Saint Misbehavin will have none other than Neil Young. I will be jealous of that audience.

In Austin, at Last.

I got into Austin about an hour ago. The hotel room I'm in is a little cramped for two people, but I think in the time that I reserved it (hotel rooms in Austin fill up quickly) it's a steal. It's also clean, and that's all I ask for, really.

After we left our room in Cave City, we drove an hour and a half to Nashville, where I checked out Music Row (where all the Record Companies are), a statue of Owen Bradley, and took a picture of Noshville, a legendary deli in Nashville. Then we stopped for lunch at a Denny's in Jackson, where we were served by an obnoxious waitress. Despite some setbacks, we eventually made it to Memphis, and toured Beale Street. The doorman at a restaurant gave a tour of his place, which is chock full of Elvis' high school memorabilia. Hopefully, we'll stop there on our way back--I hope to see the Stax Museum, The Lorraine Hotel (where Martin Luther King got shot), and Sun Studios. We drove through Arkansas and spent the night at a Super 8 in Mount Pleasant, Texas, which is by and far the worst Super 8 I've stayed in.

Today was spent driving through Texas. We drove through Dallas and Waco, and on the way, we stopped at Willie's Place in Carl's Corner. Willie's Place, for those of you not in the know, is a convenience store and greasy spoon owned by Willie Nelson. It is also the only place in the country that I know of that sells only Bio Diesel fuel. Anyway, the place sold a ton of Willie Nelson memorabilia, and also had some of Willie's Gold Records on display. There's also a performing venue, but nothing was going on at the moment. When I called my mom and told her about my visit, she asked,

"Did it stink of reefer?"
"No," I said.

Willie's Greasy Spoon (I forget the actual name of the place) served their dishes in huge portions. My mother added, "Yes. Probably because after you smoke pot, you want to eat a lot."

Get your mind out of the gutter, Mother.

I'm going to kick back and browse through my e-mails, then take my father to Guero's Taco Place.