home videos shows tales contact

"Tales from the Open Road"

Schedule:

June, July, August: shoot "The Great Rocky Mountain RV Adventure!"

GEEZER GATHERING SCHEDULE! June 26-28th
June 26th: 4:00pm party at the Stonebridge - bring your slides, photos, and DVD's with photos
June 27th: 12:00pm BBQ in the park, volley ball, baseball, horseshoes, BYOB (bring your own broom) etc... paramedics will be on call
June 27th: 7:00pm party on the deck of the Dragon - bring photos again for anyone who missed Friday or was too drunk to see photos the night before - paramedics will be on call
June 28th: 12:00pm Brunch Silver Tree/ Eldorado
June 28th: later in the day most folks leave to rest for 35-years and the next reunion!
FACEBOOK PAGE

 
 

In May I spent a lot of time working on our "Geezer Gathering" in Aspen/Snowmass CO next month. Jodie and I were going to be passing through the area filming this summer so I contacted a couple of old friends from the mid-70's to see if we could get together. Now it's turned into a full scale three-day party! I just hope I can keep up the pace! In the old days I could party for month's at a time. I stayed up for 3-weeks in a row once in 1976! Today, if I stay out after mid-night I have to rest for 3-days! Check out Facebook for some great photos. It will be great to see some old friends again. Come to think of it, my 40th Cody High School Reunion should be taking place in Detroit next year. How did I get so "old", so fast?

PS - is anybody out there planning the 40th Cody Reunion? I just got some emails from classmates asking about it. We need to start getting it together soon!

I've also been trying to get together our summer filming project. We were having a hard time getting an RV sponsor to provide us with an RV for the shoot, but Roadtrek just came through last week with a beautiful rig that gets 22 MPG!! I thought we were going to have to film the adventure with our Sebring Convertible! More about that great news next month! Now that we have an RV I have time to start planning what we will film for the video. We'll start shooting the project on June 21th, heading north up through the beautiful Rocky Mountains from New Mexico to Jasper Albert Canada. First I have to find out where the Rocky Mountains officially begin. I know it's in northern New Mexico but I can't find the exact location online. There should be a sign or marker or rock or something! I called the NM tourist bureau and they said "huh"? I hope I find it soon! Let me know if "you" can figure out where the hell it is!

Things are pretty quiet around the Voyager Resort this time of year. Most of the snowbirds have headed north for the summer. We did get to enjoy several more parties and dinners in the neighborhood with the folks who are still here. Jodie is a social butterfly and everyone knows her so we get invited to a lot of get-together's. Trevor Jones came in from Phoenix for lunch. Our band in Maui Hawaii worked with him back in the early 80's. He's got a great act and really gets the audience going. In a few weeks he'll be leaving Phoenix to perform on Catalina Island in CA this summer. If you ever get the chance to see him play you are sure to have a good time!

Jodie's Corner: While John was at home I went to Phoenix with my friend Sheryl who was taking an anesthesiology class for her dental hygiene profession. She needed a patient who she could practice Novocain injections on. In the 4 1/2 days I spent with her she injected me over 20 times!! What was I thinking!! I HATE shots and I HATE the dentist even worse!! But we had lots of fun when we weren't in classes being tortured. We ate well and I was able to take a nice LONG walk everyday, plus I had lots of time to work on making jewelry while Sheryl was studying.

I tried to start using a PC based editing system for my new HD project but just couldn't "get it." I'm used to working with a Macrosystem stand-alone editing machine and using a story board to work on. It's easy to use for us who are "computer-challenged". I finally gave up on the PC and will be using the Macrosystem 4000-S http://macrosystem.us/ this summer to edit. If anyone needs a hardly-been-used-brand-new-soup-ed-up-HP laptop computer with the new Pinnacle Studio Version 12 installed for editing please email me. Now we need that money for the shoot this summer! It's hard to teach old dogs new tricks! Here are the specs:

NEW - HP HDX X18T-1100 CTO Premium Notebook PC
Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit), MS Works, HP MediaSmart, HP QuickPlay, HP Games by Wild Tangent
Powerful Intel Core 2 Duo T9600 (2.80GHz) Processor with Intel Centrino Mobile Technology, 1066MHz front side bus, 6MB Level-2 cache 4GB DDR3, 1600MHz PC3-8500, 204-pin Small Outline Dual In-Line memory module - Maximum System Memory 8GB
Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT with 1GB of dedicated video memory
Extreme 18.4" (diagonal) Ultra BrightView Infinity 16:9 Full High-Definition (1920x1080p) Display with ultrawide flush-glass screen
640GB 7200RPM SATA Dual Internal Hard Drive (320GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection and eSATA expansion port
Internal Blu-ray SuperMulti drive - Reads/Writes to Blu-ray HD media, DVD+/-R/RW DL media, and CDR/RW media
Home theater quality Altec Lansing stereo 2.1 speakers, with triple bass reflex internal subwoofer
Digital 7.1 surround sound via SPDIF output or through the HDCP compatible HDMI 1.3 port
Full Size HP Color Matching Keyboard, Synaptics Touch Pad, and HP Media Center notebook PC full function remote control
HP Pavilion low-light webcam, digital microphones, Fingerprint Reader with HP Imprint Finish and 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader
Intel Next-Gen Wireless-N (Wi-If Link 5100AGN) Mini-card with Centrino mobile technology, compatible with 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN devices
Integrated 10/100/1000 Gig Ethernet LAN with RJ-45 connector
ExpressCard/54 Slot, IEEE 1394 Firewire, HDMI, 4 USB (4th shared with eSATA port),1 Expansion Port 3 connector
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery, 120 watt AC adapter with 100-240VAC 50-60Hz input
Energy Star EPEAT Silver qualified, Wgt.8.82 lbs, 17.17" width, 11.26" Depth by 1.72 Height - with Dual Lamps
HP Total Care 3-year extended service plan with 24/7 toll-free technical support, Accidental Damage Protection for damage caused by spills, drops, electrical surges and accidents, hardware parts and labor, and HP Pick Up and Return with free express shipping (2 days each way)
Extra 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery, HP Wireless Keyboard and Mouse Kit, Original OS and bonus software restore DVD
Norton Internet Security 2009 - 3 Year Subscription, Suite includes: AntiVirus; Personal Firewall; Antispyware; Identity Safe & Antiphishing
Pinnacle Studio Ultimate Edition 12 professional video editing software
Diskeeper 2009 Professional automated disk defrag utility
HP high-quality 20" Roller Case for Notebook PCs

I don't even know what the above means! (except for the roller case)! Make me an offer I can't refuse! (I paid just over $3000 for it)

One technology I have "complete control" over is TV! I've been having a great time watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs and my hometown Detroit Red Wings. As of this writing there are only two games left and the Wings are up by one. GO WINGS! STANLEY, STANLEY,STANLEY!

See ya on the road,
John & Jodie



©2009 John Holod Productions

PS: Would you like to have "Tales from the Road" delivered to you every month? It's easy...just sign up for the mailing list by clicking here to drop us a line.