INSTALLMENT II
Later that night I received another phone call from Steve.
Everything was a go.
Only one problem.
“We really want you to cut a carrot in someone's mouth and cut it out.” ( I had cut a carrot and a cucumber out of someone's hand in the video I put together for them.)
I had to tell them no. I explained that it wasn’t that I was afraid of missing, it’s that you have to hit a carrot really pretty hard and to have it not come flying out of someone's teeth would be short of a miracle if it didn’t unhinge their jaw in the process.
“Well, just bring all your stuff.” So I did. More on that later.
The next day, Tuesday, I received my flight information. I would need to be at the airport at 8:30am. Luckily our airport is small, so no long lines. I would fly out of Springfield, change planes in St. Louis, and arrive at LAX.
Not much time to pack or get ready but here’s what I took (more or less):
Suitcase #1:
6 WHIPS: 2-6 foot lone stars, 2-5ft stock whips, 1-8ft Terry Jacka, and 1-12ft Joe Strain Indy style whip.
TARGETS: Styrofoam strips, pasta (11”x .5” wavy pasta painted orange. This is what was eventually decided on) and flower heads of various sizes. The day of the shoot I also picked up 2 bags of celery (which cuts real nice) and 1 dozen roses.
Suitcase #2
CLOTHS: Lots of cloths. Steve wasn’t sure if he wanted cowboy or civilian clothing, so I packed a bunch of stuff including my regular travel gear. (My mark VII bag with all the flight arrangements and such) Lot’s of other stuff too, like cd’s of my band (Mr. Opporknockity - you can visit us at
www.mr.opporknockity.com) I thought, Take ‘em. Ya never know.
ACCORDION CASE:
That big hat was in the accordion case.
So, I’m packed, my wife and I are at the airport, my bags are checked in and we are sitting at Subway when: “....Mr. Camp, your bag is over the weight limit. Somethings gotta go.”
Well I guess that there is a two bag limit with the check in and now a weight limit too. Well, I had put the 1st suitcase with the whips inside the 2nd suitcase with the cloths so I could check the accordion case with the hat.
SO, We took out the 1st Suitcase and checked both the 1st and 2nd suitcases and ditched the accordion case (It wouldn’t fit in the overhead) and i ended up carrying the hat. Only after the security people had gone through the 1st Suitcase containing all the whips and a gun belt full of phony bullets. “Those aren’t real” I said. “Let’s hope not” said the security guy.
The cool thing is, the guy who checked my luggage is an author who is writing a book about Wild West performers. We talked for a while.
THE FLIGHT:
The flight for th most part was uneventful. The whole way there I continued to pray one of two things.
1. “God, this is a real good opportunity for me. Please don’t pull and Alanis Morriset thing on me and send me crashing into the ground like some oversized lawndart.
2. “God. Please make my luggage arrive at the same place I do.”(I packed enough whips to do the job and left enough at home that I could do shows when I retuned if for some reason the whips didn’t make it back.)
On the flight from St. Louis to LAX took around 3.5 hours. .... by the engine, alone in my row .... with no one to talk to.
I flew over the Grand Canyon twice and didn’t see it once. Oh well.
ARRIVAL
I arrived and my bags did too.
It was just like you see in the movies. Me, my luggage and a guy in a limo suit holding a card up which read KAMP.
How cool I thought. Another person here named Camp, but they spell theirs with a K. What are the chances?
He collected my bags and off to the Beverly Garland hotel we went.
