Cross Country Cameron - Part 1
It's been a true test of my driving skills hauling ass across the USA in a 30 foot RV.
I knew I wanted to head out from Northern New England after the holidays for some warmer climates - well, Mother Nature said "FUCK YOU!" and brought on blistering cold temps. I couldn't hold off anymore and kept a close eye on any opening to duck out in between snow storms.
Late on a Tuesday Morning (about 10 days ago), I started packing up and began to head south. Slow and steady was the initial drive as I hadn't driven the RV further than a few miles around my small hometown. In a car, I could've made it all the way to Baltimore (10+ hours), but I barely made it to Danbury, Connecticut (on the border of New York) before I had to tap out for the evening.
I found a Walmart parking lot. I hadn't slept in the RV overnight so I had no idea how anything really worked. Outside was about 9 degrees so I knew I had to turn the heat way up. Well, the RV warmed up very nicely and around 230 in the morning I had to turn the heat down...whoops, too far down because around 4am I was freezing my ass off.
When I finally woke up for good around 8am, I noticed that the entry door had a 2 inch piece of the window missing. I'm not sure how that happened but that definitely wasn't going to help keep the temperature warm inside. With a little jerry-rigging I put some insulated foam and silicone over the hole and it's been holding up for the last 2500 miles.
On Day 2, I passed through New York, briefly New Jersey and down towards Scranton in Pennsylvania. That's when the snow started falling. At first, just little flurries then I started getting rumblings of a Winter Storm Advisory.
I was going up and down the Appalachian Mountains in and out of bouts of snow. To make things a bit scarier, I went with the least expensive new tires and I had been warned not to drive in snowy conditions. Oops....What an exhausting challenge. I wanted to get on the other side of the snow storm, so my goal was to make it to Indiana, but my body and mind had submitted and I parked at a truck stop outside of Columbus, Ohio.
It's been (knock on wood) a lot less stressful driving since the initial departure and I've been able to see some cool things along the way. I'd seen signs and a couple YouTube videos about a roadside attraction called "Uranus," so when I made it to Missouri and saw one, I knew I had to pull in. I wasn't disappointed. The parking lot was packed with cool roadside silliness, the juvenile "Uranus" jokes were pushed to their absolute limit and the sideshow museum was a nice respite from the open road. The lady behind the counter was a retired sideshow performer. She did some magic and sword swallowing for me, as well.
Traveling out of season means a lot of the tourist attractions aren't open or have weekend hours only. Originally I had planned to go through Joplin (Missouri) into Oklahoma and down to Dallas, but a text exchange with Steel (who lives near Springfield) changed my course more south and I was off to Branson!
Again, it was out of season for Branson, but I definitely have the urge to go back as it seems like my kind of place. Lots of vintage museums and other gimmicks I'm sure to like. Seems like a less crazy Las Vegas.
I went to the Toy Museum, which was like any Antique store I've been in really and ate at a 50s themed diner - I even got the milkshake.
I noticed in some local brochures that there was a Michael Jackson impersonator and for some reason my mind went to wondering if by some chance it was the MJ I had met while wrestling in Oregon back in 2011-2013. I knew he was a big performer and traveled doing his Michael Jackson bit, so I messaged a friend who confirmed that it was in fact the same MJ performer that had kicked me in the face during a wrestling show outside of Salem, Oregon. What a small world!
I wish it had been in season, but I was a few weeks early, so I couldn't extract my revenge on the dude...or at least say hey - depending on my mood. 😊
Bison just feet from me!
Finally got to Dallas and all but one of my originally scheduled wrestlers were responding. That's untrue - two out of 4 were responding but one was dealing with a recent theft of their belongings, so he was unlikely going to make the shoot. When I told the wrestling promoter in Dallas that I was going to have to cancel the shoot, he jumped in and offered to find some wrestlers. He saved the day really.
I originally packed only the most skimpy gear I had as I had planned to film with models and bodybuilders whom for the most part do not care about how tiny the gear is...pro wrestlers on the other hand (weirdly) tend to be reserved. At least for the most part. Isn't that strange? Guys who go out in front of strangers in tiny trunks are kind of shy.
I asked a few friends and fans for a lead on where to find less skimpy but still sexy gear. That's where I found out about Skivvies in Dallas. I walked in and knew I was in trouble. When I went to checkout, the dude asked what I needed all these for and I explained it to him. He said, he liked watching wrestling and even knew of BG East and vaguely recalls the name Cameron Mathews. He said he'd check out Wrestler4Hire, so hopefully he sees this blog post.
After spending WAY TOO MUCH on wrestling gear, I headed to the hotel to get some proper rest for the next day's shoot.
The shoot went well and we got 6 very good matches. My favorite had to be Max Nasty - an intense pro with a BJJ background. I've already released a video with him and plan to release another video from the shoot today. I'm telling you - the Dallas matches have me excited to get them in front of you to see what you think, as I was a fan of them.
I'm continuing my trek through the Southwest USA and am looking to set up a shoot with some Arizona wrestlers...or maybe I'll see if they'll meet me in Vegas.
I think I'm rundown, under-rested and over-stimulated, so I think I'll take two days off from traveling to relax. If you have any suggestions on things to see on my cross country adventure or wrestlers I should get, comment or email me.
5 comments
We really need Danaconda back and hopefully he can versus either Pablo Pecs again in the ring, or Joey Nux, or Javier the hunk. Really miss Danaconda and hope he has more videos to be release!
You should see if you can get Stefan Stone for the Arizona shoot!
Great blog! Love hearing you share your travels! If you’re heading towards Vegas, it would be cool to work with James Brando! He wrestled for thunders a couple of times under the name Brando. Also, are Chase LaChance and Alex Garcia in the Vegas area? Always love when you shoot with Chase and Alex, especially Chase when he gets to play the jobber
Cam, I lived in Texas for 12 years. Some of the best things to see are the Space Center in Houston, the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Galveston Island, and the Big Bend National Park. You may also be interested in the University of Texas campus and State Capital grounds in Austin.
You certainly took the hard way around. Your account brings back memories of my own cross country trips. The first was in 1969 when I went from Michigan to Austin. I didn’t have air conditioning in my car, and when I got to Dallas, it was 120 degrees. When I checked into the motel, the lady working there told me I looked like I was having a heart attack. Then in 1989 I went from Michigan to Portland, OR. I used the weather channel to plan my trip, and even though it was December, thought I didn’t have to worry about the weather. When I got to Wyoming, though, the weather changed, and there was ice and snow on the highway. I was unable to brake coming down a hill and ran into the back wheel of a huge truck. My car was totalled but I escaped with a cut finger. I’ve tried to be more careful in my travels since then, but it seemed every trip I took, something happened. Maybe it’s best to stay home.