LAS -> LAX -> LDN

Josh and I are up early. On the way to the airport to catch our flights home, Richard calls. He wants to come and have a coffee and say goodbye.

“When are you two going to see each other again?” he asks as we divide up the excess baggage.

“Oh probably not for a very a long time” I say, jokingly.

So he takes a hundred dollar bill from his wallet and rips it in two, handing us half each.

“This is so you can meet up sometime, and have a dinner on me”

It’s a nice touch.

We can’t quite believe this journey really is almost over, and the three of us wont be spending every waking moment together.

As we embrace and part ways Richard’s already on the phone. He’s heard Obama is in Vegas tonight and wants to hustle up some tickets.

It has been inspiring and frustrating and exhausting and remarkable and we’ve definitely got a film on our hands.

It has, as Richard would say, been real. And now we’re heading home.

The End?

Day 65 of the shoot. Richard is prevented from leaving Vegas by a burning car in the rental lot. It’s not over yet. He laughingly accepts the extra two days they will have to wait until the next Allegiant plane out.

Proud to be an American

We drive back from Williams, dodging Memorial Day traffic cops the whole way. Quick pit stop beside the Colorado river for a picnic, which sounds a lot more idyllic than the jet-ski infested riverside dust bowl it turned out to be.

Recipe for an argument: lack of sleep, too many people sharing a room, large “unappreciated” financial outlay, family dinner (mostly meat).

Recipe for a make up (or temporary cease fire): more expensive Cirque du Soleil show tickets and ice cream.

The water show outside the Bellagio is impressive and inspiring when accompanied by Sinatra or Puccini, but plain nauseating when “Proud To Be An American” is playing.

The family walk together along the strip. There are smiles and laughter. Josh takes a quick break from filming to acquaint himself with some local ladies. 

A Grand Don't Come for Free

Amongst hordes of tourists, the troops are finally gathered.

“Next time you want to go on a family holiday why don’t you all come to mine and we can spend three days bitching on the front drive” says Greg.

Eventually everyone has used the bathroom, bought more water and/or a plastic poncho, eaten energy bars, changed socks, taken photos, run back to the car one last time, and we’re ready to head off. We hire a mule train to carry all of the camera gear:

As the morning mist lifts the Grand Canyon reveals itself to be every bit as spectacular as any photo we have ever seen. We hike down into its vastness. 

Richard yodels. The youngsters forge ahead. People talk. Bonds are formed. Richard lies down every 50 minutes, and makes friends with strangers. Scenes are shot. Amends with Lynn. Sweat and sunscreen and water flow. Previously unacknowledged muscles become vocal as the day unfolds.

Josh completes a full health and safety risk assessment, and then films the circling condors from an outcrop.

As we toil back up after a flash thunderstorm Richard and Barb spend some time alone together on the trail. “Is the going up worth the coming down?” Barb asks, refering to Richard favourite Kris Kristofferson song The Pilgrim. It’s the right question to ask on so many levels.

Barry Big B Brenner is playing in the bar at the top afterwards. A pint of Fat Tire never tasted so good.

Round the fire later the 3 siblings - Zac, Kelli, Greg - and the new kid on the block - JP - share stories about growing up with Richard. There are amazing tales of cars balancing off the edge of cliffs and guns and police and arguments and life.

Route 66

We saddle up and head out of town. We’re heading for the Grand Canyon via Williams, a small town on Route 66 where we’ve booked rooms.

We crawl across the Hoover Dam and pull in to the only gas station we’ve seen for hours. It’s impossible to make a quick pit stop. The coolers come out. Food is microwaved inside the store. Richard upsets the owners first by spilling last night’s doggy bag everywhere, and then by sitting in a ‘restricted area’. We finally manage to leave two hours later.

Opposite the Motel in Williams there’s a rowdy band playing in a bar that’s built around a Wild West-style courtyard with a bonfire roaring so we join the fun. Beers are a dollar and there’s a special on fish tacos. The news is all good.

Early Rising

I made the mistake last night of asking Richard to call when he wakes up. The phone rings at 5.20am. He’s just calling to say he’s shaving. This is not a good sign.

Josh grabs the camera and heads out. The sunrise is amazing behind the Vegas skyline. Richard makes for a 7am recovery meeting.

In the afternoon Lynn, Richard’s second wife, arrives. She’s come all the way from Vancouver. She’s the real reason we’re here - so that Richard can make amends. Everything else came later, when the plan expanded in a flurry of enthusiastic conversations and emails to become a reunion of all Richard’s significants.

She and Barb hit it off immediately. The dinner goes well. They compare notes, they both have horror stories.

Greg and Michelle arrive today too and meet the rest of the crowd outside the Cirque Du Soleil show Richard has bought everyone tickets to see. It’s a full house. Afterwards the family wander round the old part of Vegas. Spirits are high.

Hustle Town

JP hasn’t slept. He was locked out of Richard’s room last night so ended up wandering around until 6am, via McDonalds, an illegal swim in the pool, Subway, and about 10 cups of coffee. He’s pretty wired, and very pissed off. He spends most of the day staring into space on various sofas around the hotel.

In the evening Josh and I head out of the city to try and film the skyline at night. A few miles out we climb a hill on foot to get a view. The earth is dusty and dry - this really is a desert. It brings home just how artificial the whole city is, shimmering gracefully in the distance.

Later, an epic dinner in an Asian restaurant at which Richard insists he wants to eat “the whole fish - head and eyeballs and all” and then spends an eternity immersed in a series of convoluted transactions involving discount coupons, new friends, and ordering entrees only instead of mains. Meanwhile he is also trying to hustle up someone local to book tickets to tomorrow night’s show at the MGM Grand. Locals get big discounts apparently.

This is a hustler’s town, and Richard is loving the hustle.

Son Zac and his girlfriend arrive later in the evening and the family catch a comedy show while we recce other locations on the strip for the family dinner tomorrow. We settle on the Mad Greek Cafe.

All you can eat

First day in Vegas. Richard takes us to the legendary buffet at The Orleans, where we’re staying.

“I don’t know of a single place in the world where two people can eat for less.”

He’s got a point. It’s two-for-one on tuesdays so for $5 a head we have the run of an enormous food hall, and free drinks. There are hundreds of calorifically challenged peeps at the troughs, chowing down on steaks and ribs for breakfast. It’s a spectacular sight.

In the afternoon we waddle out onto the strip for a wander, filming until we get told to stop and then moving on.

The city really comes alive as night falls. We’re booked in to the Stratosphere for dinner, where we get some shots of the city. The restaurant is 107 floors up and revolving gently so we get the full panorama. 

Richard clicks with the manager, Robert, who is old school Vegas. He used to hang with the Rat Pack. He worked with the Beach Boys. He’s met Buster Keaton for goodness sake. He and Richard flip it around. He’s right on the money. “Richard, you need to forgive yourself”. It’s a great encounter.

Furthur

Back on the bus. I fly in from Toronto, Josh and Barb and JP and Richard come from Fargo, where Richard’s 4 hiking sticks and breathing machine cause some hold ups but somehow he makes it on (last on last off of course).

I find them at the car hire desk, where Richard is bribing an employee with slices of cheese and pieces of sausage which he’s slicing off on one of the laminated brochures with a big pocketknife. There’s a big queue gathering behind but eventually we depart with two vehicles and a pretty good deal.

The bright lights of the strip are only about 15 minutes away. A few detours later and we’re at the hotel, where as soon as you come through the front door you hit rows of slots and dead-eyed punters feeding them relentlessly. It’s a barrage of noise and light and air conditioning.

Josh looks slightly shell shocked by the over stimulation of every sense after after the simplicity and slow pace of North Dakota.

And then there were two

It’s Day 50 of shooting. I’m up at 4.45am to catch a plane from Omaha to Houston, and then on to Toronto for the last couple of days of Hot Docs. Hopefully the film will be screening there next year. Josh stays behind to shoot with Richard’s first wife Nola.

Looks like Vegas is on, but who knows what might happen in the next 10 days. Last night Richard suggested Greg and his wife Michelle come along too. What began as a way to entice Lynn to a neutral place where Richard could make amends has grown into a full blown family get-together.

It feels strange to leave Josh and Richard - in some ways the journey is almost over, but there’s a process underway which feels like it’s only really beginning.

The Tao of Richard

Notes from a Breakfast Diplomacy Meeting:

Richard: “We need a system for resolving conflict and making decisions. When traveling with Mike in the 60s we used to flip a coin to decide where to go next, or who was paying. Why can’t we adopt that system?”

“This journey has already been the most significant growth in my twenty years of recovery and has set in motion a process that if kept on track can only have the most positive results of my life.”

“I am grateful to have been an instrument in your spiritual growth“

“We all like to hike. The summit we reach is not a destination it’s a rest point until we see the next valley and ridge to hike. We need time to rest up as we look at the valley ahead.”

“The thousand words are sometimes worth more than the pictures.”

“I am now more centred and calmly looking forward to the trip to Omaha and engaging with the people there. If we had not had this conversation I would have allowed my buttons to be pushed to total uncentredness”.

Great, lets get back on the road then.

When we arrive in Omaha Richard insists on finding a place he can buy bbq ribs. This is where he watched Obama’s inauguration and he wants to show us how down with the coloured folk he is.

“Is that an African accent?” he asks in the first place.

“No, I was born in Omaha”

They don’t have ribs, so we head to Bill’s which is next to a gas station in a fairly rough looking part of town.

“Akuna Matata brother” he says through a heavily fortified window, before placing his order.

There’s a procession of people buying cheap liquor, and Richard banters merrily with them all. Anyone else would have taken a beating but he’s all smiles as he walks out with a big bag of ribs 10 minutes later.

Son Greg is the eldest of his 3 children. They eat the ribs together in Greg’s back yard and chew the fat.

Richard presses him to get the skeletons out. Greg starts cleaning a rifle.

“When I was very young you paid a lot more attention to your friends than to me. Most of the time you were making a lot of promises and then not keeping them.”

“What could i do to be a better father from here on in”

(long pause)

“Pay attention to me. I’ve got something important to show you all the time. You’re my dad, I want to impress you. I’m proud of what I’ve done, and I want you to be proud of what I’ve done.”

When The Student Is Ready The Teacher Will Arrive

After a night in Mission and some ringing around we’ve managed to find Sylvan.

“Many winters have passed since we last met” he says on the phone when Richard speaks to him. He and Richard used to run together, and sobered up together.

Sylvan lives out in a newly built house with a creek running through the bottom of his land. He has a room full of trophies for horseshoe throwing. He lights wild sage as we sit down to break bread. He speaks slowly, deliberately.

They pray together to the Great Spirit to give Richard strength in this search for a new way of living. Sylvan shares stories of his own amends.

“You forgot your Treaty Paper“ he shouts, waving a toilet roll at Richard as we set off for Omaha.

Manic Tuesday

Last night we ended up at the North Star, which is closed on Mondays and run by a fellow whogoes by the name “The Living Legend”. He and Richad go back some, and they talk into the night in the empty bar.

We slept in a town called Gregory. In the morning Richard seems strangely hyper, and as he drives through town he suddenly pulls over and has a mock altercation with 12 foot gorilla (A statue of the town’s sports teams mascot). It seems we are beginning to see the ‘high’ side of a growing manic state.

We run in to a cowboy and his wife on an old pony trap. Richard lifts his shirt and asks the wife to whip him. It’s a good opener, and soon he’s riding alongside them. The cowboy turns out to be an old hand from California and treats us to an hour of fire and brimstone while his pretty (and much younger) wife looks on. 

Richard can’t resist a theological showdown with the right wing Baptist and an argument ensues. After getting kicked off the trap, Richard makes a a hasty amends (‘peace be with you brother!’) before the cowboy rides off.

Richard’s high is escalating and when we hit the cafe for lunch. He walks in with a scarf over his face holding a shotgun and demands to see the manager. The old ladies inside barely bat an eyelid.

Over lunch he gets a call. He loves to banter with salespeople, but as we listen (he’s sitting on another table of course) he starts to give out personal details. Card numbers. Security numbers. We try to stop him but he waves us away. Eventually he hands the phone to me, but the damage is done. I speak to the guy on the other end and question him but i can almost hear the money leaving richard’s account the longer we stay on the line. He calls his bank five minutes later, and a transaction for $995 has already gone through. Oh dear.

Richard comes back to earth with a bump and sets to work on the phone. Once again he has created a whole world of drama which needs to be unravelled.

On the way to Mission we couldn’t drive past this picture, so we lost Richard.

When we arrive he’s at the Native American University in the office of an Indian named Hollow Horn who has a photo of himself meeting the Pope on the wall. We’re trying to track down his old buddy Sylvan White Hat.

Crawlers

The room is alive with ticks. Well, two of them. JP spies one on Josh’s shirt, and I find one on my jeans. Then Richard comes in for a meeting, and he’s got one attached to the back of his neck. Josh does the honours.

We check out of the Siesta and hit the road. Richard has seen a storm brewing and wants to get his car hailed on so he can claim on the insurance. He speeds towards it.

The sky is a golden yellow, but soon we’re right in it. The rain falls so hard I can’t see more than about three metres ahead. It closes right in until I’m crawling. Then suddenly we’re out the other side, past a sign that reads:

“God does not keep us from life’s storms...He walks us through them”

The sunset is spectacular. We cross the Missouri as night falls and pause on the other side. As we film in the dusk, coyotes begin to howl.

Sunday by the lake

A new day. Somehow Richard manages to patch things up with Barb after an altercation at the Kongo and they head off to brother Mike’s place by the lake.

It’s a peaceful afternoon and after the tour Mike and Richard sit down and look through an album of photos which Richard has brought, with all the pictures from their global adventures together back in the 60s. These two used to be incredibly close. Now, it’s an amazing thing to witness them spending these few hours together.

We drive out see some of Mike’s land, and he shows us how he’s been planting to create the ideal habitat for wild pheasant to thrive. There’s real science at work, and years of preparation to ensure the birds can survive the harsh winters.

Meanwhile, Debs has their six hunting dogs out. I’ve never seen happier or better trained dogs. They’re quite a sight.

As night falls and ticks start appearing on people’s legs, we head to Ruby Tuesday for dinner. Today was a good one.

Kristofferson to Kongo

Richard’s birthday! We give him a book and his favourite Kristofferson album on cd. He apologises for having encouraged me to eat ‘Prairie Oysters’ which he later revealed were really pieces of deep fried bull’s testicles. I had not seen the funny side, but it’s a day for forgiveness.

Barb and JP drive down from Lidgerwood for a birthday dinner which turns out to be remarkably unremarkable - no arguments, no embarrassing scenes, nobody storms out. In fact it all goes very well. Bob Trusty, one of the original Robin Hood posse is here, so is brother Mike and his wife Debs and Barb and JP.

Afterwards as Josh films him in the car outside the Corn Palace, Richard is approached by a police officer who has spotted him parked illegally.

“Officer, in case you hadn’t noticed we’re making a movie”

“Yes, I can see that“

and then after checking his id Officer Badgood (really) proceeds to stop the traffic so Richard can pull a u-turn and go on his way.

The night ends at the Kongo Klub, a ‘legendary’ establishment where Richard misspent much of his youth.

Mike? check

We’re back in Mitchell. Brother Mike has agreed to be interviewed. We meet at his office. The walls are covered in hunting photos.

We hear stories from the 70’s. Early days of Robin Hood, the hunting service that Mike and Richard ran together with some friends. Weeks of hunting and drinking. There were some wild times. Good times. In the 20 plus years since, they’ve grown apart and led very separate lives.

“Yes he can make amends. Anything’s possible. But the clock is ticking and time is running out. He’s 69 years old now. Will he make them? That’s the $64,000 question. We’ll have to see”.

While we’re having lunch with Mike and his wife Richard calls to say he’s heading over to a recovery meeting and why don’t we film it.

Josh speaks to the assembled and they vote to allow us to film as long as we don’t reveal anyone’s identity.

The stories of loss and tragedy and broken relationships are heartbreakingly mundane but no less powerful for their familiarity. People shunned by their families, troubled by lifetimes of drinking and battling alcohol.

It feels a real privilege that they are willing to share their stories with us, and we leave humbled.

The day’s not over yet. Richard heads off to make amends with an old neighbor who he owed money to for some building work back when he lived here. The man is now in his eighties but when Richard called up to arrange to meet, his first words were “So are you going to pay me the money you owe?”

He doesn’t say much during the encounter, but Richard pays the first instalment, and then we head over to his old house by the lake.

He’s in reflective mood as the sun goes down, talking about how people here celebrated when he left.