Trail of Missions TV Recon and action filming: Baja 2019

Well, I got about 4 minutes of air time on America Unearthed, a bit disappointing they used so little of the three days of filming and lines. Maybe when Trail of Missions airs in September, I will get some more talking lines in? No worries, it was fun and it was work!

 

Update: Trail of Missions 2019 will air Sept. 7 on ABC TV's World of X Games. In addition, there will be several shorter clips shown on BFG's Facebook page beginning Wednesday, Aug. 14 and each Wednesday a new clip. Cameron Steele brought me along on the recon (as the photos in this thread showed) and I have some talking appearances.

 

Really need to start planning a Baja trip. Been on the list for a while and this is just adding fuel to the fire.

 

First Preview Video of the TV show:

I think Cameron and his film crew did a nice job... It was all in good fun, I got to ride with Curt LeDuc, and I got to talk about the mission history at Guadalupe, west of Mulegé.

We made a full loop that day going in from the road that heads on across to the Pacific side and coming out on the recently reopened canyon road through San José de Magdalena that was destroyed in 2014.

This trip last May was the recon for the actual tour, which was in June. We did not have Jim McCoy's helicopter, but a clip of it from the actual tour is in this preview. Aerial shots are from the drone the film crew had.

After we came out from San José de Magdalena, we stopped at Palo Blanco and that is where we are looking at my maps and discussed going to see San Borjitas cave... which we did, but that is not in this episode, maybe next Wednesday's preview release?

Enjoy the 10-minute video:

 

On YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGbWpNvP-kI

 

We visited several great sites in Baja California on the recon. See them in the Internet episodes appearing each Wednesday and the TV show on Sept. 7.
Here is a partial list:

Mission Guadalupe (1720)
San Borjitas Cave (5500 BC)
Mission Mulegé (1705)
Visita San Juan Londó (1701)
Real de San Bruno (1683)
Mission San Ignacio (1728)
El Ratón Cave (8000 BC)
Visita San Pablo (1752 ?)

 

These five episodes showing the recon for Trail of Missions 2019 will NOT be incorporated into the TV show, so here on Facebook or YouTube are the only places to see how Cameron's team chooses where the big tour goes, the following month.

The next episode has some really great footage and I am back in it talking at some of the historic sites!
Stand by for Episode 2 on Wednesday...

 

Episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePZWvJdFCg

 

Thanks for sharing this adventure. Really awesome history you’ve helped track and tell.

 

Glad you are enjoying them. It was sure fun to be with a TV crew and teaching them some of Baja's history. Episode 3 comes out tomorrow!

 

The date for the TV show was changed to Sept. 1:

1 pm Pacific... Check your cable listings. It is on the ABC World of X Games show:

 

On my website www.vivabaja.com I have placed the 5 Trail of Missions Recon episode links near the top and have done some changes in the viewability of my page. My 2017-18 Baja Bound Road Guide trip reports are linked as well as the maps I made for the road guide. Check it out and use it to plan your own Baja adventure!

 

Make Baja your destination for adventure! The Tacoma TRD Off Road was developed from Baja racing (thank you Ivan Stewart)...
I also call Baja a "time machine" as you can see history, untouched.
To learn more, many books have been written (besides mine)... www.oldmissions.com and include those by Harry Crosby who rode on mules on the Camino Real, 50 years ago! He also discovered the world of cave paintings and old Spanish ranch people. The history of Old California is still alive there...
I visited with Harry last month (he is almost 93):

 

What a difference a year can make! All of the above photos and videos were made in 2019.
All our Baja trip plans for 2020 have been dashed to pieces!