Every year when we go down to Glencoe, MO, there's always something that's a little bit different. This year there was a retreat group staying in the rooms of the West Wing, so there were limited rooms available to us. The girls, little kids and older people snagged up all the rooms, when the 18-35 male demographic were either forced to camp in tents or sleep on the floor in the gymnasium. I chose the latter. I had given up on camping at Glencoe several years earlier due to the fact that there always seems to be a torrential downpour. One year it was so bad that the rainwater came down the hill and nearly swept away our tent. So this year, I made the gymnasium my home.

There were about 6 guys sleeping in there. We actually slept up on the stage that is attached to the gym. This was nice because we were able to close the theatre curtain to block out all the morning sun. Another thing that was nice was that it was the closest building to the pavilion, a much shorter walk than staying in the West Wing.

This was the third year filming my documentary down there. I had a plan of everything that I needed to shoot while I was down there. It didn't seem like much on paper, but when I got into it, it took quite a while to shoot. What also made it difficult was the fact that I was at the mercy of the rainy weather, so anytime the sun came out, I had to take advantage and go shoot.

Colleen was my assistant one day. See held on to my camera batteries as we trekked out to an abandoned building tucked away in the woods. She was quite the trooper, walking through thick wet prairie grass that was 3 feet tall, and climbing a crumbling stone wall so we wouldn't have to backtrack through the grass. On our return to camp, the sun had started to set. I was prepping for an interview when I noticed that one of my camera batteries were missing...one that should have been in Colleen's sweatshirt pocket. So we concluded that the battery must have fallen out somewhere on our trek, most likely when we climbed the stone wall. We were losing light fast and, since this was the last night at Glencoe, I had to conduct 2 interviews before the sun went down.

Colleen was all upset about losing my battery, so she went back out to the stone wall by herself to search for it. When she returned, I had finished my interviews, but she had not found the battery. We went back out there together, this time with flashlights since it was nearly dark out. Our search by the wall turned up nothing. I was worried that it fell out in the prairie grass, in which case, would be next to impossible to find.

I thought we'd check one last location. I remembered Colleen jumping down through a doorway in the abandoned building. We made our way back there and laying on the ground, right where she had jumped, lied the battery. With much relief, we snatched the battery and returned to camp.

It was an enjoyable Glencoe, but I must say that I look forward to next year when the documentary is complete and I'll do nothing but relax all weekend.