Is it NAMM or a vacation, well let’s be honest it is a workation. What is a workation you ask? It is exactly what it sounds like, a working vacation. Vacations are hard for us to plan. The stress of planning a vacation only to have a gig get scheduled during the planned vacation just makes it hard to do step one. As mentioned in January 2019 we were at home, no plans and a “work-related” event that could double as a vacation surfaced. This is something we have wanted to do for a while and now we could. Plus it was tax-deductible. How could we pass this up? Well….we couldn’t.
So Here We Go
Leaving at 5 pm, our day one travels were short. Around eight pm we stopped to eat and looked at the maps to determine our plan from there. It appeared that after Ontario OR, which was about an hour away there would be miles of nothing. So we booked a hotel and headed for Ontario.
Day Two
Knowing we had a long day ahead of us we got up before the sun to hit the road. It was a beautiful clear and sunny day. Perfect for travel. The roads were dry yet as we drove south our views were open lands and hilltops covered in snow.
Passing through Nevada
Once we reached Nevada we found some interesting scenery as well as history. After hours of drylands, we were taken by surprise by Walker Lake. It was a beautiful lake in the middle of what seemed like nowhere. The history of Walker lake states that it is on the verge of ecological collapse. As we were nearing the end of Walker Lake we noticed a surprising amount of infrastructure for in the middle of nowhere Nevada. A quick peek to google maps tells us we are approaching Hawthrone NV, which happens to be the home to the world’s largest Army depot.
Welcome to California
We rolled into California around dusk. Still having several hours of travel we snacked our way through our standard dinner hour in efforts to reach our destination. We finally made our way into the southern California area around ten pm. Very much taken by surprise at both how much traffic there still was in southern California that late at night as well as how briskly they all moved.
Time for NAMM
Having never been, I had no idea what NAMM was really like. Gary, however, had attended before. He found that much has changed in the event since his last attendance. For those not familiar with NAMM, it is a trade show for the National Association of Music Merchants. In other words a candy store for musicians and music industry professionals.
So Much to See
Our day one was just getting through the event and learning the lay of the land. By lunch, we learned that it was far too large to continue at our pace and we needed to become more focused. Since we are in the production world, we headed to the land of production where we spent the remainder of the day. That evening we decided that day two needed to be focused on merchants that were specifically directed at our industry. We also made it a point to visit with some of the friends we have made along this journey of live sound. Although we had not intended on any purchases we became intrigued by some of the products.
Our first stop was for fuel both for ourselves and our vehicle. Without doing any research before stopping we ended up at Barstow Station in Barstow, CA. For those that are unfamiliar this is a food court that offers many of the well known fast food places. We opted for a quick McDonald’s breakfast, not the healthiest but for the nearby options and the time of day this seemed to be the best pick.
Barstow, California
First, the parking lot was very sketchy. It was a walk by and look at no one kind of place. We placed our order to go as we had concern for the safety of our belongings in the vehicle. Our frustration grew as not only do we believe we were overcharged but our order was messed up too. Feeling uncomfortable in this environment, we just accepted our order and moved on. As we were leaving we noticed the Starbucks across the street. It was still early and we had a long day ahead. As we headed inside there was a sign on the door that said temporarily closed. They opted to close to clean at 9 am on a Monday. Ready to move on, we looked at the fuel gauge and decided that we had enough to fuel in the next town.
Destination Moab, UT
While in California we received an invite to go visit Gary’s family that was wintering in Moab, UT. The opportunity to see family and check a bucket list item made this an offer we couldn’t refuse. Monday morning we set the GPS to the address in Moab that was our destination.
It didn’t take us long to decide that we would not be checking Moab off the bucket list just yet. Moab needs to be a planned destination with more time for exploration. Unfortunately, a winter storm was coming in between Moab and home. Being we had been out a week already we felt the urge to get back before this snowstorm closed in. We were fortunate to have beautiful travels all the way home. Shortly after we returned home snowmageddon arrived.
Snow in the NW
If you’re familiar with snowmageddon 2019 that blanketed Washington state, then you will know that we had our work cut out for us. This winter snowstorm was one of the worst we had seen in recent years. By day two of this storm we were so thankful we took the opportunity to head south for a few days. Spending time in the sunshine and away from the daily grind invigorated us and recharged us for the season ahead.
New Tradition?
While away we discussed that we should plan to attend Namm at least every few years. As it turned out we ended up making a few equipment improvements for the company. After dealing with the ongoing snow, we decided that we should just make NAMM 2020 a plan. It is hard to argue with southern California weather in January, especially when home tends to bring single-digit temps. Add the bonus of a work-play vacay and you have the best of both worlds.
Fast Forward to January 2020
So once we decided that planned to attend NAMM in 2020 we added the dates to our calendar. Once we got to December I booked a hotel before it was too late. As we have mentioned January is historically a slow season for us. We learned years ago that planning a vacation was challenging in this industry. It seems once you plan on time off the phone rings with an event somewhere during your vacation. We thought we were safe with January. Think again. We learned the best way for a busy January is to plan a vacation.
Best Laid Plans
The days leading up to departure were shaky. We had one event to get handled, and the phone rang for a few more. Add the winter weather to the mix and it was beginning to seem as though the universe really didn’t want us to go. We proceeded with planning the event that was confirmed, passed on a few others mostly because of timing and weather made getting to them risky anyway. One week out we basically bagged the idea of heading south. The forecast of single digits told us we better be home. As we approached the departure date the forecast improved. Our gig was ready to go on without us, things were looking up.
Let’s Go For it
With everything finally coming together we decided to go for it. The mountain passes were open the day before departure, the rest of the travels looked smooth. Why not. It did manage to snow the day before our departure but not enough to stop us at this point. We packed our bags, packed the truck and drove away by 9 am. We made it about an hour into the drive when our route changed. The snow impacted our desired route more than at home. The highway closed for an undetermined amount of time. Fortunately, we received notice before it was too late. We were able to reroute and go through a different mountain pass.
The new route was a two-lane windy route through a mountain pass. Although it was snowing and blowing there were multiple plows keeping the roads passable. While sketchy at times we managed to make it through, which was good because there was nothing for many miles. Ultimately our arrival to our overnight stop was only delayed by about an hour.
The next day of travels brought us high wind warnings and a few dust storms. Welcome to the desert. We pushed through and made it to our California destination by around 5 pm. We managed to get checked in and have a proper dinner before our big day at NAMM.
NAMM 2020
Excited for the day we were up early and off to get our badges. We were early enough that we had to wait before the doors opened. This year was different, we had a list of items we were wanting to find as well as a few presenters we wanted to see. We knew the lay of the land better so we were able to devise a bit of a plan. By day two we basically had our 2020 equipment upgrades figured out. Being it is January this is helpful to our planning as now we are able to budget a little better as we move on. A bonus is that one of the upgrades isn’t available for delivery until October however there is a waiting list. We were able to get on the waiting list early in hopes to be on the earlier deliveries.
Our final day at the show our focus was on gathering video content for our media sites. In addition to my blog, my husband is building an audio-based youtube channel Audio Geekery. We wanted to get the feel for gathering content and interviews in this type of environment. If we opt to attend for NAMM 2021 we are contemplating going for media creds. By experimenting this year we will have a starting point and basis for next year.
