Fred & Hank Mark America

Behind the Scenes: Getting Along, or How to Avoid Marital Speed Bumps

The one question we're often asked about our travels is how Joan and I manage to get along and avoid the tension that comes with any trip that involves long drives into the night, lots of packing and unpacking of the car, a husband who does not like to be inconvenienced and a wife who constantly thinks we should stop to walk the dogs. The answer is simple: You can't avoid some occasional tension. But the minute it starts to define the trip, you need to turn around and go home.

Before our 2003 trip, we worked out an terrific system which resulted in an almost tension-free trip. It was based on one simple concept: Each individual responsibility was assigned to one of us. Clearly, and for the duration of the trip. No substitutions allowed. Sounds simple, I know. But when you divide responsibilities that cleanly, there is no marital tension around who's taking the dogs out first thing in the morning, or who's going to pack the car. It doesn't mean we like all our responsibilities, but using this system, any frustration isn't directed AT someone; it's just normal everyday frustration.

Based on the success of that structure in 2003, we didn't change a thing for FHMA. Some of the assignments have changed, but not the overall structure. So, without further ado...

JOAN'S RESPONSIBILITIES

• The Dogs: Joan walks the dogs. Joan feeds the dogs. Joan handles any medical issues that arise with the dogs. Joan bathes the dogs (and they so love that). She is the Dog Whisperer of the FHMA tour. The only exception to this rule is when we're getting out of the car: Since we're often trying to get Fred and Hank out of the car near busy roads, we each are responsible for getting one out of the car. I handle Fred, and Joan handles Hank. And if Joan needs to use the facilities, I take both. But Joan does 95 percent of what it takes to keep the beagles healthy and happy. Joan also maintains the Beagle Nirvana Bag, which has their food, toys, treats and other items that have the dogs staring longingly at it all day long. 
• Picking Up Poop: Now, this is really a subset of the dog item, but worth a callout. Now, for the record, if Joan is the one walking the dogs all the time, it stands to reason she'd be the one picking up poop. But she wanted this called out, and I definitely understand why. When we were checking into the FireSky Resort in Scottsdale last week, Joan went to check in and asked me if I'd walk the dogs. I did -- see, we're not completely inflexible about responsibilities -- and, in all honestly, I was hoping the dogs would save the deuce for another time. Instead, as soon as we got to the grass, they both stopped and dropped. So while the original draft of this post noted I had not picked up any poop on the trip, that is no longer true.
• Packing & Clothing: Before we left, Joan was responsible for packing clothes for both of us, and making sure the dogs had what they needed. On the trip, she's responsible for laying out clothes for both of us, largely because she doesn't want me tearing through the well-organized suitcase she's put together. She hasn't said this, but from a fashion perspective, she's probably also protecting me from myself.
  
• Photography: Joan is FHMA's official photographer. I take some pictures, but have neither the talent nor the time to get too deep into taking photos for anything other than personal use. I don't need to tell anyone who's been following our trip, but Joan is an amazing photographer. Blessed with a great eye for detail, she's taken some amazing photos of those up-close moments that I always miss.
• Laundry: This has been well established. Frankly, I have no joke here, My sense of humor must be in the wash.
• Hotel Reservations: Joan the Tiger continues to tear into the Hotel Gazelle du Jour and get us the best possible rates on hotel rooms. Like the laundry, this responsibility may seem boring when you read it, but really, I think she loves it.
• Checking In at Hotels: When we arrive at any hotel, Joan is the one who goes and gets us all set up. Since we often arrive late, she is also frequently confronted with a lonely night staffer at the front desk, and long conversations sometimes ensue. This is why it's good that I'm not the check-in person. I was not blessed with great patience in my life.
• Note-Taking: Joan owns "the notebook," in which she captures events, road signs, ideas or anything else that we want to make note of and work into the blog. Because my short-term memory is so bad, it just seems like it would make sense to ... ah ... crap, I forgot what I was saying.
• Music Shuffle of the Day: Joan also works the iPod to generate our Shuffle Song of the Day. I blame her for turning up all that movie music.
  

JIM'S RESPONSIBILITIES

• Trip Planning & Research: I'm the one who goes through all the travel books and Web sites that we use to determine where to go. This includes managing our loose schedule, determining the specific route we take and researching all the places we're thinking of visiting.
• Writing FHMA: I write this blog, obviously. This is not an insignificant fact, though I have always been blessed with the ability to write quickly, thanks to the brutal deadlines that came with being a sportswriter, as I was early in my career. Writing this has also allowed people to see another side of me, which has undoubtedly led many friends to wonder, "How the hell does he not know how many axles he has?"
• Maintaining Blog: I am continually making tweaks to the design and settings of the blog, though many of them aren't obvious. I am still learning TypePad, and finding new things to try every day.
• Distributing the Blog: When I was at washingtonpost.com, I was a strong proponent of distributing Post content in as many ways as possible, and I'm walking the walk with this blog. In addition to the blog itself, we have an RSS feed, a Twitter feed that pulls from that RSS, a Facebook group that I update with each post, and even good, old-fashioned e-mail (there's an e-mail distro list that each post it sent to). If you can't find Fred & Hank Mark America, it will  try and find you.
• Getting Gas: Yeah, yeah, I can hear the jokes already: "Heck, seeing what you're eating, that doesn't seem hard." <rimshot> But, seriously folks, I am the one who stops and fills up. We've had two near-emergencies on the gas front: one really close call (Little Rock, Ark., on a Sunday morning, where we were down to our last mile) and one slightly-worrisome situation (rural Alabama, where we were 10 miles away from running out of gas). I also occasionally clean the windshield, but as chronicled earlier, Fred doesn't take well to this.

• Managing Money: In addition to making sure we have enough cash on us at all times, I'm also making sure our bills get paid online while we're away.
• Scheduling Car Stops: Obviously, if either Joan or the dogs have an urgent need, I stop. But, barring that, I'm the one who's doing most of the stopping. It's a familiar routine. I stop at a QT, 7-11 or Circle K to get a huge soda, then stop an hour later to go the bathroom, then stop and get another big soda, and then stop to go to the bathroom. Joan has learned to accept this, and I can't thank her enough.
• BlackBerry Monitoring: If I want to check the latest headlines, or check out baseball scores, or if Joan wants to check the latest Ultimate Fighting Championship results, I am the one who can produce that information quickly via BlackBerry. All at 70 mph. 
• Packing Car & All Things Spatial Relations-Related: Before both the Fred Takes America and Fred & Hank Mark America tours, Joan looked at everything we wanted to bring, looked at the car and said, "No fucking way." I, of course, took that as a challenge, and managed to use every inch of space to fit it all. The rare times when Joan tries to repack the car, she's able to get one bag in the car before crying uncle. This does seem to be a gender issue, I have to say. So I pack and re-pack the car every time we go to a new hotel.
• Driving: Oh, yeah. This one seems worthy of note. We've driven 7,445 miles so far on this trip, and while Joan drove the car when I was back at home, I have driven every single mile that we've been in the car together, with the exception of a 30-mile trip home from a friend's house last week. I strongly prefer this setup, for reasons described in Joan's traveler profile. It's worth mentioning here that, when Joan and I both worked at AOL, she once left for the office 15 minutes before me, and despite the fact it's only a half-hour ride, I passed her. As I blew down Route 28 at about 65mph, I saw her in the right lane on her cell phone going about 30mph. So either I drive, or she drives me crazy.
  

Overall, we feel like the workloads are pretty evenly divided. And, let's be honest, if they weren't, one of us would have said something by now. Right, sweetie? Joan?...

Behind the Scenes: Trip Technology

I have received a few questions and comments asking what it takes from a technology perspective to chronicle a trip like this. So we thought we'd run you through what we've brought along to help make Fred & Hank Take America possible (beyond Fred and Hank, of course). Here's one snapshot that features all the hardware we're using, with the exception of the camera with which Joan took the photo.

The Fred & Hank Mark America technology family. Note: We left Fred in the photo, but despite the presence of some random metal in him from his knee surgeries, he is not technically technology.

So, without further ado, here's the tally of what we have brought along and what role it plays.

COMPUTERS

• Jim's MacBookPro: I have the 15-inch screen, and not the 17, but only because the 15 was all we could get before we left for the trip. I had a Mac back in the late '80s and early '90s, but finally surrendered to the PC gods around 1993. First off, it was exceedingly difficult to find applications that were supported by Macs, and even when I could, they were way too expensive for me at that point in my life. (I mean, I had beer to buy, for god's sake). But, after more than 15 years as a PC, I finally decided to become a Mac again after leaving washingtonpost.com. I'm so happy I did. The Mac boots up in in a flash -- unlike those let-me-make-lunch-during-bootup PCs. The Mac is also wonderfully intuitive and is a complete pleasure to use. You can also now partition your hard drive and run Windows on your Mac if you so choose, and that's been helpful for a few applications.
  
• Joan's Compaq NX9600: Joan uses this workhorse for all of her computing needs. She wishes she had a faster graphics card, but is happy that the Compaq hasn't completely choked on the huge files from her 5D Mark II camera. It's a bit plump at 9.4 pounds, but had held up like a champ over the years, with the only significant issues being the failure of some USB ports and -- oh, right, that complete and utter hard-drive failure that marked the first few days of this trip.

CAMERAS & CAMERA EQUIPMENT

• Joan's Canon EOS 5D Mark II camera: The newest camera in Joan's repertoire, she's fallen for it quickly. With 21.1-megapixel capability, it can get shots from long distances and Joan can still crop them into close-ups. It also shoots video, though we have not explored that much yet.
  
• Joan's Canon 5D: This is the model that Canon replaced with the 5D Mark II, and Joan brought it in case -- and I should not even say this out loud, because Joan will kill me -- something were to happen to her new camera. Let's just say that if a beagle were to chew on or pee on the Mark II, only one beagle would make it back to Virginia.  Oh, she also offered it to me, in case I wanted to lug it around. As if. I like to travel light. It's hard enough to carry my own weight around.
• Joan's Panasonic DMC-TZ5S Lumix 28MM Wide Zoom point-and-shoot camera: Joan brought this in case she didn't feel like lugging around one of the big cameras. That day has not come yet. But it's always in her purse, so if we encounter something and don't have a big boy camera with us, we're still armed.
• Jim's Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-V3 7.2 megapixel camera: I'm using one of Joan's older, lighter cameras, and it's terrific. It's easy to use, and features some cool night shooting features.
• Joan's Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L USM Lens with image stabilization: Joan has used this one almost exclusively on the trip, and is her primary lens at home as well.
• Joan's Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM Lens. She uses this lens for wider shots, for photos like the one below. Here, Joan wanted to shoot up to get the beagles, the cannon at Chancellorsville and the sky in the same picture. She would not have been able to get this shot with her 70-200.
  

• Flip Video camcorder: This is how we shot the one video we've published so far, and we'll do more the second half of the trip. But this little recorder allows us to have video capability without the bulk associated with a lot of cameras.  And the software that comes with it is really easy to use, Joan is still working on shooting and editing video with the 5D Mark II -- which has awesome video capabilities.
• Lexar Multi-Card USB 2.0 Card Reader: While we both have card readers on our computers, this external reader is amazingly quick, so we both use it to offload our photos from our cameras to our computers.

COMMUNICATION DEVICES

• Jim's AT&T USBConnect Mercury: This wireless card comes in handy when certain hotels have crappy wireless connections or if we need to do any blogging or trip planning from the car, lunch or dinner. It works on the Windows partition of my Mac as well. While this has been a boon for me, it has led to more than one lunch where I've been trying to finish the blog while Joan eats in silence. Of course, Joan does have the Kindle, but one can only imagine what other diners think if us as we live in our completely separate worlds during the meal.
• Jim's BlackBerry 8310: Ah, the BlackBerry. My friend and constant companion. I am an addict, I admit it. Joan would prefer I didn't check it as much, you know, while driving, and I'm trying to get better. Really, I am... Sort of... OK, not really. Anyway, this allows me to stay connected to my e-mail, and since all the blog comments are automatically sent to my e-mail, it allows us to enjoy the comments while we're off gallivanting. It's also my backup phone, which came in handy this weekend, when my primary phone crapped out. Last, but not least, the Google Maps mobile application allows me to broadcast our location at all times via Google Latitude and also provides a backup should the Acura navigation choke on any addresses,
• Jim's Motorola Rapture VU30 phone: This is the newest addition to our technology family, having been added on Monday. So far, so good. This new phone was required after my old one -- an LG VX8600 -- decided that my attempts to plug in the recharger were some sort of physical violation. Alas, the phone soon died, and the Verizon store confirmed that it was now in cell phone heaven. So I had to get a new, shiny phone for free. Poor me.
• Joan's Samsung SCH-U740 Alias phone: The key feature on this phone is the QWERTY keyboard, which allows Joan to kill some long, boring stretches in the car by reading through and answering e-mail.
• Bluetooth: We have Bluetooth in the car, so that -- if so desired -- we can put any call on speaker and talk to callers together. It also also allows for hands-free talking in states where you're not allowed to have the phone up to your ear while driving.

ENTERTAINMENT

• The IPod: In 2003, we brought about 60-75 CDs with us, and rotated them out through our six-CD player. This meant we had to use significant room in the trunk, and -- because changing out the discs was a tad laborious -- listen to same six CDs for a week at a time. Fast forward to FHMA, and our entire music collection is now on a device smaller than my wallet. Without the iPod, none of you would know about my affinity for film scores. Wait... maybe this iPod thing isn't so great after all.
• Amazon Kindle: Not a direct contributor to the trip, the Kindle has allowed Joan the Voracious Reader to have something to do when I'm doing something that bores her, like fantasy baseball drafts, talking on the phone, blogging while lunching, etc. So. basically, the Kindle helps keep her sane by giving her new worlds to explore instead of wondering why she's married to the kook sitting across from her.
• XM Radio: One of the brutal parts of the last trip was trying to find radio stations in the more desolate parts of the United States. We could always listen to CDs, but there were times we wanted talk radio, and it was impossible to find, unless you consider the many religious programs we encountered "talk radio." On the FHMA tour, if we tire of the iPod and want to hear some ESPN Radio, CNN, stand-up comedy or the hundreds of music stations, we're set. There's also a channel called Cinemagic for those geeks who like movie music.

STORAGE

• 2 Western Digital 80GB Passport backup drives: We each have brought along 80GB backup drives so that we're protected against any technology meltdown -- though Joan is still not protected against my own personal technology-related meltdowns (see Fort Stockton, Tex.) My entire music collection is on my Passport so that I can add new songs to the iPod and re-sync. Joan keeps all her photos on her Passport, not on her laptop.
• 100 Verbatim DVDs for backup purposes: Since Joan doesn't put her photos on her laptop, she has these so she can back up.

NAVIGATION

• Acura RL Navigation System: A good-but-not-great navigation system, this allows us to plug in addresses and, should we make a wrong turn -- which, as a man, of course, I never, ever do -- re-route us. I am pretty good with directions, so I don't necessarily need it for that, but it tells you how far away you are from your destination and allows you to, for example, find the restaurants that are closest to the car, or any laundromats in Savannah, etc. The trip would be so much harder without the nav. And, of course, with me gone for four days, the existence of the nav was a critical reason Joan was ever able to leave the hotel. Some people don't want to stop at a gas station for directions (me), and others can't even find the gas station in the first place (Joan).

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST

• A power strip: Everything mentioned before this is useless if you don't bring a power strip. Searching for outlets in cheap hotel rooms is like searching for meaning in "The Cannonball Run" movies. The strip allows us to plug in both computers, recharge all our phones and still leave room for lamps, TVs, etc. So far, we have not overloaded an outlet.

Behind the Scenes: Our Model Beagles

Anyone who has ever owned a beagle is well aware of the independent mindedness of the breed. That makes it hard to reconcile the many photos of the serene beagles that have been featured in this blog. So it probably comes as no surprise when I tell you that getting pictures of the dogs is not quite as easy as it looks.  Not every picture Joan takes looks like our holiday card from two years ago.

What you never see, however, are the outtakes.


 

Because Joan is a professional photographer, she knows that every subject requires a different approach. Children tend to tense up when given direction, especially from their parents. So when photographing kids, Joan tries to keep the parents out of the process. Here's a picture of Joan photographing a child. Note there's no parent. In fact, the parent actually took the picture below. And, no, the child is not crying, rather he is laughing hysterically. 

Photographing dogs is different, however. Here, you can't underestimate the value of a great assistant.  When Joan photographs pets as part of her business, the owner usually helps out. When she photographs dogs at the Washington Animal Rescue League, one of the volunteers works with her.

But when shooting pictures of Fred and Hank, Joan keeps running into one major problem: I am a lousy assistant. When Joan is trying to take photos of the dogs, my presence tends to make them less focused. So Joan has skillfully found ways to get rid of me when photographing the dogs. While most of the techniques she uses are good, I didn't appreciate the time she told me to get out of the car to check a back tire and then took off. I thought that was uncalled for. Normally, Joan just waits until I've wandered off to go buy a Diet Pepsi, gone to take some pictures or decided to read up on the historical site that has just been desecrated by beagle markings.

Now keep in mind, Fred cut his teeth as a beagle model during our 2003 trip, where he learned that if he sat until he heard the click of the camera, a treat would soon follow. Back in those days, Joan was using a point-and-shoot camera and had to deal with the shutter delay, which forced Fred to learn to be even more disciplined. Since the Fred Takes America tour, he has been photographed regularly and with increasingly better equipment. But because he still seems to think there's a shutter delay, he tends to sit long enough for Joan to get additional shots.

Despite being a newcomer, it didn't take Hank long to catch on. But while he also generally sits and waits until Joan gets her shot, he's not as consistent. Fred is the go-to dog when it comes to posing. Joan usually gets him in place first with a sit-and-treat, and once Fred is in place, she physically plops Hank exactly where she wants him. The closer together, the better. They then get another treat when they are in place and obey the command to wait. Joan then backs up, and lets their leashes hang slack so she can Photoshop them out later, then takes as many photos she can get before one of the ADD-afflicted beagles wanders off to investigate a scent or roll in something dead.

Joan commands Hank to sit at the New Mexico Museum of Space in Alamogordo, N.M. Not surprisingly, he did not try that one small sit for mankind.

Joan's tools of the trade are small treats that fit in her pocket. She strongly prefers dry treats since she tends to forget to remove them from the pocket of her jeans before washing them. Or maybe she just has the laundry version of Munchhausen by Proxy syndrome, and intentionally leaves things in her pockets so she can do more laundry; it's hard to know. Joan also carries a small squeaky toy that fits in her pocket, so that when all else fails -- as it often does -- she can squeeze the toy to make the kind of noise that always can get a hound's attention and often results in the titly-head.   If that doesn't work, Joan has her own high-pitched noise she sometimes employs, one that sounds disturbingly like the sound of a modem connecting. Joan's stomping, clapping and snapping of fingers are often ignored by the beagles, but always worth the price of admission to watch. The bottom line: Treats are gold; everything else is tin.

One tool for good photos: exhaustion. Here, two worn-beagles pose flawlessly for Joan at White Sands National Monument.

The dogs are also better behaved at home than they are on the road. Seeing new places means new areas to explore and new scents to seek out. This makes certain photo opps impossible, and Joan's philosophy is to quickly acknowledge the hopelessness of those situations, and move on. This is also how she handles photographing kids, since any distraction or agitation will impact the quality of the expressions, and by extension, the photos. There's no point making everyone crazy for crappy pictures.  

When it comes to getting photographs of dogs, Fred and Hank have the benefit of a lot of experience and training, But when Joan photographs the dogs at the Washington Animal Rescue league, she has literally two minutes to photograph each dog. Most of these dogs have had awful lives, having been rescued from abusive owners and puppy mills, or found wandering the streets, as Hank once was. So these dogs are not only often afraid of people and loud noises, but -- because the puppy-mill dogs have often been kept in small cages their whole lives -- they're often afraid to walk on terra firma. Sometimes, 90 seconds of Joan's two minutes with a dog is spent sitting with the pup and offering comfort.

Joan didn't bring any of these shelter pictures with her on this trip, but if want to see some, you can friend her on Facebook and check out her dog rescue photo galleries.

Joan also photographs dogs as part of her client work, and has a full array of ways to get those dogs in the proper spirit. She even uses some of the same toys she does with kids: Bubbles (although, dogs tend to prefer liver-scented bubbles), balloons that make a loud noise when released and are fun to chase, squeaky toys, balls and with dogs, treats. The owner usually works with Joan -- blowing bubbles, throwing the ball, etc. To see some of those pictures, you can check Joan's website and look under "Four-Legged Family Members."

If you want to know about photographing cats, Joan finds them to be a completely different animal from a photography perspective. And don't even ask her what it's like to photograph me. Joan's tried-and-true method is to have me lean toward the camera, because she tells me it makes me look thinner. Strangely, it seems that I'm leaning forward more and more as the trip progresses. By the time we get to San Francisco, I'm going to have to be doubled over.