I may backdate this to December, but 2023 was both a widely successful and stressful year for me filming elevators. Things have gotten especially crazy with work, school, and other activities that I have had little time to film elevators past October. I rediscovered air travel after 15 years and booked a couple of flights. One of which I filmed elevators on, the other I did not. Because of reasons other than elevators, I got in four more trips than I intended to take! I filmed only two of them.
The first trip was to St Louis in March, where I got to revisit after passing through in 2021. I got some videos from Washington University and St. Louis University, but the takes were really bad, and I may redo that trip. The second was in April (the one I intended to take). I read on the news that Iowa Wesleyan was closing, and it was about as far away as the University of Iowa, which I have previously visited. I also missed filming at the former Dana college in Blair, NE since I hadn't started my YouTube channel at the time it closed. So I planned out a trip to go visit Iowa Wesleyan before it closed, and it was a rousing success! I got detailed takes of all the elevators on campus, and enough still pictures to create a tribute for every single elevator! I also booked the same hotel I did on the "Last Kahona Before the 'Rona (2020)" road trip, and got the exact same room (I recognized it by the decal Hampton Inns have on the room number signs). I lost the video of the hotel room tour on the 2020 road trip, so I got to review the room on this one! The third one was in July, where I ventured out to South Dakota again to film more in the middle of the state, and repeat my success with filming the elevators at another closing college. Unfortunately, I was not successful, since the college already closed before I could get there. But it gave me the idea to name the previous road trip the "Redemption" road trip. The fourth trip was to Mississippi State in early October, and it marked my first time on a plane in 15 years! The primary purpose of this trip wasn't elevators though, and I'm not going any further into it. I took a fifth trip by plane, and I only got the Denver Airport train. I also refilmed the entirety of UNL as I mentioned in my 2022 Year in Review. It's been 5 years since I made any videos of most of the elevators there, and some haven't even been filmed with the SX740! There were a number of mods, more buildings closed for construction than 2018, and some new elevators I had no idea even existed! I also found a new vintage freight elevator on campus, but considering the recent trends and the failure of pulling my videos to stop mods that were already inevitable, I may never upload it to YouTube to avoid drawing attention to it in the first place. I also had a short meetup with ElevatorMan2004, and we filmed elevators at MCC Fort Omaha. Hopefully once things settle down outside of filming elevators, we can do another meetup and film more elevators the second time around. For 2024, I have mixed feelings as to whether I should add air travel to possible video ideas. Flying is something that's enjoyable to me, and it may open up more possibilities. It also cuts down on the miles I've been adding to my car taking all the prior road trips. But it's expensive! I have to book rental car whenever I fly because I'm not comfortable with ridesharing services. For the price of flying, I could book the rental car in Lincoln and drive wherever. The cost of gas doesn't add up to $219, the best price I can get flying from Lincoln to Denver. If I do, it will be the only change coming for 2024. I have completed the checking up on places I filmed in the 2010s, except for a few elevators (like this one) that may be in danger of modernization. I am considering revisiting some places I got in 2021, like Oklahoma and Springfield, MO. I don't know where the next road trip will lead me though. Considering I have more options now than I did in 2023, I want to leave my options open. I plan on refilming elevators in downtown Lincoln, particularly the parking garages and hotels. I have started with some of the office buildings in 2023, and the parking garages are due for retakes, despite being way over filmed. On my list of potential destinations is Fayetville, AR; Denver, CO; and Madison, WI. Comments are closed.
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