Amazing Quest: Stories from the USA | Somewhere on Earth: USA | Free Documentary

[Music] um [Music] [Music] today somewhere on earth is headed for the west of america a land where the pioneering spirit and dreams of fortune still live on al fahl is a musician he plies the deserted roads of arizona at the wheel of his old taxi the concerts he gives in the little towns keep him in close contact with the slice of genuine america richard fox who grew up in the mountains of wyoming has chosen to live close to nature by running the family ranch he's perpetuating the cowboy tradition of the american west the mountains and canyons of utah still echo with indian chants steph davis has made this her playground climbing skydiving and base jumping this is the daily bread of this enthusiastic woman in search of the extreme it kind of feels like being a bird when you have a wing suit because you can go where you want you can steer it you can you know spin around in circles it's just such a and just an amazing thing that you could do that you know you could be like a bird up there it's just it's kind of amazing that we have that chance al fal couldn't imagine his life any other way for more than 20 years now he's been living for and from his music rock and roll [Music] so [Music] al fowl at the wheel of his old jalopy travels arizona's dusty desert scattered with cactus it's like he stepped right out of another age america of the 1950s al an exceptional musician has become a well-known figure of arizona's rock scene one fine day while hitchhiking across the states with a friend he decided to put down roots here they were 18 and were pursuing their dreams of freedom what we were planning is i wanted to go out to california i was i heard a lot about san francisco and i had a few friends out there but you see we were kind of homeless at the time and i've been pretty much on and off the street through most of our teenage years so we were hitchhiking and uh i wanted to go to california and he said it's october it's gonna be real cold if we're gonna be sleeping outside in san francisco in october so he says let's go to arizona i met some people it's a cool little town and it's warm all winter long i actually fell in love with arizona when i first came here from the east coast the whole state is just filled with beautiful drives [Music] i was getting ready for the show i got to get you know i was i getting pretty dirty driving around in this car you know so just put on the good shirt for the gig music is his livelihood and his old guitar is his most valuable possession on the roadside under a lead in sun he carries out the same unchanging ritual before each concert the guitar used to be uh like a red like a red sunburst and uh it had gotten smashed actually the whole thing got broken in and when i repaired it uh i was going to paint it a different color or paint go back to the red sunburst and when i primed it and sand it to the primer it kind of gave like it looked kind of like the taxi actually so i decided i just clear coat it like this and it matches [Music] i can barely make you out here [Music] please [Music] all right cheers everybody al often plays solo guitars drums singing he's kind of a one-man band he's also his own manager always on the lookout for the next gig [Music] today al's making a stop at kilaco to see ed a real character of the far west like you can meet in arizona hey ed how are you howdy really nice to see you again all right welcome to cow town kilaco thank you thank you thank you i haven't seen you in a while oh it's been a while yeah yeah you know last night i was up in tucson and i was playing a show and me and marcus got to talking and we were thinking that maybe we could come out here i'm thinking right around the last weekend of june maybe we could put on another concert on here oh yeah yeah you can do that or you can sit up on the stage you know it makes no difference uh a lot of folks just a few months ago we had eight bands here okay yeah i'll show you where you can set up now come over here and all right yeah you know you can sit up here on the stage ed kilako gave his name to this improbable spot a little village that he planned and built himself kilaco is a very special ranch with its own saloon church prison and cemetery ed a korean and vietnam war veteran has spent his civilian life keeping alive the flame of the pioneering spirit of the far west you know out here people is treated with respect everyone is welcome in this town it's the colder the west you don't jersey person by the color of his skin he's judging by the contents of his character and that's what we do here but somehow the west is losing that the deserts is a school [Music] where final examinations is given every hour every day every month you have to understand you learn to live in correlation with animals with rattlesnakes with helo monsters everything that's here you have to know where to find water [Music] because it looks green out there behind you but that's a dangerous place it can take your life they'll find your bones weathered someplace you have to know [Music] so [Music] go [Music] al the rocker also has a kind of crazy dream in mammoth a small town with a population of 2 000 he's renovating the blue front inn this bar is a legend unto itself it used to be owned by the son of a chicago gangster who made a fortune during prohibition the blue front inn also used to be a dance hall and maybe this place in the heart of the desert will come alive again at least that's what al is hoping this is a 1965 row ambassador i bought it in scottsdale arizona there's a guy who actually the guy i bought it from had three or four of them and out of them he took all the parts together and piece together one working one and i've filled it with all my own records and records that i got from my father when he died [Music] somehow well now fifty dollars about three weights no use target to put it in the tank this will you have a gonna get ripped off too so i called up [Music] driving is something i do all the time as a musician i do a lot of driving even if i just stay in arizona and just play my regular circuit of shows in arizona sometimes i'll do 1200 miles in a month and that's just for the gigs [Music] sometimes it's where i write songs because there's nothing else to do my mind just starts to work overtime but i like it i like driving [Music] 250 kilometers from al's place just a stone's throw for arizona is the town of bisbee and the shady dell a very original motel here the rooms are all vintage trailers this morning al is paying a visit to his friend justin the moving spirit of the place like al he's a great fan of the fabulous 50s we don't have much of a history and this is uh this was a big part of our our culture between the car culture the the movies and the old diners and and unfortunately yeah everything's fading away um nobody knows what these diners were like anymore they're pretty much all gone for me to get to bisbee in the taxi it's you know three hours with no air conditioning holes in the bottom of the floor you know but uh it's all part of the adventure you know if i wanted to drive a car with air conditioning and stuff i mean that's not for me you know [Music] good music a head full of yarns inspired by his mexican taxi al fowl's life is written on the highways and byways of arizona behind the wheel of his 1954 chevrolet bel air al is a happy man yeah man i love it i love this car i can't stop anywhere without somebody saying wow man that's a cool car i love it the trunk popped open it's got a bad luck i gotta close it again [Music] [Music] none of these gauges work you know on the thing and they didn't when i got it and just kind of replaced them all is a little expensive and a real pain to do so you know i don't know you know if i need to know what bass it is you know [Music] i don't even know if i'm the one who owns the car i think i'm just a passenger for a while miles away [Music] god bless america al's car is the faithful companion of every moment of his life something like a good old friend who every now and then gives you a hard time well you know below the tire you're gonna blow a tire ain't the first one i changed i'm sure this ain't gonna be the last just gotta get into tucson and get another one now uh haven't heard about david he got locked up yesterday for the failure to pay his child support and all this guy's laughing thought it was just so funny his wife left in such a hurry she never even stopped to ask for money she never even called just once to tell him where junior was [Music] so last friday not driving back to his lonely home he started thinking i i i'm not gonna leave arizona i don't think i mean i want to travel you know i'd like to see the whole rest of the world really tell you the truth and i'm going to try to see as much of it as i can i mean part of the biggest thing about being a musician is it's kind of can be a tool for that you know maybe you're going to make any money there but you're going to get to see some places you know and it's a vehicle like that you know it can be if you're you know if that's your intention you know but i always want to stay here you know i got a nice little circuit i do you know around the state different gigs i've been doing for some years different towns i've been playing for a long time see old friends when i play there and it's nice i never want to lose that yeah little yards say baby closing dishes for sale hallelujah [Music] baby clothes and dishes for sale wyoming is a land where people still get around on horseback a land of breathtaking landscapes crossed by the rocky mountains that peak at over 4 000 meters it is the least populated of the united states here not far from yellowstone national park richard fox has his ranch it's the end of may and normally at this time of year the grass is growing and all the trees have leaves but this year as you can see it's still snowing at this time of year so we're facing some challenges feeding our horses and our cattle and we we live by nature's rules here [Music] richard fox runs his family ranch perched at an altitude of 2 300 meters and isolated from the rest of the world in this region the temperature can sometimes drop to minus 30 or 40 degrees celsius wyoming is a wild country land of wolves grizzlies beavers and the imposing elk this morning richard is riding along the edge of the forest he's tracked down a stray cult that ran off from the herd [Music] [Music] that's a good boy from the day i was born i've been around horses um you know i started riding in my father's arms when i was six weeks old so really they're like family members to me and my whole family feels the same way we treat them very gently and uh you know have a lot of respect for horses horses are wonderful because um you can go so many places with them you know it's a little bit like a dog except you can also ride them the horses and the cattle i love the animals you know it's always you always feel at peace when you're around them they're uh you know very pure animals you know you can go any direction on the horses and we're very lucky because we're in the middle of the wilderness so we don't have any highways we don't have fences you know that block us off so we can go any direction both physically and i think mentally because we have these wide open spaces [Music] when the sun sets the mountains around the bitterroot ranch echo with a particular sound that goes way back to richard's childhood [Music] great once spring is well underway they let the horses loose at sunset so they can spend the nights roaming freely in the mountains [Music] so [Music] [Music] i was born and raised in wyoming and i spent my whole childhood growing up here and then i went away for university so i saw some other parts of the country and i experienced you know different lifestyles and realized how wonderful my lifestyle here in wyoming is and i think that's part of the reason that i love it so much you know i've seen other things and i've seen how lucky i am and my family is to be here but i was lucky because i was born into this lifestyle so i think many people have to search you know for something they love and you know for a passion in life and for me it was just natural after a long hard winter the spring thaw has begun the ranch is coming back to life today richard's entire family is pitching in with the work they have to drive a part of the herd up to the grazing lands recently freed from the snow [Music] [Applause] these vast expanses they ride over these planes hills and mountains all this is their home and they protect it [Applause] um you know we do things the way they've been done in the west for over a hundred years um we you know we rely on the natural world the grass growing and the cattle having their calves just just like the cowboys did in the old days this is uh not a very decorative saddle this is a real cowboy saddle for work it's designed to sit in for a lot of hours you're comfortable in this saddle all day it's uh it's like my office chair that i sit in every day as long as it's looked after and you know i keep loving it it should last for you know generations actually my parents got this saddle for me when i graduated from high school so i've had it for many many years and maybe i don't know i'll give it to my son when he graduates from high [Music] school [Music] [Music] i like to come up just by myself to get away from it all and see what's going on up here it's very peaceful very nice companionship with the horses [Music] you know you always have to pay attention to what the horse is doing and so they keep you thinking you can't fall asleep and i can't drift off and think about other things i have to focus on the horse and on our relationship um it's a little bit like a dance and you have to pay attention to it or you'll step on your partner's toes or they'll step on yours [Music] i came up here this morning to see if we can bring our cattle up into the mountains each summer we bring them up you know high into the mountains for uh for the grass and i've discovered that there's a lot of snow up here so it's too early we are going to be able to bring our cattle up yet but frankly it's also kind of a nice trip to see you know just me with the two horses and we get away from it all and we can explore in the mountains it's very peaceful i haven't found anywhere yet that's better than this richard makes a stop on the banks of this river he still has half a day of riding to get back to the ranch he'll spend the night in his 100 year old cabin that has offered shelter to so many cowboys before him isolated but not alone he has the company of his horses as well as the spirit of all those who once nourished the same dreams many ranches in the west are getting subdivided you know so they're being sold for people to have small houses in this beautiful countryside but of course as more people have their small homes in paradise it's no longer paradise and um and so i think for my whole family it's very important that we're keeping our ranch the way that it has been it's a hard way to make a living and it would be easy to you know sell the ranch and subdivide it but there are a lot of ranchers that hold on to the land even though it's a tough lifestyle it's a good lifestyle and they have a lot of love for what they're doing and for the open land and for the environment i hope people get a chance to visit wilderness somewhere in the world just to see what it's like and i think that you know that's how everyone used to live so it's kind of part of us and it's important to you know still see it at dawn richard will get back on the trail to the ranch in a few days the snow will be all gone that's when they'll drive the cattle up to the summer pastures [Music] so in the local indian language utah means people of the mountains this is the breathtaking realm of towering stone cathedrals sculpted by the wind and rain time and erosion have carved out immense canyons venturing into the heart of utah means discovering one of nature's masterpieces [Music] uh [Music] here at the foot of these abrupt rock walls is where the lovers of wide open spaces meet men and women who live near these cliffs that they've managed to tame in order to satisfy their thirst for the extreme [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] it's like a specific moment where you have to focus and do everything the best you can and um you know the only person it really matters to is you because you're the one there you're the one on the line it feels really honest or like real to um have experiences like that because you're gonna try to do the best you can because you sort of have to [Music] well i've been climbing for 20 years and um you know at this point i couldn't really not climb in my life it's just you know it's like eating or walking i mean i just i will always climb um i don't know i don't know why i like that so much i just i just do i i just really like it what makes sense is being here and you know you're on a cliff and there's gravity and when you have your equipment and you know what to do and you're going to do the best you can because you want to have a good time and and be able to do it again later and it's just it's very natural so to me that makes sense and i like to live like that [Music] steph davis is one of the world's most respected woman climbers she has climbed and opened difficult trails all over the globe pakistan europe north and south america [Music] steph davis could have had a brilliant career as a pianist or devoted herself to writing and literature but one day she discovered rock climbing the contact with the stone and this wild nature that few men or women managed to master when she arrived here in moab utah steph davis decided to live as simply as possible in her trailer not far from the rock walls and she lived like that for seven years [Music] i love this this place where there's all these canyons and all this um there's a lot of shape and there's like a lot of um volume in this landscape and then you never feel like you're just out exposed because there's so much stuff surrounding you but then it's far away so you don't feel like squeezed in like some tight valley so it's just this really nice combination of feeling kind of like there's things surrounding you but you always feel like you're up on top of places and it just feels really good here [Music] you know as the years went by i went like a lot of places in the world and this is just my favorite place like if i if i had to stay in moab and never ever leave this area for the rest of my life i would be totally happy because there's just everything to do here now steph lives with her boyfriend mario who's also a lover of the extreme and strong sensations today they're climbing ancient art a spire in the middle of fisher towers one of utah's most spectacular landscapes [Music] these two climbers used to high mountains complete the ascension in under an hour here steph and mario are on the summit of ancient art perched on a narrow platform barely large enough to stand on good one babe see ya two one steph's free fall down the cliff face has gone off without a hitch this sport base jumping gives an incredible rush of adrenaline but for mario it's more of a problem because the wind has come up plus he's no longer attached by his harness and his balance is tricky under these conditions you have to be patient now the wind has dropped and mario is getting ready to take the great leap but first he has to get rid of the rope they used to make the climb the rope has gotten wedged in and he has to free it with his foot yeah baby here we go [Music] yeah buddy that's okay good job that's a nice one it's one of those magical places and it's close to our hometown it's like 20 miles away 25 miles away we can come here like every day if we want to so you don't have to travel across the world so and people across the world to come here so when you're actually here and it's your backyard it's i mean i feel very very lucky you know i'm more of a jumper she's more of a climber so she gets me up and you know i get her down so we have this little team thing going which is pretty nice so when you actually have somebody that shares the same passion and you're actually in love with it makes everything just that much more intense because you just you can share all these very strong you know feelings and moments with somebody somebody you love it's nice very nice [Music] [Music] [Music] my [Music] so yeah the thunderstorms they bring all the air up and then it just takes air in from different sides [Music] wow [Music] mario is a climber but he's also been an airplane pilot and skydiving instructor for years he's one of the trailblazers of base jumping as well [Music] the passion they both have for wide open spaces and pushing their limits quite naturally led steph and mario to share the call of the void mario and i actually met in this plane and i i really like it when he's flying and then he knows so much and i really trust his decisions and it's just it's just nice when he's flying if you're in a thunderstorm it's bad weather so what you need to do is make sure where they are before you actually take off and basically avoid them but it does make things a little more tricky but at the same time these days we'll have the most beautiful skies because the clouds are bursting and there's a way to be safe as long as you respect the environment and you know it's coming their little plane is weaving between the storms and downpours mario is still hesitating about opening the hatch steph is ready to go [Music] 0.5 miles have a good job [Music] for this jump steph has donned her wing suit especially designed to slide through the air but man's oldest dream flying is not available to just anyone in the usa you have to complete 500 jumps before you can dive with a [Music] wingsuit [Music] this suit allows steph to fly much longer in free fall than with the standard equipment it's an aerial roller coaster that lasts only about one minute before opening her [Music] parachute it kind of feels like being a bird when you have a wingsuit because um you can go you can go where you want you can steer it you can pop up or dive down you can you know spin around in circles it's a really cool feeling but then at the same time you're also thinking a lot because you have instruments like the altimeter and you have to think about where you're going to come to land and so it's like on the one hand it's this really like oh i'm a bird and on the other hand you're like what's my altitude it's just such a and just an amazing thing that you could do that you know you could be like a bird up there it's just it's kind of amazing that we have that chance [Music] when i started to do meditation for me it's just kind of the same thing as running like i like to have like the empty mind state which is really good and then and then you feel good and then it helps train your mind to do that when you are like doing a base jump or doing a hard climb or free soloing or skydiving or something because anything you practice you can do it better so if you practice that mind state in safe environments it's easy to take it into the risky ones [Music] hey larry hey steph how's it going hi slack hi hi sweetie hi hi happy dog hi good boy is it windy yeah it's been a little breezy up here but not too bad is the line good oh it's perfect looks nice yeah it's great it's super nice larry yeah it's sweet wow but it's really wet is the line what uh no it's actually after the sun and all the wind it's dried out and it's perfect do you know how far down it is uh it's probably about 100 feet down larry harp is an old friend of stefan mario he's a reference in this very spectacular discipline slacklining he also has been around the world to fulfill his passion for climbing which he's been practicing for years larry is willing to go to great lengths for such a moment it took him two days of hard work to set up the line you don't practice this extreme sport on a tight cable like a tightrope walker with his balancing pole here larry has to master the stretch and bounce of the narrow strip of webbing as he walks the fine line between vertigo and perfect balance nice thanks good job that was fun i really enjoy the balance of being able to control not only your physical and your mental aspect of of walking a line i enjoy being up really high i've been a climber for 20 years so high lining or slacklining up high is basically just an extension of that one thing you try to do is is empty your mind of anything it's kind of like meditation so if you're thinking about a bunch of things while you're walking it just it it kind of confuses you and it might make you stumble or fall that was fun it's always always gets the heart rate up a little bit there for me highlining is all about uh the uh the view and it's not just just being up high it's being in a very scenic place being in being out with nature and just enjoy enjoying the landscape and everything encompasses the experience that that you're looking [Music] for [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 579,079

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), somewhere on earth, somewhere on earth usa, usa, us stories, amazing stories, amazing stories from the us, Arizona, Wyoming, utah, amazing quest, cowboy tradition, skydiving, climbing, base jumping

Id: 1TVNLGCn4Js

Length: 52min 13sec (3133 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 03 2021