Trip

he knew that I was a filmmaker,” James said. “He teaches at LaFayette now, where Jess went, and he knew these guys wanted to take this trip. He put us in touch with each other and we were able to make it happen.”

The project really took off after the Lookout Wild Film Festival offered the crew a sponsorship to make the film.

“Andy Johns and the people at Lookout Wild Film Festival in Chattanooga were great to us,” James said. “They’re focused on outdoorsy films and the people they inspire, which fell right in line with the type of documentary we were wanting to make.”

The crew was able to buy a national parks card and then managed to visit more than 20 parks throughout their trip, including Yosemite, Niagara Falls and Grand Canyon.

“We live in a beautiful country,” James said. “What I loved most about the experience was being able to see all these places that I had heard about but never imagined I would go.”

Now that summer is over and the four teens have moved off to college, James and executive producer Benson Greene are working to finish the film so it can be entered in festivals.

“Our ultimate goal is to take it to as many film festivals as we can so that people can see what we saw out there and enjoy the story we were able to tell,” James said.