The First Day

In the morning, I went to take the kids to school. I got a call from Hank. He wanted me to meet at our house along with another producer named Charlie. This is a photo of Charlie. They showed up and ran through the schedule with us. Charlie was really good with the kids. He pointed out that his child was virtually the same age as Aidan.

Hank told me that I would be meeting Dawn out at the juntion of Highways 60 & 61, which is locally known as "The Y".

So I showered and sat around at home for what seemed like a long time, looking at my clock. Making sure the house was clean.

Hank also told us that I would be picking up Dawn alone. This seemed to really bug Temple. Why would I get to meet her first? Why could they not meet her as well? She was disturbed that they kept changing things. I told her at first that it was probably so that Dawn could check out the goods (me). But really I think it was because they would need room in the car for the camera.

Finally at 10:30 AM, Hank told me to meet him at the highway at 11 AM. So I drove the four miles of dirt road to the start of the highway to find - no one. I parked there and waited for almost a half-hour. I called Hank. No answer. Finally a blue Mini-Cooper pulled up, and Hank pulled up. With him was this giant of a man with a shaved head. His name was Sandy, and he had all this sound equipment strapped to his shoulder.

Hank needed to go get gasoline desperately, so I directed him to the neareat gas station in Concho. He left me with Sandy, who turned out to be the nicest guy. Sandy always carries his equipment with him, and I almost never see him.

The first thing Sandy said to me was, "You are not what I expected."

"What were you expecting?" I asked.

"I don't know," he said. "Harry Dean Stanton? Something more austere."

Hank showed up, and he asked me to follow him out the highway to meet Dawn. He gave me all sorts of complicated directions about what I needed to do.

This was the first lesson I received about Reality TV. It is not reality. Hank wanted me to drive past where they were waiting, turn around, wait for his signal, drive up, get out of the car, greet Dawn, invite her into the car and drive off. Wait, wait. You drove up too soon. Go back and do it again. Good, shake Dawn's hand. Put her picnic basket in the trunk. Dawn, get in the car. No start over. Dawn, you are not supposed to get into the front seat, because the camera will go there. Do it again, now drive up the hill.

My first impression of Dawn: she is hot! But she was wearing this red flannel shirt, cowboy hat and bright red cowboy boots. She looked like something out of Hee Haw. She told me later that she bought the boots the day before. She figured that since she was going to Arizona, she might as well try to fit in.

She hopped in the backseat. We had a camera riding shotgun, and a camera next to her in the backseat. She started asking me questions while we rode home. They were pretty good questions. Mainly about how the lifestyle works for us. I found Dawn to be personable and very likeable. We got home, and the interview was not over, so I made a couple of loops around the property.

I introduced Dawn to the family, and then I had to leave immediately to pick up the other kids from school. When I got back, Martha, Temple and Dawn were immersed in an interview in the living room. The producers asked us to keep the kids outside to prevent any noise from distrubing the interview. Aidan described it as the worst day of his life, because he could not even go inside after school. Charlie & Hank were great at keeping the kids occupied.

The girls & I noticed that Hank was kind of bummed out all day. It seemed like the crew kind of bossed him around and sent him to grab batteries. We were all looking forward to spending more time with him. This is Hank. You can see why my girls like him so much.

Dawn then helped Temple make some shepherd's pie for dinner, and we sat down to the typical chaotic meal.

Dawn also did a one-on-one with Sophie, which was a surprise, because Sophie was so deadset against being on camera.

In the evening, we lit a bonfire, and Dawn asked Martha, Temple and I questions about our relationship with each other, and a little about our religious beliefs. She seemed impressed that we are spiritual, and yet not fanatic about our beliefs.

Then Dawn helped the kids get ready for bed, and she got into pajamas herself. They threw out a sleeping bag for her, she climbed in and did a recap of her day for the camera. I listened as how she described how shocked she was when she saw our trailer, and yet was amazed to find how quaint and how much space there was when she actually went inside.

While I listened, one of the producers came up to me and hissed to me that I really shouldn't listen to her recap, because Dawn would be doing a one-on-one with me tomorrow. So they turned off the lights and gave Dawn a handheld camera that she whispered to for a while - who knows about what.

Then Dawn hopped out of the sleeping bag and left for the hotel.

Before they left, I thanked Charlie & Dawn for their honest portrayal of polygamy. So many journalists only want to spew vitriol. It's good to have an honest approach.

Then the whole family & I went to sleep to prepare for the next day.