North American Journey Too

The second half of the 1986 journey, from Haines, Alaska to the Grand Canyon

This film picks up in Haines, Alaska, where North American Journey (1986) leaves off. From there the road runs south and east through the Rockies, the high plains and the Black Hills, up to Montreal, Nova Scotia and New England, down the coast to Florida, and back west to the Grand Canyon.

Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze shot it as they went, with no crew and no fixed itinerary. Campsites, long drives, breakdowns and quiet days are all part of the story.

Starts Haines, Alaska
Ends Grand Canyon, Arizona
Filmed 1986
Release 2027

In the edit, coming in 2027

The film is being finished now. Until then, ride along on the first half of the trip.

Watch Part 1

The route

Part 1 drove north to Alaska. Part 2 turns around and crosses the whole continent to the Atlantic coast, then comes back across the south to the Grand Canyon.

It was 1986: no GPS, no cell phones, no internet. Maps were consulted, decisions were talked over, and the days stretched out.

Haines
Alaska
Where the first film leaves off, and this one picks up.
Jasper
Alberta
Rafting the Athabasca River.
Waterton–Glacier
Alberta and Montana
The peace park that straddles the border.
Yellowstone
Wyoming
A backpacking trip to Union Falls, the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone, and bison in the meadows.
Devils Tower
Wyoming
The great column of rock rising over the plains.
The Black Hills
South Dakota
Up close on Mount Rushmore, and the graves of Wild Bill and Calamity Jane in Deadwood.
The Badlands
South Dakota
Into the eroded country of the interior plains.
Niagara Falls
New York
The falls on the border with Canada.
Montreal
Québec
City Hall and its copper roof.
Nova Scotia
Canada
Fall color on the woodland trails.
Boston
Massachusetts
A Halloween costume race through the city.
Salem
Massachusetts
Halloween week, 1986.
Mystic
Connecticut
The old seaport and its oyster house.
New York City
New York
Street corners by day, avenues by night.
Cape Canaveral
Florida
The rocket garden at dusk.
The Sonoran Desert
Arizona
Heading west again, into saguaro country.
Hoover Dam
Nevada and Arizona
Inside the powerhouse on the Colorado River.
The Grand Canyon
Arizona
The end of the road.

Snapshots from the road

Prints from the second half of the trip.

Alberta

South from the Yukon into the Rockies.

Patty Mooney stands with a paddle beside a small yellow inflatable raft on a rocky riverbank — Patty and the raft on the Athabasca River, Jasper.

Waterton–Glacier

Across the border into Montana.

A mule deer with big ears stands on a forest trail — A mule deer on the trail.

Yellowstone

Backpacking to Union Falls.

Patty Mooney with a big red backpack leans on a walking stick on a forest trail — Patty on the trail to Union Falls.

Close view of white water pouring down dark rock — Union Falls.

At a campsite, one person does a headstand while a man in blue holds up a fishing rod beside a green tent — Camp near Union Falls, upside down.

Patty Mooney smiles from a pool below a wide cascade — Patty takes a swim below the falls.

The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone pouring into a steep canyon — The Lower Falls of the Yellowstone.

A bison grazes in a meadow in front of a log cabin — A bison passes a log cabin.

Wyoming

Snow comes early on the high plains.

A white Chinook camper with California plates covered in fresh snow — The Chinook camper under fresh snow.

Devils Tower rising above pine trees — Devils Tower.

South Dakota

The Black Hills.

Patty Mooney stands on the rock below the carved face of George Washington on Mount Rushmore — Patty below George Washington, Mount Rushmore.

Mark Schulze, tiny, stands at the chin of the carved face of Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore — Mark at Lincoln’s chin.

Stone wall graves marked Wild Bill and Calamity Jane behind an iron fence — The graves of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane, Deadwood.

Québec

Montreal.

Nova Scotia

Out to the Atlantic.

Patty Mooney in a pink knit hat kisses Mark Schulze on a footbridge in an autumn forest — Patty and Mark on a footbridge in the fall woods.

A waterfall tumbling over dark rocks under spruce trees and fall leaves — A waterfall in the woods.

A stream running through a Nova Scotia forest — A stream in the Nova Scotia woods.

New England

Halloween in Boston and Salem, and the old seaport at Mystic.

A crowd of runners in Halloween costumes and race numbers fills a Boston street under yellow autumn trees — Costumed runners at a Halloween race in Boston.

Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze grin beside two runners wearing carved pumpkins as heads — Patty and Mark with two pumpkin-headed runners, Boston.

Patty Mooney grins from a wooden stocks, flashing peace signs, under a sign reading Relive 1692 — Patty in the stocks in Salem, the week of Halloween 1986.

Mark Schulze slurps an oyster on the dock in front of the Thomas Oyster Co. building — Mark and an oyster at the Thomas Oyster Co., Mystic.

New York City

Backpacks in Manhattan.

Patty Mooney with a red backpack beside a street vendor cart and a yellow taxi — Patty, a street cart and a yellow cab.

A New York avenue at night between lit office towers — An avenue after dark.

Florida

The Space Coast.

Silhouettes of tall rockets against a pink and purple dusk sky — Rockets at dusk, Cape Canaveral.

Patty Mooney stands under five huge rocket engine nozzles — Patty under the rocket engines.

The Southwest

The last miles, back toward home.

Mark Schulze leans on a tall saguaro cactus on a rocky desert hillside — Mark and a saguaro, Arizona.

A row of giant generators inside the Hoover Dam powerhouse — The generators inside Hoover Dam.

Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze arm in arm at a railing on the rim of the Grand Canyon, with snow on the ground — Patty and Mark at the Grand Canyon, the end of the road.

Why it matters

Together, the two films are one unbroken record of a nine-month, 25,000-mile journey, shot before anyone could look up the road ahead.

The second half shows what that kind of distance does to two people: the endurance, the partnership, and the sense of purpose they brought home. It set the course for the decades of independent filmmaking that followed.

About the film

Filmed: 1986, the second half of a nine-month journey
Route: Haines, Alaska to the Grand Canyon, Arizona
Format: Shot on VHS
Produced and videotaped by: Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze
Production company: Crystal Pyramid Productions®
Distributed by: New & Unique Videos®
Release: 2027

The whole journey

Part 1: North American Journey (1986)California to Haines, Alaska. Watch it now. Part 2: North American Journey TooHaines to the Grand Canyon. Coming in 2027.

Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze are San Diego filmmakers and the co-founders of New & Unique Videos, making independent films since 1985.

North American Journey Too

In the edit, coming in 2027