© Beth Vershure

After a long day of shooting the TV special, the Web crew caught up with Muench to talk with him about his life on the road.

Robinson: We think a lot of people would be interested in what your life is like. So as a starting point, you mentioned to me that you've traveled already two hundred days this year?

Muench: Yeah, this year, yeah.

Robinson: Is that normal?

Muench: I'd like to be out more, I feel like I've undercut on some things that I really wanted to do, but it just ended up that many days. It can be great! And driving, if you like driving and moving to other places, new places. But it can get rough when you go through the same fast food stops, you know, the cappuccino and hazelnut coffee, just to get to the next one. Do that long drive — it's — like truck driving. But I enjoy the places I go, so it makes those drives more fun. I like to drive, and now I have a vehicle that really moves smoothly.

Vershure: Where do you stay that many days on the road? Do you camp or stay in hotels?

Muench: Lately, I've been mostly in motels, because it's a deduction — more so than food — so that's an excuse. I like to camp. I really like to — especially, then, when I can get close to a place that I can do sunrises and places I like. So it's fun to camp. You get the best sleep ... especially by a stream or something.

Robinson: So on a typical trip how many days are you gone in a stretch?

Muench: A recent project involved a workshop at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina, so I wanted to drive. This was in May, great time to go across the country. I just wanted to take one of those old-fashioned drives, and just do interstate, and come into spring on a wave, to Grandfather Mountain. And then follow another wave — hopefully following blooms and stuff like that. So that worked out quite well. Then I came back to North Dakota, South Dakota, and completed that area. Oh! Minnesota first and worked some sites in Montana, and then started into some spring shooting in Colorado. So I was just floating through these different projects. It's easier than going to a place and spending a month on one thing and trying to get more of that. This next project will be more in Arizona , which will be called "Vast and Intimate." I may use "Near-Far." It'll be big and small, focally grounded. It will be a big panorama with very small details — the things you don't see, the way you don't see it. And some double imaging, too, of the two things.

Vershure: Is that for a book?

Muench: Yeah, Arizona Highways.

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