Hello all,
We spent the morning at the site. Because the location is so remote, the only way to see anything is to be a neighbor, be part of the crew, or take a shuttle bus provided by the local transit company. We got to the bus stop at 7:45am this morning and finally got to the site at 9:00 am. The road to the house is barely a one lane road. It is dirt. The buses are only let through when the road is not needed otherwise by deliveries, heavy equipment, etc. We were the first bus there. We saw the large crew with hardhats approaching the house to be demolished. We saw the house and outbuildings being demolished by several huge bulldozers. We saw Ty, Paige, Preston, and Michael up close. They were very nice to the 200 or so fans. I am too shy to ask them anything or get an autograph, but I enjoyed all the excitement.
Although it was a fun experience and I am glad I took my boys, it was extremely cold and foggy and most people weren't prepared for the wet and damp. We were cordoned off into an area and couldn't leave or go elsewhere until a bus came to get us. We had a distant view of the house, but a close view of the design team when they came and went.
It took almost 2 hours of standing in line to get back on a bus to get back to our car. It would have been 3 hours, but my son got in line an hour before I was ready to leave and saved a space for me and my other son. We waited until we saw Ty up close. All the designers spent quite a bit of time with the fans signing autographs. There was a fence between us. We couldn't leave the area and walk back because of the narrow road and heavy equipment. I felt kind of trapped. There were portapots and trash cans. No food or drink or anywhere to sit down except in the mud. There was no cover to protect from the rain. Luckily there wasn't any today.
Overall a neat experience. We were very lucky to see the demolition. A lot of people who came later waited a lot longer for the bus to arrive and didn't get to see much if any of that. The local media could do a better job of explaining to people what you are getting into.
I love the show and will be very interested to see how it unfolds in an hour. The episode should air in January.
I'll update when/if I learn more.
