A Miner Situation

The problem with a necessary evil is that it is...necessary. Take for example: making a documentary about the geology of Oklahoma (or filmmaking of any kind). Once you review your "finished" movie, you tend to notice there are a few things missing.

And thus the necessary evil: reshoots.

So off we went. First stop: The Oklahoma Oil Museum in Seminole, Oklahoma.


Places like this are what we call a "Mom & Pop" Museum as they tend to be labors of love that are operated by a handful of enthusiastic and dedicated volunteers. This one was actually much bigger and impressive than we thought it would be. Plenty of antique drilling equipment is on display behind the museum. For example: giant honkin' drill bits. And since none of the "Devin does something funny while posing next a giant honkin' drill bit" pictures turned out very well, here's the regular one:



And if you think that's surprising then check out how surprised this mannequin looks while we were shooting inside:



The museum was nice but it wasn't our main priority. Our main objective? Coal. There's nothing quite like spending a weekend driving all over southeastern Oklahoma looking for anything coal related that might make for a good visual. Eventually we found enough stuff...like the Coal Miners Memorial in McAlester:



That's all fine and good but man cannot live on coal alone. For decades the miners have been aware of an even greater natural resource that comes from this area: Beer!



Legend has it that the Choctaw Indians gave their beer brewing secrets to Italian immigrants in the early 20th century. In Krebs, OK "Choc Beer" is brewed and served at Pete's Place restaurant. Choc beer variations include "Miner Mishap" (get it?) and "Miner's Light" (get it?). Find them online here: http://www.petes.org/

I'll forego the full blown review of the place that we had planned and just bottom line it:

Beer: Good
Food: Good

How good? Well, shake hands with the 30 oz. Sirloin Steak for Two:



Now that you guys are acquainted I can let you know that we are already thinking of excuses for getting more coal footage.