{"id":11054,"date":"2018-07-18T11:54:18","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T16:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/?p=11054"},"modified":"2018-07-22T18:24:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-22T23:24:03","slug":"guider-doc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.wnpt.org\/mediaupdate\/2018\/07\/18\/guider-doc\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Voyage of Adventure,’ NPT Doc on History-Inspired River Trip, Airs July 26"},"content":{"rendered":"

By MiChelle Jones, NPT
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\nOn Labor Day 2016, while others spent the day grilling and relaxing, photographer John Guider set off on what would be a two-month, 1,000-mile journey along Tennessee\u2019s waterways. His goal was to follow, as closely as possible, Col. John Donelson\u2019s 1779 journey from Virginia to what would become Nashville. Guider\u2019s voyage was chronicled by The Tennessean and is now the subject of an NPT original documentary, Voyage of Adventure: Retracing Donelson\u2019s Journey<\/a>,<\/strong> premiering Thursday, July 26, at 8 p.m.<\/strong> on NPT.<\/p>\n

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Kathy Mattea narrates the one-hour program, which was produced by NPT\u2019s Will Pedigo. Voyage of Adventure<\/strong> includes stunning river footage, excerpts from Donelson\u2019s journal and images shot by Guider during his autumn excursion. \u201cBy being on the river, just a few feet above the waterline, I get to view nature in a very unique way,\u201d Guider says in the documentary. \u201cI\u2019m on the water looking up at nature. And I\u2019m looking up in celebration, and in awe, and reverence.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was Guider\u2019s third river project. The first was traveling the length of the Mississippi River, a nearly 2,500-mile journey over three years. Next came his \u201cGreat Loop\u201d project, 6,500 miles over seven years that included waterways from the Gulf of Mexico, up the East Coast and across the Great Lakes. The idea to follow Donelson\u2019s route came during that project when Guider came across a commemorative marker, a chance encounter that also solved a conundrum. After spending two-and-a-half years with his craft, Guider says it became so personal that he couldn\u2019t name it (his wife declined to have it named after her).<\/p>\n

\u201cI named my boat the Adventure II in honor of his [boat],\u201d Guider said. Guider continued traveling the Great Loop, but he kept coming back to Donelson. \u201cI just couldn\u2019t get his story out of my mind, so I decided this was going to be my next adventure: retracing Donelson\u2019s journey and using it as a comparison, not as a reenactment. I had his journal and I knew the locations of where he was speaking\u2026and that\u2019s where it all began.\u201d<\/p>\n

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