Dan Davis of Channel 12 TV’s “Highroads” was in the White Mountains last week, visiting the Taylor Museum, the Shumway School, the soda fountain at Heritage Antiques, the monument and the historic homes in Snowflake, then enjoyed lunch at Trapper’s with members of the town council.

“I love it up here. I’ve been coming up here for years with Channel 3,” said Davis. He recalled traveling from Flagstaff to Joseph City in 1977 to cover the girls’ basketball team, commenting that they had one of the best girls’ basketball teams in the state.

“I love the history,” said Davis as he visited the Taylor Museum. Carmen Shumway gave the history of the Jennings drum and a wedding dress, and explained why it was important to depict the burial of a child.

Davis talked about his team, who all worked for KTVK-TV Channel 3 at one time.

“I got very lucky. I was able to do this with AAA,” he said, noting that he asked if he could write a print article for Highroads Magazine and ended up having a story of places he had been in every issue for two years.

“I asked what they would think about turning Highroads into a TV show. The word they used was ‘intrigued,’” he said. “We had this built into a little team.”

“I’m fortunate. I’ve always said I don’t look like a regular TV guy, but I am a regular guy. People appreciate at least one regular guy on TV,” he said.

Davis is truly a regular guy, making everyone very comfortable as he joked with them.

While interviewing him he talked about his rocking chair, stating, “If you’re rocking in a chair, you’re never wasting time.” He takes his rocking chair all over with him.

“The way you last is when you’re nice to people. I’m a good karma believer, but people are nice when you’re nice,” said Davis.

“One thing we do is we’re interested in what we’re doing. We’re more storytellers than most TV and always try to tell people things they don’t know, rather than what they do know.

“One of the things I am proud of is I write the show. I write all my own stories on TV,” said Davis. “I had a boss say nobody writes like I talk.”

Davis noted that he couldn’t have done this show 10 years ago, explaining that after photographer Marc Manley shoots the video, it is loaded on Davis’ computer. Davis has a unique audio booth at home, “my son’s closet,” he explained. His favorite dog notices when he has left and he can see the tip of her nose under the closet door.

“It’s just about getting it done,” Davis said of his unique audio booth.

“You don’t need a lot of people to do good TV, you just need good people,” said Davis referring to his team, which includes Manley, editor Lynn Becker, and his partner and executive producer, Suzie Guzman. He noted that she is listed first in the credits because “she gets any complaints, not me.” “It’s a pleasure to work with these guys,” he said.

“The best thing about this is I get to do all the things I wanted to do, but don’t have to get up at 3 a.m. like TV,” said Davis. “The luxury with AAA is going out and doing interesting stories. It’s nice to do good stories and give people an idea of what they want to do.”

AAA said that all they want is to succeed, said Davis noting, “It’s a really good relationship. It is just a dream match.”

Davis said that he recently made a trip to Hawaii where they filmed an episode because AAA is nationwide, although they know that Highroads wants to promote Arizona.

When asked about his visit to Taylor and Snowflake, Davis said, “People seem to be very nice, and I feel pretty wanted up here and I appreciate that.”

“Everyone who works on the show is from Arizona” said Guzman. “We love this state. We definitely promote the state…We go to places that no one really knows about.”

In each episode, Davis discovers different parts of Arizona and other interesting destinations, and he has teamed up with AAA to bring viewers a new travel and lifestyle show.

Highroads with Dan Davis airs on KPNX-TV, Channel 12 from 4:30 to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The segment on the White Mountains is expected to air on Saturday, July 9.

Dan Davis was in Taylor and Snowflake recently to film an episode of AAA Highroads with Dan Davis. He visited several sites in the community. Photographer Marc Manley (left) films Davis (right) during his interview with Carmen Shumway (center) regarding artifacts in the Taylor Museum.