62 days on the road

I'm sitting in the back seat of the van, tucked in alongside the camera equipment, which is laid out on-top of the homemade table covered in non-slip kitchen mats. The sun is coming in through the window to my right and making my arm quite hot... Amanda is driving, trying to adjust her broken pair of sunglasses - now she just pulled over to take a photo of the real estate sign reading: Betty Lou's (which is her Grandmother's name).

We are several miles west of Rockport, Maine, and by tomorrow evening we should be done with this long, long experiment. I'm a lot of things right now - I'm sad to see the trip come to an end, I'm scared that it's ending, I hope I've done a good job. I'm tired. I feel burnt-out, but at the same time accomplished. I feel like it's going to take me a long time to recoup from the last 60-some days.


At the moment, our bank account balance is: $312.74, and maybe that has a lot to do with the way I'm feeling right now.

It seem difficult to focus knowing we are so close to being broke. The kind of broke that gets you in a lot of trouble. I'm a long, long ways from home - and it's hard knowing I have no way of getting back.

I really hope all this trouble and debt, in the end, is worth it. I'm very hopeful that it will be... even that it has already been worth it. But some days.. it's hard to keep sight of that.


So, how did we get ourselves into this corner? Well, we left for this trip knowing we needed another $8,000 - but that, at the time, was okay, because we had someone who was more than excited to help us out, and ensure that the project was seen all the way through.

When it came down to the fine-print, that help came with many strings attached, ones that we felt began to seriously compromise the ideas behind the film. So... we did the scary thing... and didn't give in for the money.

Thanks to family and close friends we were able to raise a third of what we needed to push on. And we owe them more than I can find the words to express for their help. There is absolutely no way we would be one day away from the end of filming without them.


It's strange - being out here on the road, trying very hard to make a film that is supposed to be inspiring... when I just feel scared and stressed and distracted by all this... nonsense.


Okay, I have to go drive now because Amanda seriously hurt her back the other day and she needs to lay down. I can smell the ocean... we're close.

Update: Huge, huge thanks to Mike Hedge, and his Dad, Gary, for their very generous donation!

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