Portland - Day 14

August 31, 2004

A knock on the side of the vehicle wakens me at 0600. I momentarily stay still, my eyes smarting from the mosquito spray we sprayed in here yesterday. I slept here last night concerned over the film stock while the others took advantage of a real bed in the hotel. Realizing with pre-dawning dismay that it's time to get up I stand to attention. Knocking myself out nearly on a cubby door that had been left open the previous night. The vehicle is in a shambles with no walking space but I manage to reach the door and flop outside like a bag of potatoes pouring from a bag. Doug my driver cannot help but smile. He is the most wonderful chap and great company. A contagious dry sense of humor at times that one needs on these occasions. I wash my hands with the remains of a Kwik-Wipe which had been sitting on the entry steps. The day is dreary but mild with light drizzle every now and again. Over coffee and breakfast we look at each nervously knowing this to be the last stand. It's been an incredible journey and here we are now ready to conclude this significant achievement. The crew looks fresh this morning for the first time. The hotel beds made a difference and thoughts of returning home have renewed their souls.

1000 and double-parked outside the Barracuda club. Bright sunshine makes for an energizing start to our day. We pour into the club with unusual enthusiasm carrying gear up the stairs and into the ground floor dance area. By eleven o'clock we receive out first visitors and gently swing through the day with an easiness not experienced before. We knew it. We knew it already. This was a defining moment when I knew we had beaten the curve with a project completed successfully. Our movements are slow but proud today and everything is in order. The team wears smiles beaming from ear to ear. It is contagious and already I see tears in some eyes. As hard as this was with the many mutinies that occurred that are not uncommon by the way, we finished this event. A sequential day-by-day journey across the United States. Looking back I realize that this was a very ambitious almost impossible program pushing a crew beyond its limits. They passed with flying colors and completed the mission. Never an accident or breakdown along the way or hint of equipment failure. How could it be that all this would be possible on a privately funded project? As the afternoon progress's a steady stream of people pass our way. A lady with two beautiful daughters catches my eye. They stop at our doorway and I immediately fall in love with them. They are on their way to the food mission at the top of the road and I have to include them in our collection. Mother is interviewed while the girls aged six and seven stay with me in the production vehicle outside. They love to explore and talk endlessly about their dad who apparently has not been seen for some months. They are quite wonderful and I enjoy talking with them until finally Mother reappears from her interview. The girls hug me tight and I have to walk away afterwards to retrain my thoughts. Looking back I realize that this has changed my life because of people just like them. They trusted me and followed me into the unknown. This has to be unique. A following that need to tell their story and I was the vehicle to which they could meet this end.

1750 and I send the message quite unconsciously and without any profound finale. The crew stops at seventy-eight portraits dead. They are ready to sit down. Richard Knapp parks himself at a high table in the bar and tears well up in his eyes. He is as human as the rest of us and emotional with the sudden realization that it's done. I decide not to make any formal speech or gesture. Instead I talk to them individually and the moments are precious. They have been dragged across this country caught in a world wind of unabated schedules and time lines. Yet I receive no rejection but calm emotion and respect. I respect them with equal emotion and now realize that I pushed them too far at times. They walked with me perhaps with some reservations but always with fire in their hearts. It should wrap with no fanfare. We have celebrated people and that was our calling. It is not about us, it was all about them. Fourteen thousand still frames over thirteen hundred people and in excess of one hundred and fifty interviews. After a group photograph the crew begins to dismantle equipment at a gentle but purposeful pace. Everybody signs a poster and this becomes a profound moment for us all. Total silence descends and nothing or no one moves for a minute. This is it. We have proved our mission and set the standard for years to come.