The spark

Ignition

I'm looking at my computer screen, one sunny September morning, and there's a long list of tabs open in my browser: Sponsors. Rewards. Print Prices. Selling Miles. Organizations to Contact. Kickstarter. Internet Presence. Blog. Website. Introductory Letter. Logistics. Not necessarily in that order.

I'm trying to put together an immense task ahead, and I am doing it all by myself. This story has no secretary, no assistant, not even a good friend to lend a hand when I need one. There's nobody else but me to do the advertising, the Kickstarter campaign, the website, the fund raiser and eventually the travel, if all goes as planned. A sidekick, I won't have. It will be just me, my camera and a car, all the 2800 miles of Main Street America.

But let me explain.

I don't remember how I learned about Route 66 the first time. Could have been a movie, could have been the Internet... It grew on me, that's for sure. I would look at photos of the long road stretches crossing the North American desert and something deep inside would kick, squirm and bug me, along the lines of "you gotta go there, you gotta drive those roads." Bits and pieces of images, movie clips and photos I saw who knows where, they all assemble in my mind, forming the backbone of America's glory past. I need to go there and document Route 66, because I know that the way I see it is the way we can save some of that glory, pass it on to the generations to come and perhaps start rebuilding it. We need this story told. We need to look back and remember. And I hope I'll be able to catch the last generation who still has stories to tell about this road, before they go silently into the sunset.

This is the story of my dream. I don't know if I'll succeed in my endeavor, this is just step one of a long journey that hopefully will take me across America twice, in a two-months solo road trip planned in a hybrid vehicle. I'm going to call my car Phoenix, for I hope it'll help me bring back to life Route 66, at the same time reminding me I am a photographer and, above all, someone who enjoys telling stories.

Fingers crossed!