Veritaz Productions

Relocation.

2007-01-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a few months since our last update. Alot has been changing on this side of things. Rally Across America was a blast to help out on and in the upcoming months we should start to see "Pedaling For Change" come together. The title of the blog is because of two things. We are hosting our blog off of our own server at Veritaz Productions Blog. This just makes things easier on our side of things. The second thing is that Veritaz has relocated from Savannah, Georgia to Salt Lake City, Utah. Chelsea has finished her degree at Savannah College of Art & Design and felt like this is the place to really have Veritaz take off.

So from now on, you can keep up to date with Veritaz on their website, and blog

We also have an updated teaser and trailer on the Pedaling For Change Website website.

Thanks everyone for your support.
-Nick Anderson

Atlanta v.2 09/14/06

2006-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

(x-posted in the Veritaz Productions Blog )

I am sitting in Dominic's dorm room at SCADATL listening to the bell
tower across the street playing America the Beautiful. I can hear the
bells ever so faintly from across the street above the sounds of
traffic and people walking and talking around the dorm building. How
pleasent it is to be able to open the door and just keep it open to
the warm September air. Not bad. Best of all, Nick is sitting right
infront of me capturing countless hours of video (61 hours and
counting to be exact) into our portable editing system. The footage
looks amazing and I seriously couldn't be more excited to tear into
it.

Yesterday, Nick and I got a call from Robin, Alexa's mom, at around
9am. When we listened to the message we found out that she thought it would be best if we just did all of our filming of Alexa in one giant swoop. This meant that we would have to be over at her house (about 40 minutes from where we were staying) by 4pm to be able to be there when her mom picks her up from girl scouts. We'd then stay over that night and sleep at their house in order to be able to capture one of Alexa's morning routines on film. We did all of this and got some very good coverage of the every-day life of Alexa. In doing so, we discovered how much some of these children really must go through as an after effect of their experimental cancer treatments.

Alexa and her sister Jenna helping cook dinner while we shoot video
In short, Alexa, because of the cancer treatments that saved her life, has lung disease and other lung issues that only allow for 11% lung capacity. She has to be hooked up to oxygen tubes ALL OF THE TIME, go through 2 treatments a day where she has to wear this vest that pumps a frequency of 12hz onto her chest, thumping her whole body in order to break up some of the build up in her lungs. She also has to take a plethra of pills and medicines as well as additional breathing treatments that shoot vapor into her lungs. When she sleeps at night she has to wear this tube that is a little larger than a roll of quarters underneath her nose that has openings that she pushes into her nostrles. It is triggered by her breathing and it pushes a little more air than she would normally be able to take in naturally into her lungs to allow more carbon dioxide to be pushed outward. This helps with the fact that the carbon monoxide that we so easially exhale gets stuck in her weak lungs. Without this all night mask-like oxygen tube the build up of carbon monoxide could be fatal. On top of all of this, she has terrible back problems where her back is curving two different and incorrect ways. This is causing her sternum to press against her already bad lungs leaving them with only about an inch to work.

To correct these issues and give Alexa a better chance in fighting it all, she needs to be put in a halo to help straighten her back, then, if it helps, she will undergo back surgery to correct the curvature. If the halo doesn't help, she may need a double lung transplant instead of the corrective back surgery. The lifespan of someone who gets a double lung transplant is only about 5 years of life after the surgery. SHe has alreay been evaluated for the lung transplant and is on the list incase her doctors feel there is no other way....

The stuff this child has to go through is huge. The fact that she is such a joyful and excited little girl is just so humbling. It was a great experience spending time with her and her family. Nick and I even got to work out at the local Y with her mom, Robin, after filming this morning. We woke up at 5:55am, filmed, took Alexa to school, worked out for an hour, packed, interviewed Robin, and headed back to SCAD Atlanta.

From there we captured some footage before connecting with Dominic again. He took us to the Varisty where we ate cold bad food (haha) and then we went and walked around Little Five Points. All is well. Atlanta has been quite interesting. I hear that WWE wrestling will be at the Masquerade tonight.

Too bad nobody else thinks that's cool...

We could be closer than you know,
Chelse

Atlanta, Ga v.1.0

2006-09-13T19:21:00.000-07:00

(x-posted in the Veritaz Productions blog)

Atlanta, we are back again! If you can remember... way back in June Veritaz Productions sent out a team to travel with Rally Across America as both filmmakers composing a documentary about the endeavor but also as the support crew for the cyclists on the ride. Over three months later, the team has returned to Atlanta, Georgia to finish up where we started.

Officially, Rally Across America ended in Nashville, TN but we moved, after a few days in Nashville, to Atlanta, Georgia in order to attend a party that the Olsen's threw for Austin and Tom as a finishing event and to return the support car.

So we drove back to Atlanta on Sunday the 9th of September. That night we attended a huge party with about 100 people in attendance at the Olsen's house in Cobb County. Will Olsen had cancer when he was younger (he is 19 now) and Rally Foundation was started by a woman, Dean, who attended a weekly prayer circle that was focused on "praying Will out of cancer". When Dean asked Mrs. Olsen what else she could do, Mrs. Olsen told Dean that the best thing to do would be to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research and the fact that it is under funded by 30 million dollars every year. Dean promptly started Rally Foundation in order to fulfill this need.

Anyway so we partied hearty with them and had a good time. We ate more BBQ than we thought we could fit! Nick spent some of his time off taking pictures of some of the locals:

Nick and my plans to go back to Savannah have been slightly postponed until we can finish the last bits of filming here. All we have left is to film a little bit about Alexa and how she goes about her daily life. We were blessed to be able to go with her to a visit to one of her doctors and hear about her future medical plans. Everyone was happy to have us there with the video camera and we got a lot of important footage for the film. Alexa has a lot ahead of her and we want to tell her story along side Austin and Tom's. We know that each story is important individually, but, TOGETHER they will really create a huge impact on people.

Alexa awaiting her doctor at a hospital in Atlanta

Nick and I left Tom and Austin yesterday in Roswell, Georgia at Roswell Bicycles (one of the RAA sponsors). We then walked all over Atlanta with the help of MARTA. On our way back to the Olsen's house (the place we have stayed for the last few days) we discovered that MARTA (the public transportation system here in Atlanta) didn't come anywhere near their house. It started to rain and, right as we realized that we were going to have to walk, a man offered to give us his umbrella. Arm and arm we ducked under the umbrella and walked for about 35 minutes in the rain. Eventually, we found out that we were walking in the WRONG direction and, as we were turning around, we got a call from the Olsen’s and they offered to come out and pick us up. We waited for them at a nearby church, the Dunberry Baptist Church. An awesome woman there let us inside out of the rain and even gave us carrot cake! After a while the Olsen’s came and took us out to eat. What a great ending to such an interesting day!

nick and me walking home in the rain!

MARTA rides

MARTA

Later that Night, Dominic, a friend from Savannah who is now going to SCAD Atlanta or... SCADATL (pronounced skedaddle), came all of the way to the Olsen's house and picked us up. Our plans were to stay with him until we got all of the filming that we need to film of Alexa done. We crashed on the floor of his dorm last night and had a great time with him and his room mate Norm.

Ahh... sleeping in dorms again... no joke, at 2:30am the fire alarm went off, piercing our ears, for about 10 minutes. Jeez-louise.... college college:) Regardless, we had a great time. Many Jelly Bellies, some smuggled cafeteria food, and a few hours of sleep later we were off to Alexas house to spend the next day and night filming. We'll probably return to Dominic's dorm to sleep over until we figure out how to get back to Savannah.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Nashville, TN, v2.0

2006-09-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

So Nick and I have been hanging out at the Bongo Java Coffee House in Nashville every day for the last few days. We've been using their internet, drinking their cherry green tea, talking about distribution and how we are going to post produce the film, and pondering what happened to the Nun Bun.

A few nights ago we met up with our friends Sarah and MaryAlice to have a great chili dinner at their house and we hope to get out to play frisbee with them today! We're also anticipating the arrival of Austin's parents and of Dean, the founder of Rally Foundation. We will probably all go out to eat together tonight along with Clair who arrived yesterday. Afterwards, Nick and I plan on going to see a band that my friend Shannon suggested to us called Sophia. I'm so excited about that! I don't think that Nick has been to a concert in a long time.

Well so far Nashville has been fun. I"m going to miss the locals at Bongo Java when we have to leave. hahaha... its so funny, we have been here every single day and I have seen some of the same people every single day... Oh the coffee house life. According to Shannon, who lives here in Nashville (I went to Cornerstone with her and her brother and friends), Ben Folds frequents this coffee house. Wouldn't that be interesting? I mean, you never know what could happen. Meeting Mr. Ben Folds over a cup of cherry green tea? What would I say... Probably something that starts like this:

"Hi! My name is Chelsea Babbish and I'm making this film.. blablabla,... (skip to) are you interested in donating?"
hahahha

The view as Nick and I walk miles around and inside of downtown Nashville....

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Nashville, TN, v.1.0

2006-09-07T16:56:00.000-07:00

We've made it to Nashville!!

RALLY ACROSS AMERICA IS COMPLETED (the bicycle riding part anyway). Tom, Austin, Nick, and myself pulled into Nashville after a beautiful 80 mile bike ride in Tennessee country at around 12noon on Tuesday the 5th. It's strange, I feel like I'm going to miss being on the road and like I'm super excited to be grounded for a bit as well. No joke though, the road was definatly interesting. Meeting and staying with new people every day, seeing places in the US that we might never have stumbled upon, having the strangest and most beautiful interactions and things happen. Lets not forget the tons of gas stations that we visited. Through all of the good and all of the bad, we still made a pretty good road team.

When we got into Nashville, we had a chance to hang out with the Vinyard Vines folks at a trunk show they were having at Vanderbilt. We also got a chance to meet a few of Tom and Austin's friends that we have heard about. They were in the middle of their kick-off week so there was plenty of festivities and free food for the students and faculty (and the veritaz team.. heh heh) While Austin and Tom were schmoozing, Nick and I took their bikes for a spin. We rode all around the Vanderbilt campus and I've decided that I dig Nashville, or what I've seen of it so far.

WHAT I DON"T DIG, HOWEVER, IS WHEN PEOPLE TAKE ONE LOOK AT YOU AND BASICALLY REFUSE TO INVITE YOU INTO THEIR HOUSE.

Wait, what? What happened?
I guess all we can say is THANK GOD FOR MARY BETH (one of the girls that helped with Rally... she wrote all of our press releases) was in town and had two couches that Nick and I could sleep on. The problem was, though, that we didn't have a car to get to go get food the next day because Austin and Tom had it at the place that turned us away and nick is VERY VERY ahlergic to cats and there is a cat that lives in the house with Mary Beth. It was just a mess and we felt so uncomfortable about it... not about Mary Beth's place but about the situation. We felt so unwelcome! ugh. lame.

THANK YOU MARY BETH for taking us under your wing and letting us sleep in your living room.

Oh well. I guess we can't expect to have everyone treat us with hospitality.

Trying not to let it get us down... it's just giving us an opportunity to be graceful and get over it and move on. It's hard to love your neighbor somtimes....
Other than that, though, Nashville has been fun. More to come later.

Vegabonds

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Millington, TN (not quite Memphis)

2006-09-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, we never ACTUALLY went into Memphis, TN... I kind-of wish we would have been able to because neither Nick nor I have ever been there!

Just outside Memphis, however, we stayed with a wonderful family of 5 that has JUST started a non-profit called Habitat for Hope. If you check out their website by clicking the above link you can find out what they are all about.

It was wonderful talking to them, hearing about their vision and how it is all falling together for them. How encouraging as a small company to hear about other people who are starting small and getting so much support. Hopefully some day we will have the same type of support that they have. They seemed excited about the film and their young daughter, Bella, gave us a wonderful interview about her experience with cancer. She offered some insight that will be a great help to the film.

While we were there, they let Nick and I take a tour of the property via 4 wheeler. Good thing I have some experience mud boggin in Georgia and I know how to drive one. hahaha. It was beautiful and a fun break from driving an explorer!
I have pictures of us 4wheelin around but I took them with my phone and my phone is acting up so when I can con it into working then I'll post them right where this sentance is. haha

When it was about time to leave Bella accompanied us out to the road on her super awesome pink princess bike that didn't even have any training wheels. She came as far as the apple trees and then waved us on.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS

2006-09-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

Attention everyone: if you have been going into our server and taking photographs to use in blogs, newspapers, or any other publication... PLEASE remember to credit the photographers. On the server the very top document is the credit guidlines. Please be responsible and credit the photos:)

Thanks,
Chelsea
Owner, Veritaz Productions

On the Road to Memphis, TN

2006-09-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today, on the way to Memphis, the Veritaz Team had a long day riding with Austin and Tom. Nick took on the whole day, driving for about 15 hours. They had a 200 mile day planned and we got onto the road by 6:30am. The boys had put in about 80 miles by noon. How excited were all of us when we got to TENNESSEE? Pretty excited. It marked the last leg of the trip. Holy moly!

It sure is funny the things you see while taking it slow along the smaller routs through the country. We've passed all types of dogs, cows, horses, people... haha. Just yesterday we drove on rout 61. As it turns out, this weekend on highway 61 there was the first annual "61 miles of garage sale on highway 61". No joke! We passed through miles and miles and miles of more and more and more garage. The 61 mile garage sale! That has to be some sort of record.
Along the rout we got some funny footage of the boys stopping and saying hello to some local horses in Old Appletown. Austin let one of the horses, BJ, lick all of the salt off of his arms and rally jersy. eew. It made for some funny filming though. hahaha. That horse just kept licking it's lips and reaching for Austin. haha.

Nick and I found this sweet carved cow skull at one of the garage sales. We wanted to get it and strap it to the front of the Rally Across America support car but it was 10 bucks and I only had a 5 in my wallet. How funny would that have been for Austin and Tom? To look back and see the Rally car with a giant old cow skull, horns and all, strapped to the grill! Too bad.

We got to our host home at a decent time. Time enough to throw something together for the weather channel (again) at the request of Rally Foundation. They wanted some footage a while ago of the boys riding and doing their thing and, although it's slightly difficult to supply it from the raod, we did our best to accomidate but it just never worked out. Hopefully this time everything will work out and they will be able to air a little something about Rally Across America. That'd be cool. All I have left to do is print the footage to tape and, well, I guess, hand it over. I'm very interested to see how if it actually works!

It's sometimes difficult to deal with news stations or television when the middle people involved don't know anything about film. Everyone always has the greatest intentions but really, how can you expect a lay person to relay the language correctly and be able to explain why something worked or didn't work, will work or won't work? Even if you can explain it to them, you can't fully expect them to be able to pass the knowledge on the way you perfectly want it. It's not fair to the middle man. I'm worried this might be one of those situations. Hopefully not.

We ended up staying at Habitat for Hope with these two AWESOME missionary and visionaries. More on them in a later post:)

woo!
Onward to Nashville! Rally Across America and the work we are doing here is coming quickly to it's completion!

St. Louis, MO, DAY OFF!

2006-09-03T07:24:00.000-07:00

(x-posted in the Veritaz Blog)
Yay for Elizabeth. We met Elizabeth when we visited the St. Louis children's hospital. She is interning there with media and was there to help us with the image releases that we need to have signed by those that we filmed. We got a chance to catch up with her later the next day because, when we were at the hospital visiting kids, she offered to take us around St. Louis. How cool is it that she had the day off as well? We took her up on it.

She drove out to where we were staying those two nights and picked us up. We had to drop the car off with Austin at the St. Louis Bread Company so he would have a way to meet us if he wanted to later. He was using the internet there and catching up on Rally stuff while Nick, Tom, Elizabeth, and I bee-lined it to CITY MUSEUM!!! No joke, I think Nick and I had talked about city museum at least once a week during this trip. I have been waiting all summer to get a chance to go and I'm sure Tom and Austin were getting sick of hearing all about it all the time. hahaha... at one point, Austin thought we were making it up. Too bad he was still at the bread shop. Tom, however, was able to experience the true magisty of the CM. haha.

So we get there and we pay for tickets... Tom and Nick take off right away and dissapeer. Wait a second here... if you don't know what CITY MUSEUM is, PLEASE click the above link. It would take too long to explain in full. In short, however, Citi Museum is a giant wearhouse that is full of stuff found in and around St. Louis. It was started by a man who decided that, when the city was clearing out buildings in order to build the St. Louis Arch, decided it would be a waste to let all of the debree just be thrown away. He found amazing things and saved them all in 3 giant wearhouses and then started building the citi museum out of all of the nifty stuff he salvaged. The best part about it? It's about 3 stories of pure jungle gym. There are tons of rooms that are all connected by walk ways and tunnles and ladders made of every type of thing imaginable. Yes, it's true: YOU CAN CLIMB ON EVERYTHING, in everything, under everything, and usually, above everything. It can be summed up in one word: AMAZING. PLEASE click the link and see for yourself.











Anyway so I had been waiting all summer to get out to this super cool place and you would never believe what happened. Elizabeth and I started over by one of the giant fish tanks that they have in the middle of the building and we started climbing in the caves near it. We ended up right next to the tank near where the glass ended and one of the spotted fish was right at the top. We both were looking over at the fish and I, not thinking anything of it, reached over the tank to touch the thing, I mean, it's just a fish right? It seemed friendly enough... just peeking at me from right below the surface. I figured, with so many kids climbing around here I'm sure the fish are tame. It let me touch it's nose and we were both so amazed that it didn't swim away that Elizabeth came closer and I reached over to pet it again. Next thing I know the nice sweet not-so-little fish jumped OUT OF THE TANK AND BIT MY ENTIRE FINGER. My ENTIRE first finger was in the things mouth in a split second. The instant it happened I pulled my hand way up into the air and the thing grabbed on at my middle knuckle and came right out of the tank. Elizabeth says I pulled the thing about 2 and a half feet into the air! We were both screaming and I was shaking my hand. The fish biting my finger hurt like HECK. It wouldn't let go! I kept shaking my arm and finally it let go and fell back into the tank splashing water all over my face. Did I mention that the fish was at LEAST 14 inches long? It weighed a lot too.

WHAT THE HECK??!!!???

So we both calm down (kinda) and I look down at my finger. It's bleeding all over the place and swelling up like a balloon. There are puncture wounds all of the way across the top of my knuckle and across the bottem. One is so deep that the torn tissue of my finger was pertruding out of it. That's right, the fish bit me SO HARD and deep that the tissue of my finger, because of the pressure of the swelling, was coming out of the puncture hole. WHY IS IT that things like this always seem to happen to ME? Seriously.

Ok so about this time we had already made our way back to the front gate to ask if there is anything we might need to know about the fish that bit me, like, for example, was it POISENOUS? I had cleaned y finger up pretty well but it just kept bleeding and bleeding. What a freak show. Next thing I know, it seemed like all of the employees were there standing around Elizabeth and me at the fish tank. I couldn't stop laughing but at the same time I felt pretty stupid. I mean come ON... I'm 21 years old and just got owned by an effing fish. haha. THey kept saying "why did you put your hand in the tank?" to which I had to keep replying: I wanted to pet the fish!

I'm an idiot. Oh my gosh. haha.

So ok long story short it was a BULL FISH that bit me. The fish dude at the City Museum said that they are one of the most aggressive species of fish. Ok so since then I have been kinda wondering... WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU HAVE DANGEROUS AND AGRESSIVE FISH AT AN AQUARIUM WHERE THERE IS NO RAILING AND ONLY A FEW INCHES BETWEEN THE WATER AND THE END OF THE TANK WHEN LITTLE KIDS ARE ALLLLL AROUND ALLL THE TIME? WHY? Seriously. haha. Go figure. Anyway I guess everyone got a kick out of it. It got so swollen that I couldn't move my finger. I sat out for the next hour or so with Nick and iced my finger until we cought up with Elizabeth and Tom again. It felt better by then so we then all did some climbing and exploring and took some pictures. Nick and I showed them where we ducked under the floor down a tunnel that looked like it was just part of a dried up fountain.

After we left City Museum, Elizabeth took us to the St. Louis Loop and we met up with Austin. I had forgotten that Nick and I had been there a few years ago shopping with our friend Jamie during a road trip that we took together the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college. After a few steps it all came back to me. We didn't stay for long because Elizabeth had this awesome idea. She called her parents and let them know that we'd be joining them for dinner. We could not have guessed what we were about to get ourselves into.

We packed up and all drove out to the Hill, where Elizabeth is from. Turns out her family is all very very Ittalian and they all live on the same street! She lives RIGHT next to her grandma (who is probably THE coolest 85 year old I have ever encountered in my lifetime) and right infront of her aunt and uncle, etc, etc. She got changed and we headed out to Vino's, a bar and restaurant. Her family owns a bakery on the Hill and they were there with grandma and others along with some people who work at the bakery. I guess they all go out to Vino's a lot. Everyone there knew them. We sat down with everybody and ordered some dinner. Her dad said he'd treat! No joke!

When we were there we ate pizza, subs, and St. Louis toasted ravioli! We spent a long time learning how to play Bocce Ball the Italian way! We even won our FIRST game!

After hanging out with her big family a ton we felt like genuine Italians! haha... too bad none of us are. They really made us feel at home. We kept hanging out with them into the night. Together we all left after two fun games of Bocce Ball to go to this diner across town. MORE FOOD! We ate and ate! They made Austin and Tom order these things called Slingers. A Slinger is eggs, hash browns, chilli, and more on a burger. It comes out looking like a plate of chilli hash browns with a burger patty hidden somewhere in the middle. Gross. haha. Everything was amazing that night. We had more fun than we could have expected!

Warrensburg, Jefferson City, and St. Louis, Missouri

2006-08-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

I am back with the Rally Team. After a long "few" weeks finishing up my summer semester at school I am finally done and back with Rally Across America. It is so good to be back and it feels natural to rejoin the crew! Hey everyone!

I flew into Kansas City, Kansas and Nick picked me up from the airport. We then drove to Warrensburg, MO and met up with some friends of friends. They let us crash in their living room and kept us entertained until late into the night... one word: chocolate chip cookie dough. It was all good except for the part where the airline didn't bring my bag to Kansas City and left it in Savannah. They ended up having to drive it out to me in the middle of the night. Where we were staying was about an hour or so from the airport.. maybe more. My bag showed up at around 4:30am. I am so thankful that they actually sent it out to me though- they were threatening not to. They thought it might be more acceptable to send it to St. Louis. That would have stank.

We left that morning early and followed the guys out to Jefferson City, MO. I have decided that the capital cities of most states are all very similar. It seems like a lot of them exist in the shadow of the larger cities of the state yet still have their own charm and community. They are strange to me. We met up with a wonderful family there. They treated us so well and fed us well too. They both work for the Catholic church and it was very interesting talking to them about the missions that they do and the classes that they teach. I love meeting people who are excited about their faith!

The next day was a long one... we traveled minor highways through MO and stopped at a few little towns. This one in particular was fun... I forget what it's called. It was right before Washington, MO. While Austin and Tom sat in a subway eating lunch I explored a little with Nick. We all ended up sitting in Subway talking to these really fun girls who were on a local high school volley ball team. It really hit me then: Oh my gosh I'm almost finished with college. I am the only one on the tour right now who hasn't graduated but I only have 10 weeks of school left. These girls were already back in high school starting the year and I don't start my last quarter of college until mid September. I just couldn't believe it. I am only 10 weeks away from having my BFA. AHH! Anyway they were super cool and they even bought me a peanut butter cookie for my lunch!

We arrived in St. Louis later that night safe and sound. I really enjoy St. Louis and I'm excited to be back here.

Last night Nick showed me some of the footage that I haven't been able to see since I wasn't here with them on the tour. It looks so amazing I can't even believe it. I am so proud of him and Matt and how well they have done. The colors of the footage are vibrant and the substance, important. So far everything I have seen looks awesome and it just encourages me more. This film is turning out to be a beautiful success and I can't wait to start really piecing it together. I feel so privileged because I get to see all this great stuff and nobody else does! haha. We have another clip that we are thinking of posting on the website... I'll let everyone know when I decide to do so.
More on St. Louis and Jan later!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Clair Joins the Support Crew!

2006-08-01T06:51:00.000-07:00

Quick update from Savannah:
I am so happy to say that Clair Olsen is joining the support crew today! This will give Nick a TON more time to work on filming and documentary stuff by lightening his support crew load. We're really excited to start using him again for the film and I'm sure he'll appreciate the break from driving. Thank you to Clair in advance for helping to split the work-load!

I'm still in Savannah finishing up school and trying to raise a little more money for the film. We are close to meeting our goal but we need a few thousand more. If you are interested in donating or sponsoring our film OR KNOW SOMEBODY OR A COMPANY WHO MIGHT BE INTERESTED please shoot me an email or call me. General information about donations and sponsorships can be found on the Veritaz Productions webpage under the PROJECTS tab.

If you haven't seen the video clips online, please do so! Let us know what you think!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Website Update

2006-07-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

The production website has had a little bit of cosmitic work done, sorry it took so long. It is up and running at http://www.veritazproducitons.com

- Nick Anderson

The Whale Song

2006-07-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

The Whale Song can be viewed online at the Veritaz Productions website. This was at the Vineyard Vines headquarters in Connecticut with the whole staff singing along.
QuickTime (3.5 MB 0:43 runtime)

-Nick Anderson

Boston, Mass.

2006-07-20T06:41:00.000-07:00

Is it really true that we haven't posted in almost a month? I know you guys have been begging for updates. Sorry I haven't been able to get the guys to update from the road... I guess when boys make up their mind that they don't want to do something then no amount of asking will make them do it. Red headed iowa boys just don't blog. My apologies again.

Well Austin and Tom got a great opportunity to be on the radio the other day. We all listened and they did a wonderful job. am 1620 Radio Sandy Springs interviewed them for a long time about Rally and their experiences thus far. This is a great type of thing to have for a documentary because often times outside interviewers, like the people at the radio station, ask those questions that those people involved sometimes forget to ask. For example: What does the name Rally Across America mean? Does it have anything to do with bicycling?

We had never asked Taustin that in their interviews because it is one of those questions that a team can forget to ask. WE all understand what the name means and we forget that people new to Rally or outside of the cause and just learning about it probably don't' know. It's good to have this type of coverage captured onto video for the documentary because a lot of those "forgotten" questions are answered and in a truly genuine way. Radio interviews rock.

For those of you who got a chance to listen because of Nick's radio link, AWESOME! Thanks for making use of his hard work.

TOMORROW Matthew Bruce is flying out of Boston to return to his home in Iowa to get ready for school to start. This leaves Nick to deal with media and some of the documentary alone for a bit. Matt did an exceptional job while on the road with the film team and from the stuff I have seen and heard, he went above and beyond my requirements for him. I couldn't feel more blessed to have him on the trip and in my absence, he filled in as an amazing director and camera man. It was like he stepped in and was like "have no fear, Matt Bruce is here!". THANKS MATT FOR EVERYTHING THAT YOU HAVE DONE!

On THIS side of things, here in Savannah, I have made a press kit complete with a dvd of some example footage to send out to more companies and people in search of funding. We're still slightly under budget so this should help. If any of you have any ideas about companies or people who are pationate about this particular cause and might want to donate to the film you should give me a holler! Other than that, things are running very smoothly. Some of the graphics should be done soon and maybe I'll post them. The film is really coming along! I have been talking to different editors and getting the post production team set up. I've also been talking to different musicians that I know, have met, or am interested in, about using some of their music for the film. I have calls into larger record companies and am awaiting their ideas and rights negotiations for different songs I want. All of this is the post production side of documentary film making. Did you know that some record companies charge production companies like mine over a million dollars to use just a few seconds of one single song? We won't be using any songs like that but I just thought it was an interesting fact. OVER A MILLION DOLLARS for a few seconds of a hit song.
wow.

Anyway, back to work with me. Just tryiing to catch everyone up. The boys are in Boston and are on their way up to Maine. I'll do my best to keep everyone updated from Savannah because I have given up asking them to blog. haha.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

The Unofficial Rough Cut Trailer!

2006-06-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

The Trailer can be viewed online at the Veritaz Productions website.
QuickTime (3.9 MB 2:04 runtime)

-Nick Anderson

Rough draft of the trailer!

2006-06-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I've been busy at work with getting footage logged and captured here in Savannah! A trailor has finally been pieced togther with originally written music and I am only waiting on the motion graphic kids to put together the titles for me. I think I might just post it without their contribution as for now because I don't want to rush them and it looks pretty good for the time being. This way people can get a quick example of how the film is coming together and what we're actually doing out there with Rally Across America. Things are really coming togther well. Look for the trailer to be posted hopefully by tomorrow morning at the latest. More to come!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

"Tom Bruise"

2006-06-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

So we haven't posted anything in quite some time, so sorry about that. For having to wait, we quickly threw together a little piece about Tom's bruise, called "Tom Bruise"

It's avaiable to view online at the Veritaz Productions website.

QuickTime 7 is required to view it, It's free and avaiable at Apple's Website.

-Nick Anderson

Wilmington/Jacksonville North Carolina

2006-06-17T06:59:00.000-07:00

Well, two days ago we met a man named Robert outside of Wilmington. See, we had to take a Ferry to continue on our path to Wilmington and we missed it so we had about an hour until the next one came. While slowly making it to the ferry where we were planning on waiting it out and getting some dinner, we met a man who came out of an Italian restaurant. He was 60ish years old and riding HIS bicycle from Washington DC to Miami Florida to visit his brother. As it turns out he's from France and was so full of life and character that we couldn't help but stop and talk with him for a little. One thing led to another and the next thing we knew he had invited us to dinner in the small town we were all in. Turns out he was using the same cycling maps as we were and traveling along the Adventure Cycling route. We just happened to cross paths while he was traveling South and us, North.
We ate at The Pharmacy Restaurant and had one of the most exquisite meals that we had ever had. Nick kept saying that his food was giving him goose bumps it was so good and Matt seriously almost cried when he took his first bight of desert. SOOO GOOD. I had this amazing salad with grilled apples in it.

Robert was so cool. He taught us a lot about France and cycling elsewhere in the world. He has ridden his bicycle EVERYWHERE! From China to Belgium to the US to who knows where. He had a lot to teach us and we realllly enjoyed his company. He even almost got our waitress to SING the specials to us because "that's how they do it in Italy!". What a great interaction! We got some of it on film so you might be seeing Robert in the documentary.

While at dinner we met another couple, the Gubeys, who graciously offered us a place to stay with them in their beautiful new house. We couldn't even believe it because we definitely didn't have a place to stay that night and I was praying that we'd find SOMEBODY. We didn't even ask them, they asked us! We had a great time with them and shared stories all night. It's amazing the people you meet on the road.

The next day (yesterday) we headed out and made it right on time to catch the Ferry. Nick and Matt got some beautiful pictures of the most interesting things on the Ferry. Nick has this feature on his camera called "macro" which allows him to be able to shoot a picture perfectly in focus of something SO CLOSE to his lens that it almost touches it. When other cameras aren't able to focus clearly on something that close, his makes it look perfectly clear and in focus. This allows him to take VERY close up and detailed pictures of small objects or intricate details that otherwise are usually too hard to photograph. The pictures turn out so interestingly and many of them are very beautiful. I'll post an example if he lets me.

We trucked on and on and the boys pulled another 90some miles. Making it to Jacksonville we decided to sit down and have some Outback! Matt and Anne had never eaten there so we got the treatment! Bloomin onion and all.
Twas a good day.

RIGHT NOW I'm sitting in the Airport in Wilmington, North Carolina. Thank GOD they have free internet because it's 10:12am and my flight doesn't leave until 2pm. It was supposed to leave earlier but it had to get moved back. I'm headed back to Atlanta to pick up my truck and drive back to Savannah (about 4 hours from the ATL). What? I'm leaving? yes, I know it might sound weird but I am leaving the Rally Across America tour to go back to school this summer and finish up my degree. This is why it is so important that Nick and Matt are working on the project. I got them off to a good start and showed them about what is needed and we all learned a lot along the way. The plan was for Matt to hop on while I'm still riding with the tour and learn the deal and then for me to leave to go back to school for the summer while he and Nick carry on. I will continue to be a big part of the project by producing them from the Veritaz home-base here in Savannah. I'll also be editing clips for them to send ahead of them to news groups, etc, and making video updates for YOU GUYS to view online. It will be much easier this way since I won't be gambling for the internet every night like we have been doing while we are on the road. I will also have a ton more time to capture those tapes and edit up something awesome. I'll also be taking some time off on the weekends to travel to Atlanta and film the parallel story that will be featured in this documentary. I will be trailing a child who is struggling with cancer in their lives for a few days and getting their everyday experience on film so that we can have sometime to double back to for the documentary, a way to connect the viewers personally to the story. I'll also be getting interviews with doctors and specialists as well as some of the sponsors, etc. SO NO WORRIES, I may not be actually TOURING but I'll still be working every day on the film. On top of that it will also be easier for me to catch up with HAWK, the co-owner of this company, who is a cancer survivor himself and excited to help out with the project as much as he can from Savannah. When I finish the summer semester of school I will be jumping back on the Rally Tour to help them finish up and have maximum coverage for the last leg of the RA.

While I'm in Savannah, Matt and Nick will be updating periodically from the Rally with pictures and the like. I'll also continue to update from Savannah with progress and whatnot.
THANK YOU SO MUCH for your support thus far and please continue to pass on the word about Veritaz Productions and this project we are all taking part in.
*yawn* off to a day at the airport.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Myrtle Beach

2006-06-14T05:54:00.001-07:00

Well, the Veritaz crew is happy. We're on the side of the road right now waiting for Austin to change a tube in his bike listening to The Showdown. Nick is hardcore dancing on the side of the road and Matt seems to be feeling right at home here in the South with us. We just finished eating FRESH SEAFOOD with this awesome lady named Denise who started talking to us at a gas station haha. She offered us a meal and we couldn't have been happier to accept. Tom and Austin have been pedaling for about 80 miles and we were still around 20 miles outside of where we need to be in Myrtle Beach tonight.
Have I mentioned how much I love the SHOWDOWN?
Ok back to the post, anyway Denise told us she'd feed us and took us back about a half mile to this AWESOME place called "Creek Rats" where she bought us fresh fish dinners and a mud pie dessert! On top of all of that she also donated some money directly to Rally. THANKS Denise! Justin, who works there also treated us like royalty and even gave us free T-shirts!

Denise, Austin, and Tom at Creek Rats

Denise telling one of her stories!

As we were leaving we caught up with the Myrtle Beach Harold and they are going to be running an article about the Rally next week! Oh yeah! I forgot to mention that we have also conned someone else into coming with us for the next few days. We met Anne in Charleston and she has graciously decided to help out with the Greenville event so she's coming along and chillin with us for the next few days. She's been a huge help.

Anne

So, with full stomachs and lifted hearts we travel onto a guy named Dan's house in Myrtle Beach to crash. We're passing really gaudy put put fun parks, fake shark beachwear stores, and plenty of people on motorcycles. Welcome to Myrtle Beach tourist district, eh? I think I just saw a 50 foot paper machete shark.

Well that's it for now. We have had so so so much support from people along the streets today! People pulling over and cheering us on, clapping, donating on the spot, everything. Way to go South Carolina! . I think Matt is really having fun here, he's never been in the South really. We have fun because when the boys are riding and we have accomplished all that we can at the moment video-wise, we get a chance to drive ahead and check out all the local places and spread the word about the Rally. Today, in doing that, we got to play basket ball for 5 minutes on an ousted court, swing on their swings, and chase down an alligator on the side of the road! No, not road kill....this time. Don't get me wrong, we stay with the guys for 99% of the time but sometimes the chase car just cannot be trailing right behind them due to the road or laws or whatever so we have to drive ahead and stop and wait for them to catch up. When we do that we always find fun stuff to do.

basket ball courts!

Our new addition to Veritaz: Matt Bruce

Chelsea on the swings

ALLIGATOR

Tomorrow morning bright and early we leave for Wilmington on our long stretch to Greenville, North Carolina. I called the local news here and they might meet us out in the morning as they boys take off and put them on the tube. Oh my gosh I just saw ANOTHER put put place AND a water park.. "why would you go to a water park when the beach is right there??" -Matt Bruce

Matt later that night on the beach

Ok last thing I'm going to leave you with tonight is this: I am sooo thankful that the other two guys I'm working with here are into the same music that I'm into. If I had to be listening to stuff I hate for hours and hours in the car I think I'd go crazy. *whew!*

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea;

Welcome Matt!

2006-06-14T05:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday during all of the excitement of the Outback Steakhouse fundraiser, visiting hospitals, and eating BBQ at the Vinyard Vines place we were joined by the third member of the VERITAZ team: Matt Bruce. He flew in around 4pm from Cedar Rapids Iowa to Charleston.
With him, Matt brought all of the stuff that Best Buy has given us for support. Way to go Matt for getting us sponsored (in part) by the Best Buy that he and Nick worked at in Iowa. A+
More on the Veritaz tream later... I'll put pix up of us.

Looks like the horrible storm that hit yesterday is blowing over. It looked so bad last night- a tropical storM- that Austin and Tom were thinking of spending another day here. We're still not 100 percent sure if we'll head out today because of the STRONG winds but if later in the day they die down a bit we'll be back on the road. If we don't leave for Greenville, North Carolina today then we will only have 3 days to make the almost 300 mile trip. Dooable but hard on the body.

I gotta get packing, we have errends to run and a decision about riding to make.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Day 12: Charleston/Mt. Pleasant

2006-06-12T06:27:00.000-07:00

(caution, super long post!)

haha ok right now 3 of us are awake and Tom is still asleep. Austin just yelled from the other room "who wants to wake Tom up?" haha... everyone said "not it" but I was busy getting the photos ready for this post and was only paying half attention. I was the last to say "not it" so now I have to go wake Tom up. Kind of an awkward thing to do. Maybe I'll jump on his bed? First I'm going to update.

Ok, yesterday was the most interesting ride we've had thus far... plenty of bridges to cross (literally) and obstacles to overcome.

The day started out on a great note: The Pitts, who we were staying with made us sticky buns and sent us on our way happy. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Pitt!!!

Nick and I kept stopping at all the little country shops along the first leg of the trip. We scored some free honey sticks and CHERRY CIDER from the Carolina Cherry Company on the side of the road off of 17 between Savannah and Charleston. The guy there was from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and he was so welcoming and awesome. Way to be a hero man! We LOVE the cider.
It's so encourageing to meet people who get excited about our project after only talking about it for 3 minutes.

So it's Sunday so we wanted to go to church but we knew that if we went in the morning in Beaufort than it would just get hotter and hotter outside and make it more tough for the guys to ride. We decided to leave bright and early for Charleston instead of attending a service in hopes of finding a church either in Charleston once we got there or along the way. Come about 10am Nick and I (in the car) were trailing the guys on the dangerous highway 17 and we started to see signs for little churches here and there off of the highway. We pulled over eventually and asked this guy at a canoe rental shop if he could recommend a church to us. He told us there was once close with a service at 11am so we thought hey, why not? Nick and I scouted ahead and checked the place out... it looked wonderful and was in just the right spot to have the guys riding through right around the time the service started so Nick dropped me off and went back to tell Austin and Tom.

So here I am, no shower, greasy hair, and wearing a cowboy hat to shield myself from the hot sun. Temperatures were starting to reach the 90's already and the guys had already come almost 35 miles or so. I walk into the church and they start the service a little earlier than 11am... before the boys could get back. I had a chance to chat for seriously only a few seconds with some of the people I was sitting with and they were really nice so I figured hey, I'll just save the boys a seat and everything will be great. Next thing I know the little church has about 40 people in it and they are asking if anyone has announcements. The old man with the old sailor tattoos behind me nudges me and tells me to stand up. Then again, next thing I know I'm standing up in front of a community of Southern Baptist people thanking them in advance for their welcome and explaining for my friends who are about to enter their service in spandex. As I'm about to sit down the doors open and in walk the boys in their spandex with their bikes and Nick. Personally, I thought it was hilarious. The church community welcomed us and we all sat together and listened to a sermon on following your dreams. Best sermon I've heard in a while. He was preaching on stepping out of mediocrity and having a VISION through God's eyes and not your own. Tom and Austin are a perfect example of people who are doing that right now. I am trying to make sure that Veritaz always has that type of Vision behind every project we work on. Anyway, we hung out after the service and talked to a ton of awesome people. This awesome boy Christopher even gave us a $3 donation! Thanks, man and THANKS JACKSONBORO BAPTIST!

the church

Tom, Austin, and Nick hanging out with some locals

Oh, wait, did I mention that the preacher's son is in a metal band? Thought that was great.

We met a wonderful woman named Terri while at church! She invited us to her craft store which happened to be along the rout so we met her there a little after church and she gave us free ice cream, cookies, and gatorade! She was super awesome. It's sure comforting to know we have people like her supporting us. Did you know that Mayfield's Turtle ice cream actually has peanut butter chocolate morsels in it that are SHAPED like turtles? That made my day.

Austin, Tom, and Terri

They were pretty excited to make it finally to Charleston. The thermometer was at 101 and had been over 99 degrees for the past hour. Despite the hot hot heat they're still smiling! These guys are solid.

Ok, so we eventually got back on the road after meeting tons of awesome new people. Everything went really well until about 20 miles outside of downtown Charleston... maybe less, I have no idea. It's really hard to judge how far you've gone when you are driving 18 miles an hour behind cyclists. I'm getting used to it though. Anyway, here we are trailing Austin and Tom because the road is REALLY busy and we wanted to stay behind them so some crazy car doesn't loose control and smack them. I look out the window to my left over nick and see two little kids waving at Austin and Tom. The little kids are riding little bikes and doing their best to RACE! This made me smile so of course I take out my camera and kick it into gear so that I can film the children racing our Rally Riders. Next thing I know, though, right as the camera is about ready to record, Nick gasps and I turn my head to Austin and Tom JUST INTIME to see Austin go down and Tom crash right into him and do a front flip over his handle bars. CRASH!
Some documentary filmmaker I am... First off, I ALMOST got it on tape but didn't and second, instead of filming them on the pavement right after they fell I jumped out of the car to make sure they were ok. No good footage haha. I got the aftermath though. Everything was OK except for Austin's bicycle. He rode the spare bike for the rest of the ride into town. Before that, though, we went across the street into the local fire house to clean up and invited the firemen to our event on Tuesday. They were super helpful.

By then it was basically feeling like we had been on the road for 3 days instead of 1. Thank GOD there was a bike shop not to far down the street. We had to wait a while to get to talk to the man there but once we did he helped us out a ton and is working on Austin's bicycle right now. Austin bent his rim pretty bad and screwed up his whole wheel. While we were waiting Austin kept moral high and entertained everyone.

Almost there! Almost there! We crossed the giant bridge here in Charleston and what do you know? A cop turns on his lights behind Nick and I... might have had something to do with the fact we were going like 20mph on the bridge and I was filming Austin and Tom out of the sunroof... anyway the cop must have changed his mind because eventually he turned his lights off and drove away. hahahaha!

Ok, that's what happened yesterday.. I have to go wake Tom up. Today we are gonna chill around Charleston and find people to come to our event.

MATT BRUCE is getting here tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to making him a part of the VERITAZ TEAM! Now the team will consist of Me, Nick Anderson, and Matt Bruce. Did I mention that Nick and Matt are BOTH red headed Iowa boys?
AWESOME!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

ps> holy moly I'm excited about getting to Charleston and rockin and rollin today.

some pictures from Augusta and Savannah

2006-06-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

Tom, Austin, and Charlie on Tybee Beach


Giving Catie her t-shirt in Savannah


Austin near his own towing company after 3 flat tires on the way to Savannah


Nick setting up for a shot in Georgia's backwoods


Austin, Marybeth, Chelsea, and Tom (we <3 Marybeth)


Tom and Austin on the front page in Augusta!

Day 10 (currently in Beaufort, SC)

2006-06-10T19:17:00.000-07:00

Out of Georgia

We followed the boys across the beautiful Savannah bridge today and thus completed the very first state of their multi-state tour! Goodbye Georgia, hello South Carolina! With temperatures in the upper 90's and the humidity on strong... we got some footage of our thermometer at 101 degrees at one point. Holy hot weather, batman. Eew, we even got to see Alligator road kill on our way out of the state! We suspect that we'll be seeing a ton of roadkill on this 5,000 mile trip.

Spent some time in Savannah with a man named Charlie. He had this awesome beach house on Tybee that we were able to crash at. He cooked for us more food than we'd need in a week (awesome) and treated us so well! Charlie was Catie's grandfather. Catie is the little 3 year old girl with cancer that Tom and Austin rode in honor of in Savannah.

Eric, a friend of Veritaz and avid local Savannah cyclist, met the boys about 25 miles outside of Savannah and gave them a proper Savannah welcome. He came equipped with his own cycling spandex, a fixed gear bicycle with no breaks, and a short brim cycling cap instead of a helmet. He had a blast with Austin and Tom along their 93 mile day and later told Veritaz in an exclusive interview about how impressed he is with their tour.

"These Guys are going to be National heroes." he told us as we were talking to him outside the window of the chase car. He was super upbeat and encouraging the whole time and even ended up donating Rally Across America his nice bicycle pump after Austin blew yet another tube before actually getting to Savannah. 3 busted tubes in one day! Eric took one look at the small hand pump they were using to re-inflate and immediately gave them his nice and more efficient one to take with them and keep for the rest of the ride. Thanks, Eric!

We got some awesome interviews with Catie and her family. She was great in front of the camera and told us all about her favorite animals and about what her treatment is called "keee- moe". She was darling.

Keep an eye out for articles in Savannah Connect and the Savannah Morning News.

TOMORROW we finish our ride to Charleston and we have a day off to find as many people as possible to attend our fundraiser at Outback Steakhouse. I'll be spending time finishing the trailer and seeing if I can get it posted as soon as possible. More news to come hopefully tomorrow!

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea

Day 06

2006-06-06T19:54:00.000-07:00

Day 6

We left Aunt Babb's house today after meeting about all of her neighbors. We have decided that we should have each person whose house we crash at introduce us to 5 of their neighbors haha. Austin thinks that he might double the amount of money raised for Rally Foundation that way... A few hours later we found ourselves in Agusta, Georgia.

As I continue on this journey with Rally Across America I continue to learn more and more about the issues surrounding pediatric cancer research. Honestly, I wasn't able to do much research on my own before I really hopped onto the project because of school being so rough and the project start date being the same day as my last day of finals but now, as I'm surrounded with this cause, I have been learning the information I should have been researching for the last few weeks. An interesting piece of information that I found out is that Pediatric Cancer is very different from Adult Cancer. Often times, cancer that children get is a whole different kind of cancer that cannot be treated the same way that the equivalent adult cancer is treated. From talking to a few children who have overcome the cancer in their lives, I've found out that a LOT of the treatment being given to children is experimental and new because there is so little funding for the proper research to take place. The lack of research makes the children suffering from cancer, themselves, the guinea pigs of the proposed treatments. This method can have horrible effects on the children since a lot of the treatment is uncertain.

CHILDHOOD CANCER RESEARCH ONLY RECEIVES about 1% of the total amount of money given to cancer research here in the United States. The main group of doctors and scientists who conduct the research that provides over 80% of children suffering with cancer treatment and hope predicts that they need about 30 MILLION more dollars a year to properly conduct the research that they need to conduct in order to make any progress with pediatric cancer. 30 MILLION more dollars... that's so much.

The Rally Foundation, started in Atlanta, is one of the only foundations that gives every single cent donated directly to childhood cancer research and nothing else. Rally Foundation has only been around for about 15 months and hopes to, through Rally Across America, raise awareness and interest Nation-wide about the seriousness that is pediatric cancer research's lack of funding.

To give you an idea of how awesome the people at Rally Foundation are:
Dean, the foundress, let Nick and I stay at her house for 2 nights and treated us like her own children. She was so much fun and help to us during our first few nights with Rally. Her whole family was such a blessing and they prayed with us just before they sent us out on the road. Dean decided to really step up and do something about a problem she discovered. This is inspiring to me and I hope that I can continue to do something similar in my life...
maybe through this film?

So far, so good.

We could be closer than you know,
-Chelsea

Day 5

2006-06-06T05:03:00.000-07:00

Day 5 (June 5th, 2006)

Today Austin and Tom rode on the second long stretch of their 5,000 mile ride. They are taking the whole tour day by day, slowly, as they build up their endurance and ability to ride further and further.

We planned on leaving at 7am this morning from Austin's brother Russell's fiancé's house (that they had graciously let us stay at for two nights as we organize the tour) but didn't actually make it out of the house until around 8am. Austin's excuse: "Sorry guys, I accidentally set my alarm for 6pm instead of 6am." He then smiled and continued packing up.

Mornings with these guys are so funny... nights too. No matter what's happening it's always entertaining being with Austin and Tom, now appropriately called "Tostin".

Yesterday, Austin and Tom decided that they just couldn't be considered serious cyclists unless they shaved their legs like all the other serious riders. We got the entire experience on tape... it will be one of the more hilarious parts of the documentary. They decided that it would be best to do it on the front porch of the house we were staying at with a bucket that they found on the porch that they filled with water to wash the razors. They first used Austin's clippers to trim their excessive leg hair and then 3blade razors to shave them clean. They have smoother legs than most girls I know now and they are STILL talking about how strange it is. Austin complained about having cold legs the rest of the night.

Right now we are in Warrenton, Georgia staying at the house of Austin's aunt Babbs. They have a baby grand piano in their beautiful southern home in this little small town and Austin just sat down about 30 seconds ago and is playing Rhapsody in Blue beautifully. He graduated this year with a music degree.

Never a dull moment...Tomorrow, Augusta, Georgia, We have a photo shoot at the Outback at 3pm and then a free night... I'm going to try to get a trailer done so everyone can see exactly what we're doing.

We could be closer than you know!
-Chelsea

Some photos from the first two days...

2006-06-04T15:57:00.000-07:00

These photos are of Austin and Tom, the guys riding the entire Rally Across America durinig some of our kick-off events and with some of their sponsors. Click them to enlarge them!

Austin and Tom: The Rally Riders


Tom and Austin doing the Whale Dance


The Rally Boys with some sponsor reps


Alexa and Dean(founder of Rally Foundation) with the boys


The Roswell Bicycle group


Austin, Dean, Jackie (Outback Steakhouse rep), and Tom


Some friends at the Outback Steak House


Austin leading the ride with the Frazier Cycling Kids

THE KICK OFF! Day 1?

2006-06-03T17:02:00.000-07:00

Veritaz Productions is currently focusing on a project called "Pedaling for Change, a documentary about the Rally Across America".
The team working on this project is Chelsea Babbish, Nick Anderson, and Matt Bruce. Most posts will be updated by Chelsea for the first few weeks... keep in touch!

DAY 1?

Well, technically the kick off was the 2nd of June at the Outback Steak House fund-raiser but Austin and Tom didn't do their first large ride until today. We started the day at a cycling race for parkinsons right outside of Atlanta. The announcers presented Austin and Tom to the crowd and explained a bit about the Rally Across America. The boys took a "glory lap" with some of the local children who race and then left from the event to ride around 50 miles to Athens, Georgia. We went ahead of them to get situated with a place to stay and to meet up with Austin's family. His little brother Reid (16) went along for the 50 mile ride and they met us at the house we are staying at in Athens. Tonight we re-group so that we can be efficiant along the way these first few weeks and talk about how to properly go about taking this epic journey.

The film crew has decided to keep any on-lookers updated with video updates through the Rally Webpage: http://www.rallyacrossamerica.org . Keep your eye out for some of those short video updates.

Lastly for tonight, before I take the extra bicycle back the few miles to the house we are all staying at (I'm at a little coffee house using their internet in Athens), we have decided to try to get a teaser or trailor together so that those of you that we have asked to contribute and all others interested can get a better idea of what we're doing out here and why it's important. That should be posted at the Veritaz webpage (and maybe here) within the next few days.

We could be closer than you know,
Chelsea