It's the end of February, and at midnight tonight, it will mark the end of the Kickstarter campaign for the Summit to Sea project.  This will probably be one of the last messages you'll get from me about our fundraising and publicity efforts, since I'm not sure we'll be able to post updates to this project once the deadline passes!

       First, let me thank all of you who have helped us these last 45 days by either backing the project, spreading the word, or doing both!  We had a pretty good campaign, but unfortunately haven't been able to raise funds before our deadline.  It's still two hours shy of midnight as I write this, but unless we have a sudden $6,492 pledge swoop in, I'm afraid we won't meet our goal, and the pledges we've raised will be released from their little pledge cages to flutter away into the night.  Just to be clear, unless there's a huge last minute pledge, your credit card will NOT be charged, so if you're waiting for that to go through, it won't (again, unless a mysterious benefactor opts to contribute after this is written).

       In the meantime, we'll both keep making art as we plan the next draft of the Summit to Sea project.  Again, you can follow those initiatives at our websites or via Facebook.  Thanks once more for your help and support-- we love all of you!  And keep in touch!

Another Interview
We have 4 days left in this fundraising campaign, and we're not giving up yet!  This morning Lorie was interviewed by KTVQ in Billings and if you're in the area you can see the segment on the 5:30 news tonight!  If you're out of the area, they should be putting it up on their website afterwards at www.ktvq.com. 

We can do this! 
Now is the time to spread the word. Throw this up on your Facebook or Twitter or Anything Else accounts, and let folks know that time is running out to get their hands on some awesome rewards. With a good hard push we could just make this happen. Wouldn't that be an adventure!

Super Thank You.
Do you have any idea how awesome you are?  Seriously, thank you for everything. Thank you for backing the project, and believing in the idea. Thank you to those of you who have helped us spread the word and get others on board. You rock. 

Earlier this week, we were fortunate to benefit from a little bit more press here in Montana. The Missoulian picked up the same article from the Billings Gazette, but we were also able to do an interview with KPAX, one of Missoula’s television stations. If you happened to miss the 5:30 news last Wednesday, then the interview can be seen online here.

It was actually a little strange to be interviewed in front of a camera, rather than just with a newspaper reporter. One’s fidgeting usually doesn’t show up in the newspaper! We filmed the interview down by the Bitterroot river, and I kept getting distracted by the Dippers (a type of bird that is, the American Dipper, Cinclus mexicanus). That’s why I point off camera in the beginning of the interview and yell “Dipper!” like a crazy person. I also suddenly found myself trying to remember what you’re supposed to do with your hands while speaking too, and trying to determine where I should look when Lorie was talking. At the interviewer? At the camera? At Lorie? At the Dippers? And, of course, I had to resist the urge to scratch my nose.. or scratch anything really.

So, this week we’ve had a bit more exposure in some traditional media, but we’re also still trying to expand our reach a bit more. And we could use your help! We’ve been trying to figure out if there are any outdoor, adventure, or art-making blogs and websites out there that might have an interest in a project such as ours. If so, tweet, tumble, digg, poke, pin, twoot, zot, pwoof, or telegram the project to them! When it gets down to it, it seems like word-of-mouth (or the internet equivalent) has been the most effective strategy for us so far. For my part, I’ll be sending a message to some photo blogs I follow to see if it might be up their alley. Honestly, I’ve been reluctant to do so, since this project isn’t purely a photographic venture and I keep thinking it might not be of interest to them, but, like I said, we need as many folks to hear about this as possible. If it’s not their sort of material, they can ignore it, and if it is, then perhaps the project will get a little bit closer to being funded by the end of the month!

And, of course, if you have any ideas for other marketing avenues we can pursue, let us know. We’d like this to be your project too, and we’re interested in your feedback and ideas!   

Last Saturday, Lorie and I got interviewed by the Billings Gazette, and we were pleased to find that we were a part of today's paper!  If you haven't seen it yet, you can find the article here.  We particularly liked the bits about how Lorie "radiates kinetic energy," although I am simply "reserved".  I'm tricky like that-- I think I come across as quiet and, well, reserved, but I'm actually the source of the craziest ideas!

Now that we've gotten the project launched, and the press releases sent out, we've been hitting what seems to be the limits of our ability to market ourselves, so having some broader exposure to the community really helps a lot.  

In the past week, we've been taking some time to really hone in and work on the rewards.  We've been working diligently on the zine, making sketches and writing to create what we hope will provide a nice "sneak peak" of the final product of our journey: a compiled sketchbook/travel journal chronicling our journey through the landscape, as well as the people we meet along the way.  

In related, yet unrelated news, I got word last week that some of my photographs have been selected for the Blue Sky Gallery's Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers 2012 season, which is nice.  The gallery is located in Portland, Oregon, a city situated alongside the course of the Columbia River, which seems to nicely tie into our ambitions for this project.    

We'll let you know as we have more updates, and in the meantime, thank you very much for your support!

- Charlie 

Hello!

We’re Launched!  It seemed like forever in the making, but when we got to push the big green “LAUNCH” button this week we were on cloud nine. For those of you who have backed our project so far; thank you!!! 

New photos of the rewards have gone up on the main page, and we will keep adding as we get more images, so check that out.

We’re just starting out with publicity for the project, but we’re making good progress. Tomorrow morning we’ll be sitting down with Brett French at the Billings Gazette newspaper and talking about the project, which should be a ton of fun, but to really push this project towards it’s goal we need you!   Help us spread the word to new folks!  And if you already have, thank you!  We’re just three days in, but we’ve already told just about everyone we know, so we can really use your help in introducing anyone who might be interested to our plan.   

Thank you so much for your support so far!

- Charlie & Lorie