They say the longest journey starts with a single step.

I say the longest journey eventually ends with a last step.

Today, I take that last step. Today I pull out my camera for the last time, say "ROLLING AND.... AAAACTION!" for the last time... And capture the last shot missing from the film.

The last piece of the puzzle.

I should feel happy but I feel a bit blue. It's like when I go to Santa Paula / Fillmore now and drive by all the places I filmed my flashbacks at... Johnny and Bettie in the orchards... Bettie's house, the jalopy race road... I feel overwhelmed with melancholy... Nostalgia... I miss these days.

Raphael's house is no longer Raphael's house: When I went there last Friday night, I was expecting to see Sandy come out and offer me some Lemonade and cookies... But she was nowhere to be found... Everyday, when I drive to work, I pass by the courthouse where Johnny was sentenced and I wave hello to bad ass Judge Geretty. The film is everywhere around me and my normal suroundings will never be the same again...

The line between fiction and reality is blurred... Did it not all really happen?

My mind knows it didn't, but my heart says otherwise... The film lingers all over me, I can still smell it... Feel it... Hear it...

And soon, so will you.

Yes, today is the morning of my last shoot.

And it's raining its ass off. I kicked off my first modern day shoot with rain and finish the last modern day shoot with rain.

So we come full circle.

And end it.