Prologue: Richmond to Minneapolis

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I was lucky enough to have Anne and Rob take part in this first leg, which took us 1,800 miles from Richmond, through Cincinnati, Madison, and Duluth, before finally making it to Minneapolis.

Why start in Minneapolis?

Uhhh because 2 nights of Tipper, duh. On one hand: it’s a final hedonistic weekend before living like a hobo for 6 months. But in reality it’s something else. The catharsis of group wiggling to brain tingling, speaker ripping noises — which have you questioning your sanity — that nothing else compares to. I gladly hand over my worries, fears, and general low vibrations, for the man to mash up with everyone else’s —alchemizing it all into mind melting and paradigm shifting frequencies. Healing on the dance floor. Feeling like one of the thousands taking roost in their hive, vibrating in unison only to take on some greater, emergent form. Transcending the individual and perhaps — even this physical plane of existence… 😮🤯🫠🥰

Okay yeah maybe that sounds dramatic, but words don’t do it justice. If you know, you know. Anyway…

Cincinatti was super cool. Beautiful old buildings. Very old feeling, unexpectedly so.

Madison had the best food by far on the trip. Also the most interesting mix of architecture. It felt like walking through someone playing a Roller Coaster Tycoon esque game, just dropping whatever random houses they thought looked cool.

Duluth was the highlight of this leg for me. Unexpectedly steep which made for fantastic views. The lake was beautiful, and it was mind boggling to imagine a ship coming all the way from the Atlantic Ocean. It was also the coldest so far. Getting down to -5 at night and getting in the car to see 3 degrees outside on the dash.

Minneapolis was kinda just like any other city — except you didn’t have to use the sidewalks. All the high rise buildings had “sky ways” 2 stories up. This lets you get around without actually going outside, but also gave the effect of being in a huge multi block & building mall. Which was mostly abandoned. Kind of odd, but a fun experience. The Armory was incredible, never been in a venue like it. You’d swear you were outside if you didn’t know better.

The other highlight of Minneapolis was getting to see two of my friends: Catalina and Andrew! I never expected to have several reasons to be in Minneapolis 😅. It was great to convene with Catalina for yet another Tipper event. Andrew and I worked together the last 14 months, but only met in person once during that time. He lives nearby, so we got the chance to grab coffee (really tea and hot chocolate) on my way out of town. It’s comforting to know you have folks that care about you, even when you’re not at home, which was a great reminder before kicking off this journey.

Overall a fantastic start to the trip. It was hard to say bye to Anne & Rob, along with life as I’ve known it (at least for now). Thus this legs mantra:

Don’t be sad it’s over. Be happy it happened.

View the full photo album here