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The College of Lore: USA Tour

First Journey started: September 4, 2020
Days on the Road: 1505

Link 1: DND Actual Plays (Storm King’s Thunder)
Link 2: My Podcast
Link 3: All our Actual Plays (Coming Soon)
Link 4: My stories from the road

Second Journey started: May 6, 2021
Days on the Road: 1261

We’ll it’s official. I’ve hit the road. As I’m writing this I’ve just finished my first week at my temporary home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’ll be moving on before too long to another part of this awesome country. I want to see everything there and write about it and make videos about it to capture the whole experience. I might be the only person watching, but this will serve as a great way to preserve some amazing memories.

How did this come to pass? It was all a change of mindset. I started making these podcasts in 2018, built up a backlog and in 2020 started posting them monthly on Patreon. I made this website in 2020 to help organize some of the content. I was granted access to a laptop and got the ability to work from home. In August of 2020 my friend from high school was getting married, I had a date that didn’t pan out, and I wanted to go up to Jacksonville, Fl to see my co-host and good friend Josh. I really don’t want to keep talking about COVID-19, Corona virus, “this current situation / the way things are now.” It’s such a downer to me. I really try to stay away from it in the content we produce here.

I don’t want to believe that things are changed forever and we cannot do the things that make life worth living. That being said I understand why things have changed. But I do not want to be afraid. I will go outside with a mask on and be socially distant. But I’m going to travel. I’m going to go outside. I’m going to make friends. I’m going to be happy. It would be a mistake not to talk about it. I believe in turning curses into blessings and hardships into opportunity. And this really did.

I was living at home with my family during this time and I was very scared that I would go outside and get them sick. Both my mom and dad are very susceptible and in a high risk category. It seemed like the perfect opportunity for a well deserved vacation after spending 4 months inside.

The experience was so freeing I couldn’t turn it down. My friend Christopher in Jacksonville told me he planned on living in a new state every month since he could work from home too. I thought about what that might be like but didn’t really see how I could do it. I mean my whole life was here.

My friend George who took the trip up and back with me went to Total Wine and we got beers from around the country. Some of them were really good, but one in particular stuck out to me. It was a Founder’s Mas Agave beer. I’m actually drinking one right now. But at the time, you couldn’t find it at all in Florida. I literally pulled the last dusty bottle off the shelf. I knew after tasting it what it represented. It was freedom, travel, the openness of the road. It was a feeling that I didn’t know I had within me but many an american musician has sung about the rambling man.

After returning after a month, I let my parents know that I wanted to continue traveling. My dad surprised me by asking a very direct question. “Is this going to be another vacation or a more permanent thing,” he queried, “Because if it’s a permanent thing then you should probably make permanent and move out with all your things.” He went on to say that he wasn’t kicking me out and I had a choice. I could come back right after Michigan and continue to live there or I could officially move out. I made my choice on the spot. I wasn’t going to drive all the way across the country for some beer and then drive all the way back. Also, like I said before. I think I was caught by the traveling bug.

So I gave away or sold everything I owned, except for what would fit inside my car in a few days. I had some important deadlines at work which made things difficult. But I’ve made it to my first destination within 3 days of traveling. As I’m writing this I’ve spent 1 week in Grand Rapids, Michigan and it’s been amazing.

I’ll be updating this page daily, before any vlogs come out, before anything is posted, before the podcasts too. I’ll just be facebook posting pretty much. #drinkingwater! I’ll make sure to go back in time and update everyone on what has happened in the last week as well.

Click the USA Tour 2020 Link to see all the daily updates from the road. Or check out some more lighthearted “love of the game” styled podcasts by clicking The College of Lore Podcast.