Richmond, Virginia

When I first got to Richmond, I think I was expecting there to be a big “Welcome to Richmond” sign wth some outdated slogan underneath it. After that would be a bunch of arrows pointing me to the visitor’s center, the arts district, and the courthouse or something. But instead, I didn’t even know I had gotten into Richmond until it stopped showing up on those “miles to go” road signs. So, apparently, I had arrived in Richmond. The only problem was I was still cruising quickly along the interstate about to be out of Richmond. The whole city sprawled around me in all directions without any indication as to what the next steps were to actually get to city itself. Before I missed the city entirely and continued onto Petersburg, I took the next available exit, which brought me to some baron industrialized section of town. If this was all Richmond had to offer, I would keep scuttling to the next destination that night, although this wasn’t completely true – I was getting pretty tired.

So I got back on the 95 and proceeded to take some downtown expressway. At some point I pulled off of it, and low and behold, I was in Richmond. Again, no welcome mat, or district signs, just frosted over cars and large frosted buildings. It was just as cold in Richmond as Randolph, so I knew 2 things: People weren’t going to be hanging out outside, and no matter how much I might grow to love this place, it’s still too damn cold to live. I didn’t have any motels reserved, but I was hoping to find some tavern, bar, or other drinkery and get the lowdown of the city from the locals. But for a Friday night, this place didn’t really seem like it was popping off too much. I did pass by yuppie looking place that was quite packed with River Citiens. I parked the car and proceeded to go inside for a drink. Apparently, everyone was either sitting at a table with their significant other, or they were part of some wedding party. So I grabbed a beer, and watched whatever local sports event that was sucking enough wind to be on TV that night. After that, I went back to my car and began driving around until I got to a Comfort Inn. The whole place felt like hot sick, and they’re was a bunch of unexplainable things in my room to give me the heebees.  There was an empty power aid container on the counter, and a big gray machine in the middle of room making noise, but not doing much else. Eventually I unplugged it and tried to get settled in. That place was just dirty, and I began to freak out a little bit about this whole trip. What was I doing here? What did I hope to accomplish? How to I think this is going to turn out? Things like that. I started bugging, but at 1:43am, I hoped my brother on the west coast would pick up. No avail.

Eventually, I calmed myself down by saying this, “realax, take it easy, you’re here to enjoy yourself, so make sure you do that”. You can do anything you want to do, so there’s nothing to stress about. The warmer we go into the climate, the more your going to find people being outside and being friendly and hospitable. If you need to do more time researching into these cities before we leave, and line up some sleeping arrangement, than by all means, we can do it. But do not let these situations bother you. This is part of growing up, being a man, and learning independence. It’s about understanding these situations and having the ability to make judgment calls to fix them. By the next morning, I was still exhausted. I walked around Richmond for a while, but decided to make it an early night so I can plan and prep for upcoming cities, and take a little nap. Maybe after that, if I’m up for it, I’ll hit up the town.