One of my favorite parts of this trip has been meeting up with family and friends. Today I got to hang out with Melissa Beer, a good friend who plans events for Colleges and Universities. Melissa was instrumental in helping us get Bravous Esports into higher education which set the table for our incredible run in 2020 during COVID.

Bravous pivoted from in person inclusive esports events to online events and it seemed overnight we were busy as could be at times hosting up to twenty events a week. We literally helped tens of thousands of college kids who were locked up and isolated connect through play and online streaming.

We could never have done that without Melissa's guidance and help. Unfortunately, as soon as it went up, a few years later it all came crashing down and i was forced to close Bravous Esports. But the lessons learned have stayed with me.

Melissa has a huge heart, and she cares deeply about creating community and connection. One of the most exciting tings she is working on is a Belonging Index a way to measure the effectiveness of campus activities and programming to help students create connections. I just love that idea.

Fun Harley Shirts

One fun thing about doing a trip like this is to collect dealer shirts. They are kind of like the Hard Rock Cafe T-shirts everyone wanted in the 90s, only they persist even today. But shirts can be bulky and expensive. Moreover, there's a limit to how many you can actually wear in practice - as my wife knows all too well. In addition to dealer shirts, they also offer custom poker chips. This photo is kind of cool because they made a Prince themed shirt and a matching poker chip. So of course i grabbed them both.

Local pride and uniqueness is part of what makes visiting the dealerships fun. I heard a nasty rumor that the new CEO of Harley is trying to force all the elder ships to be exactly the same, which is a shame. Instead of focusing on homogenous, they should be focusing on hospitality. A dealership could be a great anchor point for travelers to get connected to a local community. I mean, that is one reason we buy the bikes and go to rallies right to travel?

Harley built a community. When they serve the community it is awesome.