The first hint something had changed when clicking on
the link to the post about the closure
had changed to a "does not exist" message. Checking the website, it was
gone, and the latest entry was a simple three word message, "Please
Stand By."
Teleporting
over, I saw that the neighboring places to Traveler's Station were
gone, but it wasn't. What was gone was the sign about it's closing. I
noticed Tripp was around, and we ended up talking for a while.
"Yes
- The Station remains," Tripp told me, "I have a few others properties
to let go of still - but this is my heart and I could not bear to lose
it. ... I thought long and hard about this place - and I just could not
imagine myself in
SL and not be running it. It has been my dream for so
long and I fell in love so in love with it."
Tripp
went on, "I tend to romanticize my builds in SL and what I wrote had to
do with building your dreams - and having to let them go at some
point. Rather than be sad, I choose to be grateful that I had the
chance to build some of my dreams here, even if I have to let some of
them go - it doesn't diminish the power of the dream it emanated from. I
always tell people - don't be afraid to dream as BIG as you can. I see
so many people give up on their dreams before they ever get started. It
often makes me sad."
Of
it's beginnings, "This whole thing here started with ONE book and a tp
script. I began making books for places I visited and would put a LM
giver script in the book and give it to the destinations owner. There
are some here up in the library - the very first ones I made. But that
was how it got started. And the more fascinated I began with travel in SL, the more books I made. So then I opened a book shop. It was filled with all these destinations in books. I designed all the book covers just like I design all these travel posters now.
"But I kept wanting ONE place where I could store all this - a place from which people could come and travel ANYWHERE. So I learned about the travel scripts that are paired with an experience and I applied to Linden Lab to create an experience of my own - and that was the beginning of The Doors.
"For what ever reason brought me to Second Life, I've made it my home. And of all the things I've built, this place is best. As the saying goes, 'Fall in love with something and let it kill you.' that's what I did here. ... I came here as an animator who'd lost out on three years of 48 hour film festivals to Second Life producers (laughter). I came to see what the hell they had that we didn't. Our last year in competition we tied with SL and I said THAT'S IT!! I have to see what they are doing over there. The lady I was to interview about SL machinima ended up being my best and oldest friend here. And I never left. She let me stay on a platform above a sim she owned.
"My firs job was a video operator for (the) Relay for Life. My god that was a crazy job. We would run all over SL, teams of us, filming and grabbing audio. Oh my God, total mayhem - but oh what fun. ... I lost my real-life soul mate to cancer in 2013 - so I get the importance. I have a kiosk here. It touches all of us at one point or another. I lost my mom to it when I was 25."
Tripp would then direct my attention, "Got a minute? I want to show you something." He let me to a portal, "Sit on that arrow. I'll show you." We ended up porting to another spot on the sim, high over ground level. It was a city street, dark and damp looking with rain, "I was able to keep this from the city build." And before me was a small two-story bookstore, "This building was where the first Mysterious Traveler bookshop was. Again, another building I fell in love with. (laughter) ...The city had so many builds, but I really wanted to keep the most meaningful."
He went on, "Let's pop back down and I'll show you the first books." We went back down, appropriately enough with a tune from the end of Fahrenheit 451 playing, "The Book People." We soon got to a room, and there on a couple tables to the left and right were a number of books, "These are some of the original books. ... This is how it all began - with a book." He glanced to a bookcase, "I need to put in the secret passage way behind this book case. (laughter)"
Tripp would show me around a little more, pointing to one gray haired figure at some contraption, "This guy is one of the traveler librarians." He pointed up at a floating whale, "People catch a ride on the whale from here as well. And kids love the bunny picnic park on the other side of the station. ... I spent a lot of time here alone building and as I built this I began making up a whole mythology for the place. That's really what the city was, where they assembled the 'Teleportium Generators' that run the station. It takes a great deal of energy to power all these doors and LM's - and we use teleportium to power everything here. (laughter) The librarians work out the most efficient paths through time and space to get people where they're going." I listened, noting the song playing at the time was, "Will You Find Your Way Back To Me?" Tripp mused, "Of course I serve as the lead LM Repairman. I even have a Landmark Maintenance tag I wear when working off site." He chuckled, "I have fun with my job."
We jumped down, and walking past something I heard, "
Travel Advisory: The Blake Sea is a private-owned continent known for its extensive waterways, making it a popular destination for sailors. It's composed of numerous islands, including tropical islands and submerged sims, and provides a central hub for the United Sailing Sims." Tripp would say, "I have an announcer BEE that provides little travel tips in local. It's a neat device that works off a notecard." He gestured at the building, with a number of still figures, "I used to have pedestrians walking back and forth - but man they chew up a bunch of lag. So I did some trimming here. There were two venues above the station and I removed them. They were very seldom used. And honestly, I've run so many clubs over the years I'm happy I chose to remove them. As my time here becomes shorter I need to look for ways to economize. And really, I want the focus here to be about travel. There are a billion clubs in Second Life (laughter). It is HARD work. I ran six at one time and it damn near killed me, like juggling cats."
Tripp would add he was among those that had an exhibit at the Second Life Birthday, "I had a great time creating the exhibit for this past one. I plan on recreating much of it here when I get all this other stuff done, just in a smaller form."
Tripp would say of his land, " Well now that this has been trimmed down I need to decide what do to with the rest. I've put one property up for rent - it was just too rare to let go if. And now I have the Docks and The Salvage Yard down the road here to deal with. I may convert the Docks into my private home. It's on a quiet part of the coast east of here "
Eventually, it was time to part. Tripp would wish me well, "There sure is enough news to report in this world."
He would later make a post in his blog describing the changes, concluding:
I'll be back on the road soon with lots more tales to tell you here. Now virtually homeless, I'll also be seeking a small spot to call my own. Until then, I'll sleep on my favorite bench at the Station - it won't be the first time -LOL
Until next time - stay curious and enjoy your travels!
