I love road trips, especially in the Southwest. I have always felt the draw to, “go West, young man” to the wide open spaces and majestic mountains. Driving in the desert void is interesting because you are simultaneously insignificant and both at the center of the world—it really gives you time to think. Fortunately, my mind was in the right space on this past road trip as it coincided with a meteoric rise in NFTs, the Blitmap project in particular.
I caught in on Blitmap thanks to Zeneca_33’s newsletter and entered the project when community minting was still going on (my first was City Looney, Blitmap #821). I really believed in the project for a number of reasons, some of which I need to write about in a future post. I began minting what I liked, and then picking up pieces on the secondary even when minting was still open (another future post as well). Needless to say, I was pretty bullish on Blitmap and at the onset of the road trip the floor on July 22, 2021 when the trip started was 0.36 ETH (special thanks to @emrecolako‘s Dune analytics dashboard for helping me pull historical info!)—as I conclude the trip on August 8, 2021 the floor is hovering right at 5ETH and I’ve also minted/purchased other NFTs to add to the portfolio. I wanted to write the blog post as a way to remember the crazy highs of this trip that appears to be a black swan moment that could change my life forever.
Picking Up RSOP: Out in the South Plains of Texas July 22 – 24
The Royal Society of Poker (RSOP) launched on July 22nd, and I had my wife take over driving for a bit so I could mint some of these cards. The RSOP project looked to have a number of the qualities that I seek out, so this was one of the largest mints I ever did (I think 14 cards). I thought my mint game was weak because I only had one Jack and one Ace (thankfully both spades) out of the lot, but it turned out that I had one of the more rare mystery marks. I felt the potential of this project and after seeing @NFTBark‘s tweet about building Royal Flushes, I went ahead and completed the set. I saw the Ace of Spades with the mystery mark sitting at 2ETH and decided this was worth the risk of unloading a Hustling Hamster VeeFriend (that I got in a trade for an ape… I know, I know) to a bot (I know, I know) to get it. Currently the floor has risen dramatically, but not seen much action on myster marks—I anticipate this will change. At any rate, I think Gary Vee would be proud as I embodied the Hustling Hamster ethos.
Pixelglyphs: Mountains of South Eastern New Mexico July 24 – 26
We got a cabin with a friend (who I am helping manage his NFT wallet and he has some Blitmaps!) and got to help further educate him on NFTs. Learned about the Pixelglyphs project in Blitmap Discord and minted a couple and thought would try when gas was cheaper. The project went crazy fast—I saw the potential with what they are doing as .glyph sort of on-chain avatar and picked up some that looked like faces.
Blitmap Swap: Northern New Mexico July 26 – 29
I stayed with my grandparents in Northern New Mexico and got to talk to them about NFTs—it was a really cool conversation and they weren’t dismissive at all. I think they understood a little bit more, I know my grandfather got my three flavors of NFT idea (collectibility, utility/community and art). Sold Eruption Chaos Flow Blitmap #1593 and was thrilled at a 0.45 ETH sale. Then saw Ikura Mask Blitmap #109, the TENTH sibling ever minted and the first by 0xmons none-the-less, for just 0.5 ETH. I thought that basically this trade plus 0.05 ETH was way worth it (and it fits into my overall thesis on Blitmap (again more later)), so I scooped it.
BLITDAY: Moab July 29 – 31
July 29, 2021 was the craziest day in my NFT life, henceforth known as Blitday. It started out by leaving Northern New Mexico. The floor started rising and one of my friend’s Blitmaps sold above 0.6 ETH. Something was happening. I was lucky to “tactically delist” (as the community later termed it!) his others. Thank goodness I did, or they would’ve been swept up.
We left for Moab and the floor kept rising. There were two Genesis Blitmaps out there (Genesis Node #140 for 2.75 ETH and Genesis Key #132 for 3ETH). I feel that long term, Genesis composition is going to be one of the most valuable, and having already got Genesis Rose #119 and Genesis Mask #114, I felt that this would be my last shot while the floor was rising. We were in far Northern New Mexico at a natural amphitheater and on the hike I made my decision: I had to sell one of my two apes (the other is a forever ape)to try and scoop up one or both Genesis Blitmaps. I had a bot offer of 5.38ETH on the ape and even though we were in the sticks there was miraculously a solid LTE connection at the natural landmark. I asked my wife to drive to see if I could make a private sale with someone and get floor for the ape (around 5.5 ETH)—I got greedy and it cost me!
As we were driving, the Internet connection went out and was out for a good hour or so. In that time, the 5.38 ETH bot offer expired and Genesis Node got scooped. I went to a liquidity pool and swapped out my ape for 4.5 ETH and picked up Genesis Key while at a playground in Pagosa Springs! The next day The New Yorker article came out and the apes mooned (I had been expecting this and had accumulated three sellable apes, but in the time all but my forever ape were gone) and while right now that trade looks suspect, I stand by it.
We kept driving and I saw in the Discord an offer from mrtn to trade a Ghxts Monkey Lunar Zxdiac for two Blitmaps. I responded immediately because the floor was 1 ETH on Blitmaps and the Zxdiac was like 3 ETH—I thought I could flip for two Blitmaps. But again, I was hit hard by spotty connection and a dead laptop. By the time I could trade it appeared that I was going to take a bath on it; but I gave the man my word and made it work. Luckily it worked out for the both of us. I was able to sell the Zxdiace for like 2.9 ETH I think and pick up Key Mori Blitmap #117 and have some ETH to get 0xmons SALT v4 project.
The night continued—Blitmaps went over the 100ETH mark to get verified. There was the burning of a Blitmap, the fractionalization of a Blitmap and just overall an amazing celebration late into the night. It was a major milestone with the community and I was so happy to be a part of it!
Second NFT x IRL NiftyPin Launch: Salt Lake City July 31 – Aug 4
During our Salt Lake leg, not a lot happened in the NFT world for me (other than the floor of Blitmaps continuing to rise). I did release my second NFT x IRL NiftyPin to celebrate the !floor rising, which was exciting and even sold one!
Blitmap PartyBid: Page, AZ Aug 4
When Dom put The Blitmap Collection (a collection of all 1,700 Blitmaps) on Foundation, I knew that this was going to be a piece that would be quite valuable but one I could never afford. However, @jonitzler had a brilliant idea of using PartyBid to bring together people from the Blitmap community to bid on it as a collective! I remember getting my 0.275 ETH over to the bid as I pulled off the side of the road somewhere in Utah to put us over the minimum to bid. It was super exciting to once again see this community come together!
This was also the day that we were able to reserve our early bird spots in the solSeedling project thanks to a tip in the Blitmap holders Discord 😀 I had left Bryce Canyon in Utah and pulled off the side of the road to register—the Blitsquad had those 250 spots filled up in minutes!
Spending $16k on a JPG: Flagstaff, AZ Aug 5
We started the day by WINNING the Foundation auction! This was really cool to be a part of and members got $BLITSQUAD tokens.
Several weeks ago Dom had a contest for the community to name one of the Blitmaps. The top prize was one of the original Blitmaps that Dom had created, but runner ups got a Blitmap from his collection. Packrip Ewing was a runner up and got Jupiter Overloaded Blitmap #101, the SECOND sibling ever created and the FIRST by Dom. To me, this is a monumental piece—it’s the first Blitmap that the founder of Blitmap created. He basically could have created ANYTHING (minus Genesis Edition #100), but chose to create this one.
Anyway, I saw Packrip post it for 5.5 ETH. Given I did not have 5.5ETH, I approached Packrip for a trade, which he politely declined. But I realized that this was the last obtainable Blitmap that had historical significance that I would be able to afford. I was at a brewery and finally said SCREW IT, guzzled my beer, went back to the hotel and put up my last two Bored Ape Yacht Club doggos and only Cool Cat for auction to try and snag it. I felt that the utility that the BAYC would give on a dog would pale in comparison to this piece that was important to the canon of Blitmap.
I then went to a brew pub and was impatiently and incessantly staring at my phone. Nothing. I got back to the hotel and one of the dogs sold. I knew I needed sleep so went to bed. But when I woke up around 2:00am, I saw the other two pieces sold and I had enough to purchase Jupiter Overloaded. But 5.5 ETH was $16,652, one of the highest sums of money I have ever spent on anything. I was nervous, but this piece was absolutely important if I truly believed in my thesis of Blitmap. So I pulled the trigger.
A wave of emotions overcame me accompanied by a huge hit of adrenaline. I tried to go to bed but couldn’t. So I popped into Discord and explained why I did it and where I thought this project was going (which I promise I will blog about soon publicly). I am basically done at having the ability to purchase a Blitmap. This was a solid send off.
solSeedling Mint and Whale Sighting/Floor Rising: Silver City, NM Aug 6 – Alpine, TX Aug 7
I left Flagstaff all excited and made my way to Silver City, NM. On the way, I stopped by the Petrified Forest where I had to backtrack to get signal to mint my solSeedling for me and my friend’s wallet I manage in the early bird window. I was so happy so many Blitmap holders were also able to mint this project—it made me proud that I could help benefit the community in a tangible way.
While in the park, I stumbled on a signal and was able to mint one more in the open mint. I then learned that some were animated and called my friend to see if he was willing to pool our ETH together to grab one at the 1 ETH floor. He said yes, but the signal went spotty. By time I transferred the money to his wallet and began to check out, someone had snagged it seconds earlier (they later posted for sale for 4.5 ETH). This space moves fast.
I checked in at Silver City, NM late at night—when I woke up the next morning (Aug 7) I was floored to see a 5 ETH floor. A whale came in and bought up 40+ Blitmaps, including paying 42 ETH for Veenus’s Hillside. While I have believed in this project from the beginning, it was this moment scrolling through the Blitmap general Discord that I knew I was part of something that has the potential to change my life forever. It was an absolutely surreal feeling.
I checked into probably one of the crappiest hotels I’ve ever stayed at (hey it was like $30!) in Alpine, TX. While nothing happened really in the NFT space, everything was happening on Discord. Folks were talking about Mexican food and BBQ in New York, I learned a Blitmap holder was visiting San Antonio and it was just nice hanging with the community.
Time to Go Home: San Antonio, TX Aug 8
Before checking out, Dom was so kind to help explain to me some of the nuances of how Autoglyphs were on-chain, but how they come with instructions kind of like a cypher for people to reconstruct them. He was incredibly generous with his time considering the NounsDAO project was launching (something I didn’t even realize why we chatted).
And here I am. On a patio in Alpine, TX finishing up this blog post, hitting publish and packing up for the five hour trip home. This road trip was insane. It was recharging to be with my family and to be by myself when when they flew home and I had to trek back solo from Salt Lake City. Since the onset of the pandemic, I have had to wear a lot of hats—helping educate my daughter with distance learning, having more parental responsibility while my wife picked up shifts at the hospital, navigating the impacts of COVID-19 on my ecommerce business, trying to cram in client work whenever I could and just trying to hustle to make it.
This trip was a good reset. I cleared my mind. I made some moves, but more importantly friends, in the NFT community. I know I have been in Discord a ton and that is going to have to change. I also know that the very nature of the Blitmap community will change and morph as more people come in and other exit. But this three week road trip and the conversations I’ve had have been one of the best things I have ever experienced in my life. Thanks to all you Blitmap artists and members who have made it so. I wish all the best for everyone I interacted with on this trip!
Leave a Reply