Return Journey has been repainted once, and needs to be repainted again at this point.  The city has been pretty diligent about the cables. It’s never been vandalized, except once, just days before the opening event. Somebody tagged the nosecone.  And that’s 30 feet up there, and it’s really hard to get to, I don’t know how they did it.  Before it was even done, before even all the cables were attached.

So I got up there, I rented a 24-foot extension ladder–it was more than that–it was massive.  It took two people to just handle this ladder. And it probably wasn’t the safest thing, but I had to get up there and repaint that nosecone. But since then, it’s never been tagged.  The cables have never been cut. And I can’t tell you how many hours of discussion were spent on, will this be climbed? Will somebody come cut the cables? Will somebody tag it? And you just never know how it’s going to be received, what’s going to happen.  So–it’s really an important piece in that regard, because it’s a precedent that’s proven itself.

I can also remember installing the rocket itself on the pole.  First the rocket obviously had to be installed before the cables, and it was really stormy, and it was me and my engineer starting to install the cables.  The rocket had been installed on its pole support, and obviously it’s been engineered to stand alone on the post without any support from the cables, but the cables definitely help it.  And so a major storm came–and only so many cables could be installed before we had to just leave. And I remember the engineer and I were out there, it started raining, the skies were green and gray and his son was in his pickup truck, and I was just sure that evening–you hear sirens and everything, and I could just imagine that thing falling.  It always scares me. I don’t quite trust the engineering. But it’s still standing!

I wouldn’t drive by it.  That’s the other thing. I didn’t want to see it.  I just didn’t want to see it. I didn’t want to see if it was still standing, after that storm and any others, for probably two years.  I didn’t want to see if it had been graffitied or damaged, or anything. That was an early mindset that I’ve gotten over. I have an aversion to seeing the work, like I might notice something–so I would steer clear of that for years.  Really, years. I would avoid it. If wherever I was going, it would be the fastest way to drive past it, I would drive around blocks away. My family thought it was odd. I just didn’t want to see it. Didn’t want anything to do with it.  Just didn’t want to know–I wanted a vision knowing it looked all great and there it was… but I’ve gotten over that mindset!

Minneapolis, public art, Return Journey