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I'm two days into the Kansas City trip, and I've learned several important things:
1. When given a choice of 4-rib or full slab at Arthur Bryant's, take the over...then take a nap.
2. Game 1 had about 200 Twins fans in attendance, and I think I managed to talk to most of them. And they are all awesome! Keep an eye out for some of their pics and stories in my series wrap blog on Monday.
3. Even the Royals fans didn't expect to win. Opening day prices were jacked up 300%, and still a huge crowd showed up. Was it for the 50th anniversary of the fountation, baby blue uni's, or the chance to see Royals greats before the game? No, everyone said that this was the first time in several years that they could be here in person, so they just had to. That was powerful to hear.
4. I'm sitting here in the Kauffman parking lot, 2.5 hours before game time, and I see 20 Twins fans stalking the gates, playing catch, and pointing things out to the kids in the group...see everything from a Puckett jersey to Joe Crede.  Let's go!
5. Prayers to everyone up north who is trying to get through another blizzard. Green grass exists, spring is coming, and we are gonna win today.
Steve
@TwinsTrefz
TwinsTrefz@gmail.com

Meet "Stevie" the elf. Think of him as a cross between Where's Waldo, Flat Stanley, & Circle-me-Bert. He's going to be joining me on the road this summer for some Twins away game excitement, and believe it or not summer starts tomorrow!
Kansas City here we come! 70 degrees, a pleasant breeze, and hopefully a few bombas from our favorite nine. Pablo wheels and deals, Duran closes the door, and 2023's version of "Hope Springs Eternal" can finally turn the page to "Summer of Victory."
I have a lot of excitement as I head into the first road series. My friend Jeff and I have plans to see the Negro League Hall of Fame on Friday during the off-day (luckily avoiding the first rain-out of the season). We seem to have great weather for baseball, and the stadium was built for day games. 
I've been asked quite a few times in the past week or so, "Why are you doing this?" Or, "What's your goal for these trips?"
I really don't know any more...
At first, it was mostly about the exhilirating thought exercise of planning the trips out, and seeing if it was even humanly possible (without a Billion-dollar organization backing me!). Then the trips became a way to recover relationships with friends and family that COVID and adulthood had pushed into the background. Then it became the stubborn cultural genetics within me that screamed "You can't quit now!" And now? 
Now, I answer those questions like this: "I'm going on these trips because somehow, some way, I believe that good and beauty and joy are going to find me on the road between here and there."
At my local church, Fusion Church in Mitchell, SD, I just got done working on a sermon series entitled "On the Way." The theme addresses how most of the amazing and powerful Bible stories that we remember actually happened when Jesus and his friends were "on the way" to somewhere else. Someone stops him and asks for healing, someone walks with them for a while and asks key life questions. The group is headed somewhere, and notice someone or something that makes them stop and be present there for a while.
Over the past three years, I've missed being "on the way" to other places. I need to be surprised by some new questions. I need to be struck by something I've never seen or experienced before. I need to be inconvenienced by a challenge or opportunity that crosses my path.
Do I hope the Twins win every game this year? Of course. I'm the only human who has ever predicted them to go 162-0 and actually believed it could happen. But I know, win or lose, life is going to happen "on the way" to the games. 
I've updated my twitter handle if you want real-time in game updates from the stadium: @TwinsTrefz 
and my email: TwinsTrefz@gmail.com
If you are headed to Kansas City this weekend, or any future road series, shoot me an email and let me know! I would love to celebrate a Twins win (or loss) with you "on the way."
Grace and peace,
Steve

March 30th. Kansas City. April 2nd. Miami.
Plans are set, trip will happen.
April 13th. New York. April 18th. Boston.
Plans are set, trip will happen.
In December I put forth an imaginative dream. What would it be like to travel to every Twins away game in a season? I ran the mileage, started to count the costs, negotiated reality, and now its here. The first month of the Twins season is only two weeks away!
How has my investment influenced my interest in spring training, or in Twins baseball in general? As we hypothesize the opening day lineup, I watch with interest, knowing that I'll be there to see a player's opening day national anthem. I'll be there to see the bench standing at the top of the steps throughout the first game. I'll see the amped up starting pitchers, and the sweating-even-though-its-50-degrees-out relievers. I'll see the umps and managers navigate the awkward nature of the first useage of the pitch clock in the regular season. 
I've been to opening day three times at Target Field, but never on the road. Will they give me the Bobby Witt Jr. bobblehead if I'm in my baby blue Correa jersey? Will the home fans show up on a Thursday afternoon, or will transplanted Twins fans rule the stands? Will my budget which involves minimal ballpark food and drink even last through the first game...
I finally bit the bullet on securing my KC to Florida flight. We are locating hotels near the Cooperstown HOF for the off-day later in the month. The reality of a five or six man rotation begins to influence my chance at watching wins. March snow storms lead me to believe that weather will have its say in April too. 
I get to see Arraez vs. Lopez week one. I get to see friends that I haven't seen in years. I get to visit three of the holy places of baseball.
If there is anything in particular that you would love to know about the experience, from the stadium's quirks, to the in-game experiences in different parks, to the food and drink, to the activities of the players when the cameras of off: let me know. I'm hoping your ideas and participation along the way will make for a shared experience. If you are headed to the games, drop me a message. If you have some must-see suggestions, I want to hear them!
Only 14 more sleeps as my kids used to say. Welcome 2023 Twins season, I can't wait to see where this journey takes us!
Steve Trefz
 

Hello everyone, allow me to introduce myself.
Steve Trefz, 42 yrs old, Twins fan by virtue of birthplace (farm in rural NorthCentral South Dakota), of influence (Herb and John every summer evening for 3.5 hrs), and of circumstance (first World Series that I remember watching was 1987, which was also the year of the first Metrodome trip and Twins game of my life).
I have more to share when it comes to "Why the Twins?," but for now I just want to introduce where this blog is headed...literally.
26 Series
22 Stadiums
81 Games
1 Idea that I just can't shake
What started out as a dream...a vision...is now actually happening.  The original vision for this journey emerged in the winter of 2019-20.  I had planned out the travel, the cost, the ramifications of attending all 162 Twins games in person  Needless to say, 2020 would not be the year that I attended all 162 games for my favorite squad.  The reasons are legion, and obvious to all of us who have lived through the past few years.  But in the meantime, and in the present, the dream continued.  An altered quest emerged.
As a resident of Mitchell, SD, I've discovered that while I've loved having a flex-plan season ticket package off and on for the past several years, getting to Minneapolis for home games has become less and less feasible.  In many ways, every pilgrimage to Target Field serves as a reminder that while I feel at "home" at Target Field, going to all 162 essentially "away" games was not going to happen with my current life circumstance (Husband of an awesome lady, and Father of two awesome teenage boys).  The dream, however, refuses to leave me.
Enter a negotiation, a truce, a window of grace...
"All 81."  
An epic, albeit difficult, journey to be with my team out on the road.  A pledge to be present and accounted for in a Twins jersey at each of the enemy stadiums.  A quest to rekindle a love for community, and my country, after a couple of years of being isolated.  A hope for the kind of experience that might shape me for years (if not generations) to come.
Plus it should be a blast!
Stay tuned please, I would love to share this journey with you.  I plan to post every few days during the "planning" phase of the season.  Let me know as we go how far into the weeds you want me to get.  I have spreadsheets, data points, mileage and cost estimates, qualitative community assessments for the various cities and neighborhoods, etc.   I'm prepared to nerd out.   I also look forward to sharing the stories, sights, emotions, and insights that emerge from the quest.  I'm prepared to get personal.  I also look forward to a freaking division championship and a World Series run that adds another dozen or so "away" games to my list :)  I'm prepared to get medication to help with that part.
I'm going to need your help in this.  I'm starting this quest with this community in mind.  The TwinsDaily family (aka you the reader) has helped me navigate through much of the nastiness of the past few years.  It's my prayer and hope that by me going to all 81, you will be right there with me.  
Grace and peace, and thanks for reading!  Until next time,
Steve