But, as I sit here a couple days after my return, it has more than been confirmed that I LOVE the lifestyle of a traveler. My travels were amazing to me. I had so much fun finding the places, talking to the people, publishing to this blog.
The underlying purpose of this trip was also to check out the viability of this blog on the road. Would I actually publish in a timely manner? Would I be able to find internet access? Can I blog like this be a real source of income? And of course the more mundane questions. Can I be sleep in my truck? Will I be able to keep clean, find bathrooms when needed? Happily, I think all answers are a resounding YES, with only a couple of qualifiers.
I will write another post about living in the truck on the road. There were a few challenges, yes, but overall, it was great. I did cheat, however, as I stayed in motels on some nights. Because I work for Motel6 and get half off rooms there, it was tough to justify not spending the $20 to have a bed/shower/toilet & internet access!
This blog is truly a joy. I am enjoying writing and posting almost as much as I enjoy visiting these people and places. Changes need to be made, but it will always be evolving I think and hopefully the changes will be viewed as improvements. I certainly had "favorite" places that I visited and I think it showed in the posts that were published. In review, there are some posts that are definitely more interesting than others. The interesting ones are my favorites obviously.
It also turns out that I enjoyed the people so much more than I thought. I anticipated the blog would be solely about the sites. Instead, my favorites are the ones where I encountered people there. In the future, I think that people will take a bigger focus. Bob Skelding, Wagonteamster was visited twice!!! You can find those articles here and here and his website here.
Alvie Cole, the rancher with all the "stuff" on his ranch was an absolute joy to talk to. At 89 years old, he was filled with stories and insight that I found amazing. The hour and a half I spent in the rocking chair on his porch with him and "Freckles" the dog was a highlight. That post is here.
And from a place near where I grew up, Findlay, Illinois, the "Goat Tower" had to be one of the most interesting visits I had. It was certainly more interesting because I got to meet the property owner and hear stories about his tower and a couple other interesting things on his property. That post is here.
As I was just inserting photos here, other stories kept popping up... turns out I loved them all!
But, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge one person and website that wasn't visited. In fact, I've never met this guy, but he is one of the major reasons I'm going to become a "vagabonder." He goes by "Tioga-George" and he has been traveling fulltime in his RV for seven years now. His experiences on the road and as a blogger inspired me to find a way to be on the road full time. He proves that it can be done. His amazing website (and you really need to explore it quite a bit, there's a TON of information and stories here) is here.
In the end, I will be continuing to visit odd and unusual locations and blogging them here. They may not come at the rapid fire pace of the last three week (over 30 posts in 21 days) but it will be often (maybe a few times a week with visits, but more often with reflections).
Thank you all so much for reading and clicking an ad or two occasionally.
Joe
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I have learned that after the newness of any adventure it comes down to the people
ReplyDeleteCan you please change the type and background color. Reading gray letters on black is very hard.
ReplyDeleteIt was never NOT about people, it is just taking me a little time to learn that I might have under rated people's importance to the blog!!!
ReplyDelete