Apparently I startled a few people by casually mentioning that this blog will end in about a week. I’ve talked about this on and off for the past year, but never declared a firm end date until now. Here’s the official announcement: After the Balloon Fiesta, we’ll take a couple of days to get back to Tucson, and then settle into the house that we’ve never really lived in. At that point I’ll wrap up this blog.
We aren’t about to stop traveling. We’ll do a little travel in October and December, but not enough to sustain daily blogging. I have many other projects that I want to turn my attention to in the coming months, including some refurbishing of the Airstream, and some work on the house. It will be time to start writing about something new.
Now, having written this blog for three years, I’ve become rather accustomed to it. The task of summarizing my thoughts of each day has been good practice for me as a writer, and it has resulted in an irreplaceable journal of this remarkable period of our life. Without the blog, I’d probably have forgotten half the things we’ve seen and done. It has become a public extension of me.
So I do plan to keep blogging. The question, which I have wrestled with for months, is what to write about in the future. I still don’t know. But I do know that once I have the idea, I will announce it to you so you can follow along again, if you want.
The problem is that I don’t know who most of you are! So here’s the key. To be informed of the future blog, you need to do one of two things:
- Check back on this blog regularly and look for an announcement.
- Register yourself on this blog using the link in the right column that says, “Register”. That way I can send you an email when the new blog is ready.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
The weathermen were right. Yesterday afternoon the weather steadily declined until finally around 5 p.m. some light rain arrived and the temperature dropped. We have had rain all night and although I didn’t get up before dawn again to see, I’m pretty sure the morning balloon launches were a washout.
I have no idea what went on last night because Emma got one of those unpleasant kid stomach bugs and kept us completely occupied until about 9 p.m., when she finally and very suddenly crashed in bed. We have some serious laundry to do today, and the comforter from our bed is not going to be usable for the rest of the week. (Note to other full-timers: Never buy a comforter that is “Dry Clean Only.”) This experience also reminds me why I hate carpeting in trailers — it’s very difficult to clean.
When we get back to Tucson I had already decided to completely remove the dinette and re-upholster it in some sort of easy-clean vinyl, probably the “Ultraleather” type. Ours is permanently discolored from dirty hands & feet, tomato sauce stains, and a thousand other kid-related spills. We’ve tried washing it but it just doesn’t want to come clean. The foam cushions are dead flat too, so it’s time for a makeover. This latest episode just sealed the deal. If I get really ambitious, I may even remove the entire bedroom and replace the carpeting in there with something more suitable for our lifestyle.
The loss of today from the Balloon Fiesta is not a terrible thing. We are paid through Tuesday morning, and the weather looks like it will be better on Monday, so we’ll resume that program soon. Having some errands to do in town gives us a reason to leave the grounds and see a little of Albuquerque.
If Emma feels up to it today, we’ll go to Petroglyph National Monument, which is right in Albuquerque. If not, we’ll take it easy. Given that this is our last week of full-timing, I feel like mixing in plenty of “doing nothing.” Il dolce far niente.
October 5th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
We have gotten so used to reading the blog to keep up with your family for so long that we will really be missing you! Hope you will decide to stick with it. We will miss watch litte Miss Emma grow up through your words and pictures! Tell Emma we are thinking about her and we hope that she feels better soon.
Lou and Larry
October 6th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
We will miss your blog. I have enjoyed hearing about your travels and will keep all this information for reference when we are traveling. Enjoy your time in your new home.
Claudia
October 6th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
I, too, will miss your blog. I can’t remember how long I have been reading, but I certainly have enjoyed your travels since we have not been able to get away yet. I have made note of places that I want to visit and have thoroughly enjoyed reading your blog every day. Thanks for sharing and I hope to continue reading when you start your new blog.
October 6th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
hope Emma is better by now….there is no better place for detailed information on travel by wonderful Airstream to anywhere you go….love following you guys….you are no doubt the Best….we will follow the new blog also….see you on the road….
October 7th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Time out! This is alarming news indeed. You’re a public figure . . . a role model to Airstreamers and aspiring Airstreamers everywhere.
You simply can’t stop blogging.
I wonder how long you will be able to hold back?
Hopefully not long at all.
You don’t want to loose your loyal, and hard earned, readers.
; )
We will miss you during your short break.
October 7th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Rich,
I’ll bet the reason your blog is so popular (aside from being well written, with complete sentences and all,) is that you and your family are on an adventure that most of us can only dream of, and you’re managing to do it on an astonishingly low budget.
Many people’s idea of a grand adventure, such as “we hiked down into a canyon, thirty miles from the nearest outpost of civilization, to see petroglyphs from an ancient civilization that not many people know about,” is something you would call “a Tuesday.”
You’ve been doing this for a while now, and we all enjoyed armchair-traveling with you.
Now you’re going to embark on the “adventure” most of the rest of us call “daily life” like owning (and living in!) a house, with all that entails and I wonder, how do you feel about that? Is it a disappointment, a relief, or a new adventure?
On a more practical side, almost every post you’ve made from the road made me want to go there, too. The information in this blog is a valuable travel resource. It would be awesome if there were some sort of geocoded map with waypoints that would link directly to these entries, for people to refer to while planning their OWN adventures, to get a non-biased observation of points-of-interest. It was interesting (to me) to get the GPS coordinates of wherever you were (when you posted the coordinates) and put them into Google Earth to “have a look around”.
So, I may have written too much, and if that’s the case, sorry. Best of luck!
October 8th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Rich: thanks much for the three years of blogging. I, like many other people have followed your blog religously. I even bought my own airstream in 2006. As others have commented, your adventure has become our adventure and I will miss my daily fix. I have gotten a lot of great ideas about places to go and things to see and a lot of great suggestions about camping. I subscribed to your magazine which is just outstanding. Incidentially, I ordered my airstream without any carpet. I can’t tell you how many times I have been glad I did.
I will keep watching for updates and hope to see you at some of the airstream rallys just down the road and over the next hill.