Notes from the Road- My First Post

I've been working on this damnable site for a week and I guess it's time to "go live".   I'm sure it's filled with grammatical errors and typos.  I know it's poorly written and needs editing.  I suppose I'll spend more time doing that so bear with me or, better yet, ignore the writing and go straight to the pictures!  Ha!

The first question is what kind of an ego must a person have to create their own website?  The truth is there may not be a damn soul in the world that cares about what I say, do, or think.  I'm OK with that.  In fact, I'm actually GOOD with that. The point of this site is to share with friends, family, and others who might have a passion or even passing interest in traveling the West.  I'll journal often from the road and occasionally from home.  Much of the personal material will be specifically directed at my family who, I am presumptuous enough to believe, actually do care just as I care about what's going on with them.  Even cooler? Nobody ever is required to visit this site.  Don't like it? C'est la vie!  

I am hopeful that someone from Twitter or elsewhere might stumble across this spot in cyberspace and I'll find a few fellow travelers and lovers of the West.  I'm also hopeful that I can help others with my passion for traveling through professional consultation.  

Some topics I'm considering for future posts are: 

• How did I fall in love with the West?
• Where am I headed next? Why there?
• How do I plan for my trips?  Why ALL that research?
• Southwestern Rock Art
• Native Americans of the Southwest
• Books I'm reading and want to read.
• Music I'm listening to and using for playlists on the road
• Literature of the West
• My heroes; Edward Abbey and Everett Ruess
• Southwestern Art
• Museums of the West
• Flora and Fauna of the Southwest
• My lost friends
• Politics of The West
• The joy my family brings
• Twitter accounts and travel blogs I subscribe to
• Sports
• Hiking
• Campground reviews
• Camping equipment reviews
• Motorcycle travel & camping 
• Fishing
• Meditation
• How can I help make your trips even better?
• Kindred souls on the road

My next post will describe my next trip starting in a few days.  I'm headed to Four Corners and the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado.  Lucky me.

Explore the site.  The narrative may be repetitive and dull but there are some pretty cool pictures.  You can comment on this and all posts if you desire.  It is my hope that this site will encourage you to get out and see the natural world around you.

I'll leave with the words of Ed Abbey:

One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am — a reluctant enthusiast... a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.