I Did NOT Drop Off the Face of the Earth! - Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Well, well, well, look who's here! It's been quite a while since my last blog. This is my first blog in 2020! I've definitely been busy. There are all kinds of excuses I can come up with for why I haven't done my blog. 

I spent the last few days looking through photos from our eight-month trip and I am energized to write again. My writing mojo is back. 

Since it's today and there are some exciting things happening in my life right now, I am going to share those first. You all know walking is my passion and AVA: America's Walking Club (Volksmarching) is where I put my energy. 

So, I will be presenting a seminar at the Escapees Escapade RV rally in Rock Springs, Wyoming in June. The title is, "Are You Ready to Walk?" My co-presenter will be Steve Sandridge, AVA Rocky Mountain Deputy Regional Director, AVA Life Member, and a member of the Falcon Wanderers Volksmarch Club out of Colorado Springs, Colorado. Both of us have lots of experience in Volksmarching. I am also an AVA Life Member, a member of the Randolph Roadrunners Volkssport Club in San Antonio, Texas, and have been a Volksmarcher for 23 years. (That's 750 events and almost 7,500 kilometers! These feet are made for walking and that's just what they do...) 

Today, I was approved by Escapees RV Club to start an Escapees "Birds of a Feather" (BoF) group called AVA: America's Walking Club. We will have events a couple of times per year and the members are encouraged to take part in any of the other AVA walks nationwide (and in Canada). It seems like a perfect pairing: people RVing across North America, many of whom love to walk or hike, being able to find ready-made walks. Personally, for our eight-month RV trip, we planned many stops because there was an interesting walk there, e.g., Watkins Glen State Park in New York, and part of the Appalachian Trail in Baxter State Park, Maine. The list goes on and on!

Another great honor is that I will have my second article published in the May/June issue of Escapees full-color glossy magazine. (My first article was in 2016.) That will tie in perfectly with the seminar in June! It's all coming together. [This is to let you know I didn't completely stop writing.]

On January 26, we celebrated my BFFs 60th birthday at The Melting Pot in San Antonio. It was awesome. Many years have passed since the last time Bob and I ate at a Melting Pot. The food was so good, as was the company. Here is photographic evidence.

Susan and Darren anticipating our dessert:
a Rocky Road fondue.

The grand finale...setting the chocolate fondue ablaze.

Completely satisfied with our dinner!

Tomorrow, a number of us in AVA: America's Walking Club are spending the day stuffing bags for the Texas Trail Roundup (TTR)/ International Marching League (IML) event the weekend of February 21-23 in San Antonio. I will be stuffing bags from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and then attending our TTR planning meeting from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Next Monday, 12 ladies from the RV park are going on a five-day Carnival Dream cruise from Galveston, Texas, to the Yucatan Peninsula and Cozumel, Mexico. My roommate will be Peri who I met at an RV-Dreams Rally in 2012. We've been great friends ever since. Can't wait! It's been cold, dreary, and rainy in San Antonio for the past couple of weeks (with a few 80-degree days thrown in to confuse us).

Our friends Jim and Peri. 

In other news, Mom is doing very well in assisted living. She turns 90 in March and Bob and I will fly to Oregon to spend a week with family. We'll take Mom to dinner on her birthday. She doesn't want a big party.

At the end of March, Susan Medlin and I will do a walking weekend in Memphis/ Germantown, Tennessee. It looks like it will be a fun time complete with a Happy Hour one evening. 

No dust gathering on these fingers or my brain. I just have to put fingers to keyboard and get all my thoughts out here. 

Travel Bug out.

My Apologies - Tuesday, February 5, 2019

In looking back at my blog, I notice I haven't posted since December. Yikes! Where does the time go? To be accurate, two blogs were started, but are still drafts. 

Yes, we have been on a couple of trips. And, yes, they were fun, educational, and exciting. 

However, with Bob taking a break from work, we're planning an epic trip. That has taken my time away from blogging. But, oh, the places we'll see! Life is good.

In January, I went from blonde to brunette/reddish brown. I took this step so I wouldn't have to spend a lot of money getting my hair color done on vacation. Bob and I are still getting used to it. 

The 'gator bench got me in West Monroe, LA!

Blogging is still important to me and I have to catch up. It will be like writing a novel.

If you follow me on Google+ or write comments on my blog from Google+, you won't be able to do that anymore because Google+ is going away. You will need to go directly to my blog at https://travelbug-susan.blogspot.com to comment. I think this is set to happen in April. Google said not enough individuals use Google+ and there were security concerns. They will keep Google+ for business, however. All Google+ accounts will be deleted.

I will not be writing my old blogs in any particular order, just as the muse strikes. The blogs will be in chronological order in blogger, though. You can find all my old blogs going back to 2011 in the right-hand column of my blog.

So just a few notes about what's been going on and what to expect. Our plan is to go to the Escapees Escapades RV Rally in Tucson in March, visit relatives in Phoenix, and then head out to the Northeast. "On the way there," we will go to Hot Springs, Arkansas; Memphis, Nashville, and Chattanooga, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; Columbia, South Carolina; Raleigh, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia, and surrounds; Dover, Delaware; Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland; Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Hershey, and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; Trenton, New Jersey; New York City, West Point, Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes, Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Ithaca, and Albany, New York -- at that point we'll be in upstate New York and exploring the Northeast.

Two conventions will fall into our timeline and were the catalyst that started this whole adventure:

• In June, we will go the American Volkssport Association (AVA) convention in Albany, New York. That is the walking club I belong to. They will have ten pre-convention, convention, and post-convention walks over the course of eight days from Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Buffalo, New York.
• In October, Washington, D.C. will again host the International Marching League convention (a sister to the AVA). Susan Medlin and I went to this in 2018. Now I can share it with Bob.

In addition, we're hoping to time fall colors right starting in Maine and working our way south. There will also be a few 5k/10k Appalachian Trail walks as well. 

We're hoping this trip exceeds our 2014 vacation to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for fall colors. Both of us are so excited to get started.

This should be the start of many more blogs. Enjoy your day.

Why I Blog - Monday, May 2, 2016

"If you don't turn your life into a story, you just become a part of someone else's story."                                                                                                    ~Terry Pratchett, novelist (28 Apr 1948-2015)

I read the above quote on Anu Garg's "A.Word.A.Day" daily email and it got me to thinking, "Wow, that is so true!"

Because of the quote, my mind turned introspective. The number one reason I blog is to keep a record of what we're doing, thinking, how we're feeling, where we've been, where we're going, and friends we meet along the way.

Here's my current list of why I blog:

1. To keep a record of our lives (so we can go back and remember all the cool things we've done, places we've been and people we've met - we're not going to be young forever)
2. To write what I'm feeling
3. To showcase photos I've taken
4. To connect with other bloggers
5. To keep my writing skills sharp
6. To highlight other blogs and bloggers when they write a great blog
7. To tell stories - happy, sad, family-related, pet-related
8. To share great quotes
9. To inspire people who "wannabe" full-time RVers, show them how it's done, give tips
10. To learn from other people's blogs -bloggers share a common love of writing and sharing thoughts and ideas.

Why do you blog?