Friday, January 04, 2013

Why Do I Blog?

Why do I write this blog? I began in May 2006 as we started our trip to the Canadian Maritime Provinces. I wanted to keep a good record of our travels and I wanted to provide a way for our family and friends to keep in touch with what we were doing and where we were. That year we were out in the RV 203 nights (some of it before I started blogging) and I wrote 15 posts.

In 2007, we were out 238 nights and I wrote 40 posts. At the end of January 2009, we moved out of our house and went on the road full time. That year, I wrote 91 posts. In the year just completed, I posted 222 blogs, including 107 during our trip through Canada and Alaska.

We get a printed book of the blog posts each year. For 2012, there will be two books--really our scrapbooks--one on the Alaska trip and the second for the rest of the year. Earlier this week, I ordered the second book.

The blog started out as a personal record and a way to keep in touch with family and close friends. It is still that. I also have found a renewed pleasure in writing. My college degree is in journalism, so writing to describe events has always been something I enjoy. But I hadn't done much writing for years. I find I look at life through the lens of the blog--including pictures, picture captions and blog title.

Blogging also has helped us make friends as we move around the country. I read blogs by other RVers, they read mine. We comment back and forth on each others' blogs. And sometimes, we meet for lunch and to share experiences. These virtual friends become flesh and blood friends. This community is important when we don't live in a stationary community.

All of this is the fun and rewarding part of blogging. Except for the time we spent going to and from Alaska this summer, I have never blogged daily. So I don't write about the mundane daily events. And I haven't found much interesting in the past four days to write about. We have now stayed in this Mesa resort five times. There isn't something new every day or two and I hate to write year after year about the same events. We don't need that for our scrapbooks and I doubt if others want to read about it. I guess we will have to find something exciting to do so I can blog about it.

We did go geo-caching today and found three of the caches we hunted for and didn't find another three. That is something we haven't done for nearly two years. We hope to do it more often.

2 comments:

  1. A good writer is a rare bird these days, and you should be commended for sharing your gift. Count me as a fan!

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  2. We too started blogging so our family and friends can pop in at any given time and "join" us as we travel.
    The blogging started few years after we started Rving in 2002 ,so I did some catching up in short of previous years ,but now we are more "professional" (not like you ) in this matter.
    I have recommended your blog on the Alaska trip to RVers that were seeking information,as it is very detailed and helpful.
    In summer we will be in Wisconsin and Missouri,we have to meet one day.

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