I'm Amazed

As I begin to write this blog post, the counter in the right hand column of the blog shows it has been viewed 100,061 since the counter was installed. I'm not sure when that was. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I believe it was in September and maybe in 2009. I know I began blogging in May 2006.

But over 100,000 views! I can't imagine that. My college degree was in journalism and I have been writing for school papers since junior high, for church newsletters and newspapers since the mid-1970s, and for a few general circulation newspapers in the 1960s. But I am amazed and humbled that people have come to read the blog posts more than 100,000 times. I started the blog so family and friends would know what we were doing as we traveled in our RV. But that is only a few people. The blog is listed on HitchItch.com, so most of the RVers who read it found me from there.

If you look at the other statistical information gadgets in the right column, on the ClustrMaps visitor map you will learn that 41,000+ views have come from people in the United States since that was installed in December 2010. The other 4,000+ views since then came from other countries. The Flag Counter was installed in April 2011. I don't really understand how that one works. It shows 167 flags collected from 104 countries. What countries have more than one flag?

When I look at the ClustrMaps visitor map, I see that the blog was viewed 36 times in the 24 hours ending early this morning. Unless I see that those folks are in Colorado or Arizona, I have no idea who they are. Someone in Mountain View, California, is a frequent reader. But I don't think I know them. More amazing are the foreign countries listed with that map or by the flag counter: 21 views from China, 9 from Romania and 5 from the Ukraine. The newest country to visit, according to Flag Counter, was El Salvador on Feb. 6. Someone from Croatia and someone from Botswana have read the blog.

Who are you? How do you find the blog? And who is reading this post? Why do you read my blog? What are you most interested in? I would love to hear from you. Please comment and help me to understand how and why the blog has been viewed more than 100,000 times.