For My 75th Year

Yesterday was my birthday. Every year I try to do something I have not done before. Looking back, I can't think of anything I did that was new last year. My memory isn't what it used to be but it seems like I simply re-play or revise my previous activities. Not that I didn't take on challenges. Learning to use a new internet server, along with Wi-Fi, coordinating forums for church. But nothing I did this past year was as challenging as learning Greek!

I set this blog up so you could keep track of my travels. I don't know just when I hatched this plan to travel to the north/northwest. Whenever I think of something I would enjoy doing, genealogy research always comes to mind, along with visiting with friends and relatives. So, making best use of the time and health that I have, it seemed like a now-better-than-later idea.

My itinerary for the trip is very long and has many stops; it has no dates attached, only a possible sequencing of places to visit. That's the main reason for this blog, so you can keep track of where I am. I may decide after several weeks of traveling that I have had enough and return home without finishing the itinerary.

I guess I figured if the trip was to come off, things would fall into placeo or else the obstacles would be great enough so that it was not worth the effort. So far things seem to be going along okay. I've got someone to care for the lawn and the flowers, someone to pick up my mail, passed off necessary info to church friends, put the newspaper and Netflix on hold and spent hours pulling maps and phone numbers off the internet. The car is serviced and ready; it is time to start the checklist.

Usually when I go on a research trip I have a limited number of days so I spend most of my time in libraries or courthouses. This time I shall try to take time to "smell the roses" along the way. I'm taking good books, my journal and this admonition stuck to my dash "Remember to take a day off."