2010's In The Books

Before I get into my last post for 2010, a few housekeeping notes:

First, Dar has been working feverishly and, as of yesterday, achieved her goal of having all the photos from our 2010 explorations uploaded to our online photo collection. Due to our pace of travel the past few weeks we were often adding more pictures to the pile than could be processed into online albums. But, for the most part, they're up there now for your viewing pleasure. We arrange our photos in albums, each one focuses on a specific subject or exploration day. The albums are arranged in reverse chronological order -- the most recent right at the top.

Second, I fell behind a little too. Yesterday, I went back to December 23rd and added a long post about our travels to Terlingua and the Road to Presidio. This post is titled "Kosmic Kafes, Ghost Towns, and Mystery Lights". I hope you'll check it out.

And third, I've gone back to a number of posts from the past month or so and added photos... sometimes replacing public domain photos from the internet... and other times just to add color and spice to otherwise bland posts.

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Now for some thoughts about our past year. As of today, we've completed three and a half years of living this fulltiming lifestyle. The passage of time and the experience gained from actually doing it can produce unique or different perspectives on the subject. This is one that's been rolling around in my mind for a while.

We spend one night in some places... three months in others. This kind of flexibility is one of the great features of the lifestyle. I think I'd even go further... and say the variety in our length of stays really adds to the overall enjoyment of the lifestyle. I've often said this about the weather... that you must experience the extremes to really appreciate the mean. Unless you've sweltered in hot humid weather... and have frozen your cojones off in sub-zero arctic-like conditions... unless you've weathered the torrential downpours and snowstorms on the one hand... and have dealt with drought on the other... you really won't appreciate and enjoy the wonderful weather in the middle... the normal, the average, the mean.

Well, our travel is a lot like that. We love moving and exploring... but we also love staying in one place with family and friends. We love coming home... but we also love leaving home. I don't know that we'd enjoy exploring as much if we were doing it all the time. You may need those down times to absorb, to read, to plan, to be with people you love.

For our family, and for us, 2010 was a pretty good year. Other than a few more aches and pains here and there, we've gotten through the year in reasonably good health. Most of us are dealing with the sour economy and, so far, getting through it OK. I'm hopeful, and confident, that we're, all of us, flexible enough to survive any curve balls thrown our way in the future.

So, I guess that's a wrap. 2010 is in the books. This is the final post for the year. Dar and I wish everyone a healthy and happy 2011.

Dar and Thom