Seasons Greetings to All

 

My friend George's house where I'll be staying for awhile.

Hope everyone had a peaceful and meaningful Holiday Season and the New Year brings you closer to realizing your deepest wishes. 

I want to thank everyone again for following my blog and giving me feedback on it thru out my journey. Doing the blog as I traveled meant I was never really alone on the trip, and knowing others were following and getting something out of the it has meant a lot to me and was also motivation to continue writing and traveling. I hope that part of all this does not end.

I still have a few posts to put in yet to finish the trip which I think you'll find interesting and how I actually got back. I also make some new friends and run into at least one old one we all met earlier on the trip. So stay tuned!

Norma (my sister) and my dad back at the AFC home.

I am sorry I have been a little behind getting these updated posts out faster, since I have gotten home just before  the holidays and am catching up on everything else it has been difficult to also do enough writing as well. So your patience is appreciated. I really hope you continue to follow the blog, if you subscribe you will get them sent to you automatically anyway, if you only check in from time to time I hope you will continue to do so. Like I said this journey in particular is not yet completed nor even the journey of the site itself, and there are some things to look forward to.

One is the actual finish of the trip itself and my last day in Mexico as well as my journey into the states. I also said I would break down the border crossings and show how much I paid going and coming, and possible strategies for us non Spanish speaking people to maybe cross them a little easier and less expensively  (there was a difference of almost $700 in price of going down and coming back). This will be done in a separate post, and I would also like to do posts on travel tips and lessons learned, as well as some of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Opening presents at my sisters in-laws house, Mary Ellen and Dick.

 Also since we all hopefully got something out of this trip and might want to give something back there is an orphanage in San Jose that is having financial problems and I'm hoping that one of the services of this site might be to advertise or raise awareness of different needs of places I visit so that maybe we can give something back in return. As of yet this site is not generating income so it can't donate anything itself, though we are planning to set up an account for the orphanage for those who would like to make private donations, myself included. I wanted to get more information on the place before I left, pictures etc. But time was limited so I'm hoping that will get set up in the near future with more details for those who may want to help.

The site itself hopefully will become more user friendly with links to different parts of the trip so people may access them easier to get at the information they want. It also will have different links to different sites of interest, whether related in travel, motorcycles, kayaks, hiking or spiritual, any link that fits in with a broad purpose of this site and an overall mission statement (yet to be fully developed!). Hopefully advertisers may come in that I can vouch for as well and may help the site generate some money. I think if the site profits off of some of the places I travel to, then it has an obligation to give something back as well.

My brother in law Bob playing Christmas carols on his harmonica for the residents at my dad's Adult Foster Care Home.

I would also like to have this trip dedicated to three very special ladies I know of, and have a dedication or remembrance for subsequent trips as well,  I will announce them later. Also announcing upcoming trips, one of which I was hoping to ride to Alaska in the near future and add that to Adventure Blogs. Of course  with the current financial problems, I like many people found out I don't have as much money as I thought I did! So what I can do will to some degree be influenced by what I can afford and have time for. With going back to school this semester and juggling everything else I hope this site doesn't get neglected and some of these goals I just listed will come about. I also hope you will stick with the site or check in from time to time. Thank you all again for your encouragement and support for my trip and the site.

I hope this finds you well and we are all able to find peace and meaning in this New Year. Part of healing and recovering ourselfs, which in these times seems to be so much of what our journey is about, Is maybe for me and this site, about a greater transparency. I think thru blogging it allows you to know me better while giving you an opportunity to express yourselfs to me and others thru the site while sharing the adventure. I think  this has happened to some degree, in fact I know it has. At some point later I will share some of the positive feed back I have received by people from all over the world, friends and family. Thank you again.

One of my goals for the New Year is greater transparency, both of who I am and of my life itself. This is not always easy. Its one thing to say you want to be honest make resolutions and embrace all aspects of who you are, it is quite another to go down and meet all these different aspects of ourselves, the dark places that also need light and love, and become whole. Greater transparency means greater light, and lets the light shine in as well as out........

A reminder from Yogi Bajhan comes to mind, If you can stay clear, stand honest and know love then God will find you, there is no need to search, he will find you..

Yours in travel and spirit...... Doug

Have a good journey in the New Year.