A Seventh Year Gone By

Yesterday was the seventh anniversary of this site. It never ceases to amaze me that anyone would read anything that I wrote, much less having the knowledge that some of you have been doing it for so long. It’s been kind of you to stick with me through it. This has not been my most productive year, but 27 new counties resulting in the completion of a state is nothing to sneeze at. I won’t lie to you: some days it can be hard to do this. Life isn’t always accommodating, either to the hobby or the writing. But the feedback loop is still there: I cache to write and write to cache. Even more so, I don’t want to let you all down. So thank you all for enduring my words. I reaffirm that I will keep going as long as I can.

Last year, I was more jubilant. I had taken two good trips, but was despairing that I might be lacking in 150+ county years like I’ve had in the past. That trend has continued but it is tempered by another side project: going back to all the counties in Texas once again. It’s a little slow going, between recent vehicle issues and dragging around the Girls (they are the primary reason for it, after all), but I’m thinking of it as a chance to maybe see some things I missed the first time around and handle the particulars for some challenges I didn’t have in mind when I was in the right places to push them forward. I have also realized something: if I want to pull some of the numbers I used to, I need to stop going west. Those giant counties are not doing me any favors. If I want to get some work done, I need to look at the direction I have been avoiding. So maybe I’m going to be looking more eastward over the next year. But we’ll see what happens there. I’ve got a lot of planning and organizing on my plate and I’ll probably be lucky to get a couple of decent trips in the next year. But as always, hope springs eternal.

One day, I may put down my pen (or keyboard as the case may be), but that day is not today. Between Patreon, Bluesky, and the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter, you can laud me, jeer at me (yes, that has happened), or something in between. Or not. I’m not the boss of you. You may have nothing to say to me, and that’s cool, too. But the option is there and I’m more than happy to converse.

Raise your glasses, my friends! Year Seven ends! Here’s to Year Eight!