Not Dead Yet

Today we pick up the RV. We spent hours yesterday buying supplies. Watching videos about running the RV (a bit daunting!). Checking the weather (it doesn’t look good). We have food, drink, plans, some reservations, hikes maps downloaded to AllTrails, road maps downloaded into Google Maps.

We are headed from Salt Lake City to Moab. Our first stop weather permitting will be Canyonlands where we are planning a short, 2 mile hike on White Rim Overlook Trail. With only a 160 foot elevation gain this is our primer. We are planning our first evening in ever dispersed camping at Mineral Point and think we will need lots of time on Day 1 to set up the RV and manag our first night. Stay tuned.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.

Hello! Tom and I are 60 year olds who’ve been working and travelling our entire lives. Like many people our age, we are starting to think about retirement, or at least some sort of semi-retirement. We have five children, all adults, living respectable lives, no grand kids As we live in snowy, cold Massachusetts. One- by-one we have seen friends and family start buying homes in Florida. But we just don’t feel ready for Florida. Nothing against the warm climate, laid back life style. In our souls we believe that we there is a big chance we will end up there eventually. But right now we feel like Florida is where we will want to go when we are too tired for adventures. When researching and planning feels like too much work. When we enter the final chapter of our lives. But right now, we aren’t dead yet.

Tom and I are pretty active and plan to stay that way for as long as possible. Hiking is our activity of choice. But we are both runners, cyclists and yoga enthusiasts. Every year we plan a major adventure. Two years ago Costa Rica. Last year Spain/Portugal. This year we are hitting America’s Southwest. In an RV. Major bucket list.

We feel like there must be other people out there like us. People who love to travel but avoid tour buses and cruises. People who are active but not crazy. People with some money but who are not loaded. Who love to stay active. See new places. Live. People who are over 60 but aren’t dead yet.