Hi Everyone;

The last few days I’ve been feeling a blog post coming on.  While there isn’t to terribly much to write about, I’m pretty sure I will end up writing more than I think I will.  Please read the whole post…or just skip to the bottom and leave a comment whether you think you would enjoy reading old posts from my preparation phase.  These posts were written between December 2016 and end of July, 2017 and initially published while I was still using Google Blogger.  I could also (after catching up with posting those) republish my very old posts from my trip to India (in 2011).  But this is all in the last paragraph.  LET ME HEAR YOU!!!  😀

The first week after getting home was great.  I got to catch up with friends and family.  I spent time applying to some jobs, contemplated where in the world I want to be, what I want to do, and just generally considering and mulling over major adult decisions.

Weeks two and three were when reality really started pounding on my door but I was still enjoying having time off.  I was, and still don’t, feel completely ready to commit to any one job or location when thinking long-term.  How am I going to make this work?  I can’t just bum around my parent’s house for the rest of my life.  I rode my bike a bit (in between wheel spokes breaking).

Week four was when I would have to actively think and come up with something to do during the day.  That’s when I was more ready and accepting the fact that I needed a job, and fast.

Well, I ended up getting a great job right in my hometown.  This is my fourth week working, and it’s going really well so far.  I’m staying with the family for the time being in order to pump up my savings account which, over the 10 months has had nothing but outflow… no influx.  It is nice to have money coming in again.  I am very blessed and thankful.

My road bike had some technical issues and so I had to sink a good chunk of money into it.  But I can’t complain really.  I’ve had the bike since 2012 and while I don’t ride thousands of miles, I have ridden it a lot over the last 6 years and so it was due for some upgrades.  I bought a set of brand new wheels (a sweet pair of Fulcrum racing wheels), two new tires, and various adjustments and maintenance.  Thankfully, my bike is now road-ready and I’ve been biking more miles than ever before.  My last ride, this past Saturday, was my first ride over 50 miles (52.2 miles).  The weather was perfect and I felt really strong almost the whole way!  It was awesome!

I’ve gotten myself onto a regimen of cycling and rock climbing.  Trying to keep the fitness level I had built myself up to with all the walking and hiking I was doing while in New Zealand and Europe.  But I’m losing it relatively (not) slowly.  😦 .  I knew it would happen though.  It’s ok… three weeks trekking in Nepal in April next year should help that.  Plus I will keep up my exercise regimen as much as possible.  That’s all I can do.

What else…. Oh yea.  I bought a new MacBook Pro!  My last computer (a Macbook) has served me well for 8 years.  I bought it in 2009 while I was in college.  It still works and I will hang on to it, but it is aggravatingly slow at everything!  And when Dad says that’s old enough and to go get a new computer, well… then it really must be time to get a new computer!  😀 .

Oh yes!  On June 25th, I gave a one-hour presentation at the Canastota Public Library.  I had drafted a “traveling how to” presentation and pulled out 45 of my favorite photos (out of 10,000+ photos) to go through.  I had friends and family who weren’t able to attend in person but wanted to watch and so I did Facebook and Instagram live video streams of my presentation!  It was pretty cool!  The presentation went really well!  The initial nerves that I was feeling when I first started the presentation went away once I started going through photos and in a sense reliving some of my favorite memories.

I put together a collage of some of my favorite selfies while traveling.  It put it together on a day that I was reminiscing a lot (brought on my showing pictures to some family).  Don’t get me wrong, I love showing pictures and talking about my trip. It just makes me really want to travel again!!

Couple other things to tell you.  I bought a poster-sized scratch-off world map!  It’s pretty cool.  I’ve scratched off the countries that I’ve visited so far and it currently hangs above my bed.

Also – I wrote my first travel advice document for someone who was following my blog and wanted advice for traveling the south island of New Zealand!  It was so exciting!  Thanks for being my first “client” Amanda!

So – now, to test how many people are still reading my blog, I need some feedback!  I switched to this WordPress blogging platform almost a year ago, right before I left for the road trip out west.  But, I had been writing about my preparations and other stuff on another platform starting in late 2016.  I am considering reposting those “preparation phase” here on WordPress.  I also wrote some blog posts about my trip to India (a short-term study abroad trip that I did right after college graduation; I suppose I could post those as well.  Is there any interest?  Even if there isn’t, I think I will post them… want to keep my blog alive even if it is in a slower mode than during active traveling.