One of the obstacles to trip blogging is that it takes so much time; time that has to be budgeted for, time during the part of my day when I still have energy and a reasonably functioning brain. There’s a lot of competition for that kind of time at this stage of my life, so blogging often is what drops off my agenda in favor of got-to’s or get-to’s.
But today is a scheduled rest day, so I’m going to try to catch up a bit with blogging. We’ll see how far I get: I’m now nicely ensconced at Joshua Trees National Park, a little slice of protected land sandwiched between a couple of freeways. In terms of catching up: Pinnacles (two nights, with friends), King City (one night), Pismo Beach, (three nights), and getting here (two driving days). If I don’t get all that done today, I’ll fall further behind, because tomorrow is sightseeing in the park. And there’s an unexpected got-to for today—doing something about this:
More about that later. If I get that far😁.
So. Pinnacles.
Pismo Beach
Drive to Joshua Trees NP
Joshua Trees NP
JTNP to Tucson
It’s all about the Saguaro
Well, so much for that
Humph. I started this, let’s see, ten days ago (I think), and you can see how much I haven’t gotten done. When I started, I put in the list of headings just to remind me later of what I wanted to write about. At that point, the list stopped at “The drive Joshua Trees NP”; it has grown ever longer, and will continue to do so today, when “The Desert Museum” will be added. So, what I’ve decided to do is post this, with nothing but the headings, hoping that SOMEDAY I will get SOME of the content under the headings included in future posts.
Obviously the big barrier to catching up is simply that we keep on keeping on, doing something new each day. Another is my ever-diminishing energy. In my old age, the amount of time during which I have sufficient energy to get things done in a given day, especially anything that requires any level of creativity or judgement at all, is very limited. Consequently, I prioritize got-to’s, with get-to’s coming next on the agenda. Posting is a mere want-to, and as such, isn’t getting done. And finally—I failed to budget separately for blogging when planning our itinerary. I have learned the importance of budgeting for showers, laundry, and rest days. It never occurred to me that I needed to budget separately for blogging. Let this be a lesson for future trips.
Today is a get-to. Moving on . . .
I’m a quick blogger but adding photos can be time consuming, especially since typepad can be a pain about doing it. I’ll be taking an at least 9 day blog break when John and I are in Texas to see the eclipse. I won’t have my laptop and refuse to blog from my iPhone. The main thing is that you’re having a great time. You could take some notes about what you want to write about afterward? That’s sometimes what I do. Or I let the pictures tell the story. Are you stuck in that photo? Oh, dear.
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My takeaway from this is: “Bookmark and watch this space!” At least you’re having a good time. That comes through. I understand the feeling of obligation that a blogger has to his or her audience, but as you’ve figured out, your audience will be fine if you put other priorities than blogging first.
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Just keep enjoying the trip. That’s what counts. Ever thought of an old-fashioned notebook and pen to jot down ideas and points to remember for blogging later?
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Ah, but chances are I’d either lose the piece of paper, or jot down OTHER things on the same page and it would get too messy. I suppose listing things I haven’t written about in a post might be annoying to readers—vaguebooking writ large—but it’s there, it’s clear, and maybe, who knows, I might actually write about some of them eventually.
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