If travel evokes images of moving from place to place and seeing new things without a care in the world, then what I’ve been doing during the last two week since I’ve gotten back to the US has to be the opposite of travel.
I’ve been living in my parents basement, visiting my father in the hospital every day, terrified of my phone ringing because it might bring bad news. No exploration, no foreign places, and very weighty concerns hanging over my head. My grandmother has been to the emergency room twice and even my great aunt fell down and had to undergo surgery on her hip.
I looked at the front page of my site yesterday and saw I had three episodes of my podcast on the front page. Considering that I only show five articles on the front page and I post the podcast once a week, that is pretty sad.
So, in addition to not traveling, I’m also not blogging. Probably not a good thing for a travel blog….
As much as I don’t want to be here under these circumstances, I am trying to make the best of it. If you have to be in Wisconsin, this is the perfect time of year to be here. The weather has been wonderful and everything is green. When I was last here in January I left in the middle of a snow storm.
Last weekend I attended my first Milwaukee Brewer game in almost 30 years with Robert Cole. It was also my first trip to Miller Park. A few weeks ago when I was in Bilbao, Spain I visited their soccer stadium and realized how little attention tourists pay to sports, yet how important sports are to locals. Visiting stadiums and sporting events is something I am going to try to do more of in the future. If someone were to visit me here in Wisconsin, the first place I would probably take them would be Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packer Hall of Fame.
I have about a dozen articles mostly or partially written. I just haven’t had the motivation to finish them since I’ve gotten here.
My dad has gotten much better, but he is still in the ICU and is going to have to have major surgery sometime next week. I don’t foresee me taking many side trips while that is still hanging over my head.
My current plan is to drive to TBEX and visit DC and Philly on my way to New York. I have no idea what I’m going to do with my car for a week in New York, however.
I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during the last few weeks, and for sticking by me during this inactive period for the website. Believe it or not, I’ve actually set records for traffic and subscribers since all this stuff started. Go figure….