Hello and welcome back for part 8 of this 8 part review of our first-year anniversary of travel and blogging . If you have been following along we hope we you were able to laugh a bit at just some of the many lessons learned over the first year of our travels.
What a big, wide, wonderful world it is out there in these United States, so many small towns with kind and generous people, and then there is blogging cyberspace. We had no idea when we started blogging what an enormous, warm, enriching community was out there. We had this idea of putting our stories out there but what we didn’t think about was the wonderful world of fellow bloggers sharing their stories.Thank you for sharing.
Some of you may be curious how the numbers crunch out in summary of our year blogging and being on the road. We logged 286 posts, had folks from 104 countries looking at our site, received 5,532 comments, 38,000 views on posts, drove approximately 20,000 miles, visited and talked with folks in 28 states, experienced elevations ranging from sea level to 6,700 feet above sea level, expended approximately 2,000 gallons of gasoline, received 5 oil changes, encountered temperatures between minus 5 to plus 100 degrees above zero (minus 20 to plus 37 degrees Celsius), drove through blinding snow storms, camped in over 36 inch deep snows, drove through torrential rain storms, survived 3 incidents of food poisoning and, the best part of it all, was neither one of us wanted to throw the other or Emma out the window!
Now we’d say this has been a successful year, wouldn’t you? We are so excited about what this new year will bring and look forward to meeting and learning from more wonderful folks like you as we continue to explore the USA Through Our Eyes. Thank you all once again for your support and encouragement.
Well hope you’ll return for more in the year ahead.









It’s my pleasure sir and ma! More strength to your elbow.
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Thank you Peter. It is always special when we come across moments like this.
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I’m happy for you because you’re productively using your time at that age to positively impact people. More strength to your elbow.
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Thank you Peter. The year pass quickly and as they do joy fills us more and more! So glad you are along with us.
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Happy Anniversary! More better years to come. Best regards!
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Sounds like a really awesome thing to do!!
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Thank you. It was an incredible year of fun learning, growing and building relationships with so many folks.
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Wow those are quite some numbers you did in a year with your blog. I know what you mean about the blogging community, it’s so great to be a part of it. Blessings!!
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It sure is 🙂
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What a great testament to the quality of a Toyota!
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Yes, isn’t that something. No matter how careful one is things happen. Character building moments, lol. Yes, our first journey was in a 2002 Toyota Camry with 250 thousand miles on it. We look back and smile at the roads we traveled and the hills and valleys we ascended and descended. We were fully prepared that at any moment we would be leaving the exhausted car at a vehicle graveyard but to our excitement didn’t have too. Just before moving here to Florida we gifted it to a family at the church and it’s still going!!!!!
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Three food poisonings? Aurgh! I’m enjoying Audrey’s tip to click on the photo matrix to view each photo in its own window. Great tip!
Did I read that you started in a Celica? When did you transition to Daisy? Love to hear more about that. Happy Fall!
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🙂
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Thank God indeed for resilience — and for Imodium, too. 🙂 And thank YOU for always posting such wonderful photos and stories. It’s truly a pleasure to follow along, and I’m honored my comments encourage you to keep going. xx
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You are so kind Koko. We learn so much from each person we encounter and we thank you for being one of them. You always encourage us and that is so refreshing.
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You are so right Heide about doing well given the 100’s of places we visited and meals we enjoyed. Food is a favorite of ours and one never knows whether at home or on the road when something won’t settle well, lol. Thank God for resilience. You are a precious follower Heide. Your continual positive encouragement keeps us moving forward.
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I was horrified to read that you got food poisoning three times … but then realized you did quite well for yourselves, considering how much ground you’d covered. What a wonderful recap of an amazing year, Tom and Audrey! I’m so grateful to live in an age where I can follow along vicariously and see this beautiful country of ours through your eyes. You give me hope for the future.
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Your blog makes me want an adventure of my own! 🙂
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Hi Anindya. Its great hearing from you. Yes, we were off the grid for about a year with lots of great stuff happening in our lives. It feels good to be back again. We’re looking forward to following along with you!!!
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It is fun getting out and about and relating to and with the many folks that make this country great.
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It is great to learn of all your adventures. Reminds me of Charles Kuralt’s “On the Road.” I am so glad you continue to enjoy the journey.
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It is great to read about your amazing journey….I remember I used to follow your blog regularly last year, but somewhere we lost the touch….I shifted to self hosting and started new since :)…..your stories are inspirational for all and hope to read many more of such in the future from your journeys…
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