Reaching One Thousand

So, while I wasn't thinking about it, my 1000th post posted, and this is my 1005th! I'm not sure, really, what to say about this — although I'm also sure I'll think of something — other than Yay!!

I didn't have a particular number of posts or length of time in mind as a goal when I started blogging in earnest back in early 2008 (earlier posts and some early 2008 posts were taken from a defunct site that I had kept offline before I fully transferred to Blogger on February 29th, 2008 — leap day). Read more about my early blogging here on my 5th "Blogger-versary" post, which has links for visiting (or revisiting) more categories than reviewed below.

My original idea for blogging was to convey the life of a mineral exploration geologist and also, ultimately, to post some of my exploration stories, stories which are kept mostly on bits of paper and in old computer files under the bland and misleading title of Mojave Exploration. I have, however, found through my blogging years that I can't really reveal much of my life as an exploration geologist (my current life), because most of what I do is confidential. Additionally, the professional and geographic world in which I live and work is small, and while intending to remain largely anonymous (and certainly pseudonymous), many stories and specifics lend themselves to fairly easy recognition of who I am. In fact, I have been picked out by three people that I know of (two are long-standing friends/colleagues; a third was someone I didn't know at the time but who nevertheless managed to identify me). So I write mostly about things I see on various road trips: those near and far, often those current (recently current) or recent, sometimes those from long ago.

As for the Mojave Exploration stories and files, some of these have been posted here, first beginning with the Highway 8A series — a loose series, not really a continguous batch of posts as linked to with the 8A tag, because the tag includes field trips in and around Big Smoky Valley and other parts of old 8A, including part of the Winnemucca-to-the-Sea Highway — but do see my Highway 8A page for a list of at least some of these posts (I think it's current). You can also find some of the old stories under the tag old times. One of these includes an introductory post about being left out overnight by a helicopter (not the final word, which hasn't been written or at least hasn't been posted here); another is the post about the Mt. St. Helens field trip. A few of the old stories can also be found in one particular set of series, wherein I started running through the 1978 field season, getting as far as mid-June, perhaps.

I've also posted a few other series over the years, including the Highway 50 roadside geology series. Roadside geology posts are generally linked to under tags for the particular road, highway, or interstate, and also under the broad roadside tag. Tags for particular highways, for example the I-80 tag and highway 50 tag, will include non-geological posts related to that road or highway, as will the roadside tag.

Anyway, I have and have not met my original goals for this blog, and I've found along the way that I prefer tying most posts to photos, which for me generally slows down my posting rate.

And the road goes on...

     The Road goes ever on and on

         Down from the door where it began.

     Now far ahead the Road has gone,

        And I must follow, if I can,

     Pursuing it with eager feet,

        Until it joins some larger way

     Where many paths and errands meet.

        And whither then? I cannot say.

                ...J.R.R. Tolkien, LOTR