Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to wish all of you a very Happy Hanukkah and a Merry Christmas from me! I feel very fortunate to be home for the holidays this year and happy to celebrate with friends and family. I’ve got two new babies in my close friends network, so it has been amazing to see them start out on their journeys. I also had a great opportunity to go visit my brother for a week in New Hampshire and see his beautiful new home. We got two feet of snow when I was there, so I have gotten my shoveling in for the year. With any luck I’ll be very far south of where I am now before any more snow hits. It was truly beautiful and amazing to see, but I also remember why I tend to avoid the cold weather.
I’ve been home for a little over a month now and I’m finally starting to feel like I’m catching up on all the things that I need to do before setting out again. I’ve been to the doctor and the dentist, seen a lot of old friends and gotten to catch up with my family and help out around the house. I’ve also been hard at work on all of my projects and am starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel. You can check out these updated photo galleries to see some of the progress I’ve been making:
I’ve also been putting together my first Alabama podcast which is only about 6 months late! It is finally done and now I only have one more to do before that project is (basically) up to date. It’s hard to believe that this is Episode 20! In this episode I will tell you stories about the band Alabama, Olympic Gold Medalist Jesse Owens, Moonshiner Clyde May, Novelist Harper Lee and Miss America Deidre Downs. The music in this episode comes Henry “Gip” Gipson. You may remember that I wrote a post about Gip’s Place - Alabama’s last juke joint (you can read it HERE). Sadly, Mr. Gip passed away at the beginning of October, so this episode is dedicated to him. You can listen to or download it here, or by searching “American Anthology” wherever you get your podcasts (now including Spotify).
I’ve also had the chance to get some prints of my photos made, just to see what some of the different products out there look like when I’m holding them in my hands. I need to find a way to better monetize this project, so I hope to be offering some sort of prints soon. Stay tuned for more on that. It is really nice to see how well many of these came out, and really made me smile. Guess what my family got for Christmas this year haha!
I’ve also been putting out the Best Of… series on my Instagram (@miles2gobeforeisleep), and trying to build an audience there as I share my favorite photos from the first 10 states I visited on this project. If you know people who might like my photos and use Instagram, please help me out and pass along my user name to them.
Other than that, I’ve been attempting to read, hit the gym every day and enjoy some quiet evenings at home. I need to start getting some work done on Shadow Catcher in preparation for my January departure. I’ll be heading south early in the New Year with the hopes of getting through Mississippi, Texas and New Mexico this winter. I’m starting to do some real research on what to see and do in Mississippi at the moment, and I’m starting to get excited about being back on the road and taking new photos and seeing new places and, of course, sharing all of that with you. If you have any thoughts on Mississippi or anything I should see and/or do when I am there, please comment below!
That’s it for now. I will definitely get back to y’all next week before the New Year, and then it will be in the final countdown leading up to my Departure 2.0 in 2020.
A very Happy Holidays to all of you out there, wherever you are. If you are reading this, I’m very grateful to have you along for the ride and I’m looking forward to a happy and productive New Year for us all.
Cheers!
-Mike