Many questions were asked as to why I shut down the Rockstar blog, and I privately answered to many as to what happened. Let me assure you that it wasn't because of any injuries, as some speculated.
There were concerns by members of the U.P. Steam Crew as to what I was writing and they asked me to not write about certain aspects of my daily travels with them. Without going into anymore detail than that, I decided to just shut it down instead of edit what I had to say to their liking. It should also be noted that I will no longer be traveling with the Steam Crew, and it's not only because of the blog situation. The blog "conflict" was just the final straw. I had worked with the Steam Crew for 20 years, and it's now time to move on to other travel destinations I want to experience. We left on good terms and I wish them well in their future travels.
So, I start anew! In about a month, I will travel to Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico, by myself, to once again experience some train travel (of my choosing), do some photography, and even go to a place my friends and family that know me well wouldn't believe I would go to.
The writing no doubt will be different as I won't be immersing myself in large crowds of people at every stop I make. It will be just me, by myself, writing about what I see and experience. It may not be as exciting, or funny, or as touching as the Steam Crew trips, but then again, it just might! Either way, I will try and make it interesting.
Where will I go? You already know about the next trip, and after that I'm not sure. There is a rail convention next year in Alaska, and I have always wanted to go to Alaska, so that's a very real possibility. I'd like to go back to England and Scotland. I've been there three times before, but it was over ten years ago, so it's time to go back. I'd like to experience high-speed rail travel all over Europe as many of my friends have. There are areas of this country I still haven't seen, but I plan on seeing every bit of it.
It's a big, wonderful world out there just waiting for all of us to experience what it has to offer, and it's a new page in my life of travel to do just that, and I hope you will join me.
