Howdy, and so forth..

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Guess it's as good a time as any to get going here...

I'm a photographer/writer and former freelance newspaperman. (Well, if the opportunity comes again I might still be a freelance newspaperman, but it seems less and less likely as time goes by, owing to a lack of newspapers.) For the last (mumble) years I've been based out of Houston, Texas, though that's changing - that "former freelance newspaperman" thing.

My primary interest, at the moment, is Texas. It's my home state, I was born here, though the saner citizens won't often admit that (it WAS some time ago), and although our politics and our politicians are, well.... this is still a beautiful place to see and an interesting place to live.

I actually have two existing web publications - well, three if you count my Terribly-In-Need-Of-Rebuilding website.

The primary blog is Not All Who Wander Are Lost , and it's mostly photos and ramblings and ravings ... whatever I wander across, mostly Texas but sometimes other places.

The other, which is meant to be a little more formal and long-form-ish, is The Other Texas.

I had planned TOT to be about the multicultural history and heritage of Texas, but then one day a couple years ago I wound up standing in the lobby of the Institute for Texan Cultures in San Antonio, and realized I was trying to do the same thing they'd been doing for the last forty-odd years. I had me, a pair of down-at-the-heels hiking boots, a 20-year old truck, a couple of mostly-obsolete cameras, and a laptop. They had a group of Universities, a Museum, and scads of people with Ph.D.'s and actual credentials, and an actual budget with real money in it. Strictly speaking, I was just a little out of my league.

I thought then about saying "heck with it" and shutting it down, but I had the domain and the name and all, and it seemed a shame to waste it, so now it's Texas Travel (Cowboys Not Included). I had friends in England and Scotland and Ecuador who, it turned out, thought _Dallas_ (as in the TV series) was a documentary and Texas was nothing but oil wells and cattle and cowboys and horses and.... Well, about the time my regular gig started to become an irregular gig, it occurred to me "hey, maybe I should do something about that." So since I had the domain and the hosting all lined up, I "repurposed."

And, well, here I am.



So what I propose to do here, unless someone from TraveBlog comes along and raps my knuckles and says "we don't allow that here," is borrow from those two blogs and a few other things of my own, and add some "you read it here first" ramblings, and maybe make it interesting enough for people to look at.

Welcome aboard. Stories and pictures to follow... and remember, in the immortal words of my recently late and very lamented mentor, Blair Pittman - "If it ain't true, it ought to be..."

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Comments

[Laura N]

How are you and your mom doing?
Just wondering how you are doing. My dad died Dec 2017 and well it changed so much. Still teaching but I figure this will be my last year. Transition to a real 40 hr job for just a bit. Give your Mom a hug if she is still alive and well. Take care of yourself during this difficult time. Laura