I am back - and the "trail" is why!

 I launched this blog over three years ago and posted a lot in late 2022 and early 2023! My last post was exactly three years ago today, March 1, 2023, and then life happened, and school happened, and I got so darn busy. And I lost it. I lost the persistence to keep this thing going.

And in the years since then, I still went to cigar bars, and the staff at my favorite haunts commented how they read my blogs, and I felt kind of bad about not keeping up with it. Well now I am back, and let me explain why:

I am retiring from the teaching profession at the end of this school year, in June. And I have one last spring break before my income is reduced and more "fixed." So I wondered about taking a trip. Maybe to Europe? I have never been to Europe and people always tell me how much I would like it. I started shopping around online and saw that I could afford a trip to France, or Croatia, or anywhere really - I looked at places in Latin America, Asia, and Australia, even. However when I got to the airline tickets and saw the time dedicated to flights, I just couldn't do it. For a trip to France, we were looking at 19 hours, 16 hours, 17 hours, and that was only the flight there, and then another long flight to return. I did not want to spend almost two full days just traveling via airports, terminals and in the air. I hate flying anyway. I am not afraid of flying on a plane, but I hate the whole process: arriving at the airport early, going through security, occasionally getting searched, sitting packed like a sardine on an airplane, and dealing with the delays. Nope. Maybe I won't ever go to Europe or anywhere far away and exotic. I think I am really okay with that.

Then I started thinking about this large country I live in, and that despite the political division that dominates the news and social media, I imagine that most people are very decent, and that the Ameican landscape is utterly beautiful. I would love to drive somewhere instead. And that is when it hit me: bourbon and cigars! The Kentucky Bourbon Trail! My hairstylist of all people suggested it to me years ago, since he knows I love bourbon and cigars. So I went online and planned a trip! So at the end of March I am driving to Bardstown, Kentucky and I am touring several distilleries and checking out several cigar bars. I might even fit in a horseback trail ride to boot. Yay!

And then it occurred to me. The blog. Oh yeah. People actually read it. I have to step up my game! I cannot go to the whiskey trail in Kentucky and pair all that amazing booze with cigars and not write about it!  SO I AM BACK!