The year in numbers with 2019 values in parentheses:

• 2 (5) = Road trips reported
• 65 (69) = Blog posts
• 30 (47) = Days on the road
• 1059 (1641) = Pictures posted — 496 (543) in the blog and 563 (1098) in Road Trips

It might be nice if 2020, like Dracula, simply did not appear in mirrors — rear view or otherwise — but the truth is, we’re going to be reflecting on this strange year a lot and for a long time. In last year’s Rear View post, I lamented a drop in travel. Trips, days on the road, and pictures posted were all down, but those were the good old days. This year the counts didn’t just drop, they plummeted. I do not, of course, have to guess at the cause. It is clearly the shutdowns and precautions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that becoming a factor in mid-March, I had 2020 identified as a big travel year with plans for two major trips and several of medium-size. In the end, only one of the major trips and a single small trip actually took place. The top five trip journal entries were again for major trips including one repeat from last year. Neither 2020 trip made it. Only one new blog post made the top five and that was at the bottom behind four posts that were at least five years old.

Top Blog Posts:

1. Scoring the Dixie
   This post ranked fourth when published in 2012 to describe my struggle with keeping track of sections of the Dixie Highway I had driven. It was third in 2015 when I announced that quest complete (as far as I knew then), and reappeared at number four in 2017. It takes over the top spot for its fourth appearance. I don’t doubt that some of the traffic is due to the misguided notion that the word “Dixie” is associated with the Confederacy and should, therefore, be removed from public view. On the other hand, an increasing number of people were brought to this website, and possibly to this post, by a search for “Dixie Highway map”. I believe that indicates an interest in the road and not just the name, and that I consider a good thing.
2. Twenty Mile’s Last Stand
   This post was in the top five for the first three years of its existence then missed it for the next three. This year’s appearance secures another 3-in-a-row by scoring a second to go with three firsts (2012, ’13, 19), one fourth (2014), and one fifth (2018). The Twenty Mile House may be gone but it is clearly not forgotten.
3. My Wheels – Chapter 1 1960 J. C. Higgins Flightliner
   The very first My Wheels post keeps its top five streak intact by racking up its second third place to go with three firsts and three seconds.
4. Much Miscellany 2, Sloopy at 50
   There was so much miscellany in 2015 that it required two posts. This one placed fifth in that first year then dropped out of the top five for a couple of years. In making its fourth appearance, it lets me recycle a bad joke by noting that it hangs on 😉 to fourth place for the third consecutive year.
5. Blocked
   This was the most popular of 2020’s new blog posts and the only one to crack the overall top five. It isn’t about travel or an event or an attraction. It is about social media — specifically, Facebook —  and I’m not exactly proud of that even though I am fairly active on the platform and don’t have any particular gripes with it. I avoid the head-on collisions that many enjoy but I will occasionally respond to a debunked claim with a link to some evidence of its incorrectness. I do this without adding my own comments and I’ve done it for claims from people of various persuasions. Some people apparently think fact-checking is somehow evil and I guess I encountered a couple of them. In the year just ended, my post about those encounters attracted more readers than any other.

Top Non-Blog Posts:

1. Sixty-Six: E2E & F2F
   This was my third full-length drive of Route 66. It ranked first when it first appeared in 2012, disappeared for two years, reappeared at number five in 2015, then disappeared for two more years. It started its current climb in 2018 at fourth, then second, and now first. Why? I have no idea.
2. Kids & Coast
   It’s hard to believe that this fly-and-drive trip from 2008 is just now making its first appearance in the top five. It started with a flight to Seattle where one of my sons lived and ended with a flight from San Francisco where my other son lived. In between the flights was a drive south along the coast. It was a great trip that should not have had to wait twelve years to get some attention.
3. Lincoln Highway Conference 2011
   This is another great trip that is getting its first mention in a year-end review. At the time this trip was completed, it was my longest in days (25) and possibly miles (6698). It included driving a US Numbered Highway (36) end-to-end, plus a big chunk of Lincoln Highway, some California coast, and some pieces of Historic Route 66.
4. Lincoln Highway West
   This 2009 trip isn’t a total stranger to the top five but it’s close. Its only previous appearance was in the number five slot in 2014. I referred to this trip as the one that clinched the Lincoln Highway for me despite knowing there were some alignments I had yet to cover. I claimed a clinch because I had driven at least one LH alignment from coast to coast.
5. Alaska
   After a year’s absence, the reigning champion in both days (41) and miles (11,108) returns to the top five with a fifth to go with a second (2018), third (2016), and fourth (2017).

I was surprised to see that both website visits and blog views reversed a trend and increased a bit. Website visits went from 96,512 to 112,115 and blog views from 5,135 to 6,060. Page views again moved in the opposite direction and dropped from 726,399 to 670,115. When the reverse happened last year, I commented that fewer people are looking but they’re looking at more. I guess more people are now looking at less.

Last year I suggested that one reason for the drop in visits and views could be the fact that mailing list messages sent to Verizon, Yahoo, and AOL addresses were being refused during the last half of the year. This was the result of shared servers at my hosting company, Arvixe, being identified as spammers. This year’s increase cannot, however, be credited to solving that problem since it remained a factor until mid-October. Even then it wasn’t solved in the sense that Arvixe got things cleared up. It stopped being a factor when I did what I said I was considering last year and switched hosting providers. The switch to Bluehost was announced and explained in the blog post A New Web Home. l still have access to my installation at Arvixe and occasionally test the email there. The problem that caused me to move is still unresolved at the end of 2020.