The year in numbers with 2020 values in parentheses:
- 4 (2) = Road trips reported
- 65 (65) = Blog posts
- 51 (30) = Days on the road
- 1895 (1059) = Pictures posted — 449 (496) in the blog and 1399 (563) in Road Trips
I know it’s a sign of a desperate search to find something nice to say, but I’ll say it anyway: 2020 makes 2021 look good. But COVID-19 continued to impact our lives greatly and to end far too many of them. In the U.S., deaths attributed to the virus in 2021 actually exceeded those of 2020 and the total has passed 800,000. Worldwide, that number is near 5.5 million. The United States has already passed its death count for the 1918 flu pandemic (675.000) while the worldwide count has a long way to go to hit the most conservative estimates for 1918 (12 million). Explain that to yourselves as best you can. My personal trip count doubled (from 2 to 4) and days of travel tried to do so (30 to 51). Two of the 2021 trip journals made the top five as did the blog entry for one of them. The most visited new blog post was one remembering Larry Goshorn who died in September.
Top Blog Posts:
- Scoring the Dixie
This post scores its second consecutive first to go with two fourths (2012, 2017) and a third (2015). Although I’ve made other posts on the Dixie Highway, search engines seem to like this one best. “Dixie Highway map” brings some of the searchers here and some are looking for information on the historic Dixie Highway. Sadly, I know that some folks arrive here because they think Dixie is a dirty word. I don’t know what they think when they leave. - Twenty Mile’s Last Stand
This post about a now-gone nineteenth-century stagecoach stop also duplicates its 2020 finish. Before the two consecutive seconds, it had three firsts (2012, ’13, 19), one fourth (2014), and one fifth (2018). - Remembering Larry
Musician Larry Goshorn died in September and I shared some of my memories of him in this post. He contributed his playing and songwriting skills to numerous groups including Sacred Mushroom, Pure Prairie League, and the Goshorn Brothers Band. Hearing echoes of 2017 is unavoidable as I write this. That’s the year when Larry’s brother Tim died and Remembering Timmy was the most visited post of the year. - My Wheels – Chapter 1 1960 J. C. Higgins Flightliner
This post has been in the top five every year of its existence. Previous rankings have been first (2014, 2015, 2018), second (2013, 2016, 2017), and third (2019, 2020). This is its first time at fourth. Note that, had this finished one slot higher, the top three list of 2021 would have completely matched that of 2020. - Yellowstone Trail and US-20
This is a Trip Journal Link post. None have ever appeared in the top five before and I don’t think one ever will again. In fact, this one probably should not be here. Each one ends with the line “This entry is to let blog-only subscribers know about the trip and to provide a place for comments” along with a link to the associated trip journal. I imagine a few people are occasionally led to a journal through one of these posts and they do sometimes get a few comments. None of my posts get many comments. This one got more than normal but even it has less than thirty entries. It seems likely to me that it was people returning to the post multiple times that caused sufficient visits to bump it into the top five. I probably should throw it out but am instead offering this explanation for why I will probably do that next time and including a #6. - Much Miscellany 2 Sloopy at 50
As explained above, this should probably be considered the fifth most visited post of 2021. It is another repeat from last year and previous years as well. It was fifth in 2015 then fourth in 2018, 2019, and 2020.
Top Non-Blog Posts:
- Alaska
For the first time, my longest documented trip (11,108 miles in 41 days) is also the most popular. With that, it completes the set having previously scored a third (2016), a fourth (2017), a second (2018), and a fifth (2020). - Fiftieth: Hawaii
This is the second top-five finish for this fly-and-drive-and-fly-and-drive-and-fly-and-drive-and-fly trip. The 2016 adventure allowed me to celebrate my seventieth birthday in my fiftieth state. Its previous top-five appearance was in 2018 at third. - Yellowstone Trail and US-20
This 9095-mile, 37-day outing took place in June and early July of last year so this is obviously its first top-five appearance. It is my second-longest trip and bumps the 2013 Lincoln Highway Centennial trip (7341 miles, 35 days) into third. Starting with Historic US-20 from Ohio to its eastern terminus in Boston, the trip continued with the full length of the Yellowstone Trail from Plymouth to Seattle, then finished with the remainder of Historic US-20 from Oregon back to Ohio. - Birthday Breakout 2021
My most recent birthday was spent on a short trip that was part celebration and part experiment. The experimental part came from my testing what travel in 2021 might be like. It included a visit with Mothman in Point Pleasant, West Virginia which I suspect is the reason for the journal’s popularity. Mothman is indisputably a bigger draw than I. - Corner to Corner to Corner II
This is another fairly recent trip making its first appearance on this list. It is basically a 2020 repeat of a 2001 trip from Ohio’s southwest corner to its northeast corner and back. One direction used US-42 and the other used the historic 3C Highway. I have no idea why it was visited so often this year.
Website visits were almost perfectly flat with a slight rise from 112,115 to 112,255. Blog views dropped from 6,060 to 5,201. Page views climbed from 670,115 to 832,848. That is actually the highest number of page views ever despite the number of visits being less than half the 2014 peak of 248,033. 2014 had also been the year of highest Page views at 741,404.
An offline but related event was the publication of Tracing a T to Tampa, a book about retracing my great-grandparents’ 1920 trip to Florida. The retracing on which the book is primarily based began on the original trip’s 100th anniversary. The journal for that trip is here. The journal for a 2001 retrace which also contributed to the book is here. The book is “reviewed” here.