Early in 2024 I began a project on Substack that turned out to be one part collected travel misadventures and one part Portrait of the Artist as a Young, Middle-Aged and Old Man. I didn’t set out initially to create something like this. When I began thinking about it, I envisioned something not much more substantial than the lists of favourite hikes and wildlife encounters under the “Traveller” button at the top of this site.
Ultimately, it turned into more than six months of weekly installments, illustrated with photos (mostly by my wife, Rosemary). Taken all together, the entire thing is long enough to fill a book. Could it ever be a book? Who knows?
The whole thing began February 5 with an introduction, followed February 12 by a post of travel experiences under the letter A (Amarillo and Austin). As we moved through the alphabet, I went through some autobiographical sections, especially around the letter F (Fernie and Fort McMurray). Other sections focused more on adventure travel, often with unexpected twists and turns, such as those for the letter O (Odeceixe and Orizaba). And when it came to an end, I found myself thinking about a different kind of journey.
You can find all my posts on Substack by searching for @wanderingwriterbobarmstrong. (Or you can click on the highlighted text here or in the paragraph above.) My Substack is free to subscribe and will remain so until I start to get so overwhelmed by demand that I decide to cash in.
As for what’s next from me on Substack, I guess that’s a whole new journey.