Fun fact: I was on the road every single month last year except May, and that’s only because I had to stay home and have some medical procedures done.

I counted up the days and, get ready: the 2015 total was 105.

105! I don’t know about you, but for me that’s a record. (Have any of you traveled that much in a year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.)

Also, I saw this many new-to-me National Parks: 26. Two in Arizona, 12 in California, one in Nebraska, two in New Mexico, four in Oregon, and five in Washington. (I could swear I saw more, but I’m not sure which I’m missing. Regardless, if this is right it puts me at 112 out of 409.)

Another personal record I broke this year was how long I was on the road at one continuous stretch. This was a big leap: my previous record was three weeks, but this time I was out for seven weeks. Yow!

These numbers make me as excited as Sam and his friend are here!

What I realized was not only did I love being on the road for that long, but that there’s almost as much prep and recovery time for a week-long Scamp as there is for a seven-week Scamp. So this year I’m going to try to maximize my time and energy by taking fewer, longer trips.

What else did I learn? How to back Sadie up, yay! (Okay, so it took me five years but for the record, I never practiced.) I can now get into most campsites, hugely increasing my overnight options.

I saw some absolutely stunning places last year, and favorites included the Sequoias and Redwoods in California, Crater Lake in Oregon, and the Cascades and Olympic National Park in Washington.

This has nothing to do with this post, I just like the photo. It feels hopeful to me, like I am – and I hope you are – about 2016.

At the moment I’ve got three chunky travel plans this year. From probably mid-March into June I’ll head east to New Orleans to hang out with friends and eat my weight in beignets and jambalaya, then continue on to see the National Parks in Louisiana (I’m only missing two), as well as Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and finally on to Florida to see the Everglades and Key West (and everything else there is to see there).

In July I’m going to Ireland and Scotland with Mom. This will be my second trip to Ireland (the first was with Mom, as well), and I feel a serious connection to that place, despite having not one drop of Irish blood in my body. (Sigh.) But you can bet I’ll come back with approximately one jillion photos of castles and hopefully a leprechaun.

Then this fall I’m going to fly to New York for a quickish visit with my favorite city and my NYC friends. When I get back I’ll head north and do an upper Midwest swing, including the Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and maybe Michigan.

And I’m sure I’ll fit some day trips and weekends with the Pentax in between all that, because I don’t have those Popeye biceps I’ve been dreaming of yet.

Lastly, I want to thank the readers who have commented on a regular basis, offering insight, opinion, humor, and encouragement: Sherry in MT, Manisha, Emilie, Deborah, and Ron. The reason I write this blog is to share my experiences and generate conversation, so thank you, all of you, for chiming in whenever you’re moved to.

Cheers to another Scampalicious 2016!

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