Trail Report: Huntsville to Midland    I covered 820 comfortable miles in two days to get to Midland, arriving just in time to see my four-year-old grandson’s first T-ball practice.  Now that my friends, is a Gift of the Journey!  Graced with bountiful gifts: seeing smiles beam across the faces of both grandsons when they saw their Pappy; spending a full week with them seeing how much they have grown; constructing a kickwall for soccer and setting up a T-ball and net in the garage they use daily; playing their childs guitar while blew harp in the same key; the puppet show wearing an oversized Mardi Gras jester hat leaving them in stiches.  A priceless Gift of the Journey.But there was more.  On this run, I took US190, try it.  Anyone riding a motorcycle, or driving a car for that matter, going east-west through Louisiana and Texas, do yourself a favor, take a deep breath,

Yesterday morning, my fully loaded K1600 GLT came to life and purred.  After the pre-ride check, I swung a leg through the saddle and climbed across the bike, feeling the smooth six inline cylinders murmuring beneath me.  A singular sensation pulsed rhythmically through my body as I nodded a final good-bye to my wife and rode off.  Leaving my New Orleans suburb, I headed over the Huey P. Long Bridge across Mississippi River on US90, and away from I-10.  A cool, freshing wind from the SE complimented the clearing skies and cast the sun’s colorful kiss, rising higher above the horizon.  An illegal grin spread across my face thinking of what might lay ahead.  Following blacktop ribbons across the countryside, over forested hills, through valleys vibrant with crops, over bridges old and new in quest of adventure.  Slicing quietly into the local cultures found along the way in the towns, villages, and hamlets en route. Staying connected with

Trying to get my arms around the indie publishing business challenges the skills I have, some I admit a bit rusty.  However, it also presents opportunities to learn new skills, to become a comfortable user with new platforms like Joomla, PhotoShop, Tumblr and Facebook, just to mention a few.   I now realize that my internet cultural skills had eroded with each passing year. Now, all I need to remind myself of my shortcomings is to see my two-year-old grandson, Mr. E, summarily hack into his grandmother’s phone and miraculously load up a movie from some altocumulus cloud.   We still don’t know how he did it!  The age old business acumen for businesses of “grow or perish” holds true with social media skills.  As soon as you quit learning something new, your already outdated skill sets commence to wither and eventually die.  Keeping skills sharp is a matter of use it or lose.  The same holds true