#ThatsAPlus my third book,
Red Line Diaries
finished, available @
www.amazon.com

Erinnerung an das Jahr 2017 #ThatsAPlus

Florfliege beim Imbiss erwischt , mit vollem Mund spricht man nicht !

📷:rpo - Olympus OMD E-M10

#ThatsAPlus

I entered the labor force in 1968, as a college freshman, working various campus jobs to pay my tuition; by my senior year, I was working full-time as a small-town newspaper reporter while wrapping up my bachelor's degree (and sleeping very little).

Fifty years later, on Jan. 1 2018, I exited the workforce, retiring after 25 years as a science writer/photographer/Web developer with Oregon Sea Grant – and with that rarest of things in the modern world, a pension. That, combined with Social Security, is enough to live on comfortably, keep my 100-year-old house in repair, pay the bills and put a bit aside in savings for small adventures.

I was ready to retire; the job had gone stale for me, and last year's U.S. Elections did not bode well for small, federally funded science and environment programs like Sea Grant. But I had no idea just how good it would be to have complete control over how I spend my days. I even worried a little that I'd get bored, or turn into a couch potato. And I will admit that I can happily spend hours each day sitting on my front porch watching (and photographing) the hummingbirds that come to our feeders, or working on the big jigsaw puzzles my girlfriend and I regularly splurge on.

But the gift of time has not been entirely idled away. I continue to take advantage of G+ photography mentorships and group projects. I've gathered a portfolio of my best black-and-white work and submitted it for possible sale/publication in The Sun, a magazine I've loved since the 1970s.

I've launched a modest photography business, shooting events for friends and former colleagues, with the occasional portrait session for a young family or local political candidate, and product shoots for my small-town artist and crafter friends. I shot a wedding (!) as a gift for the groom (an old friend) and his new bride. Just the other night, a fellow photographer came over over to walk me through the basics of using the shiny new DigiBees studio lights I received in payment for product shoot, and I've invested in a small, table-top studio tent to allow me to do more of that sort of work.

Unleashed from the workday clock and calendar, I stay up past my bedtime, rise with the sun (or sleep in, as I please), eat a hot breakfast – such luxury after decades of granola bars eaten at my desk! - and take care of chores; my house has never been so tidy. That leaves the rest of the day for creative work, from photography to cooking to picking up knitting again … or planning occasional Amtrak daytrips with my girl to Portland to see a play or limited-run movie. Free of the constraints imposed by working for a federally funded program, I've returned to my activist roots, contributing my small efforts (and donations) to opposing the national disgraces being wrought on the U.S. by our President and Congress, and to supporting organizations working for women, queers, immigrants and the oppressed.

All of these things come together in my active, daily participation in G+, which remains, for me, the best social platform for meeting and collaborating with other creative people. I've made life-long friends here, largely as a result of creative collaborations, group projects and face-to-face meetups. And I was delighted to be invited to join the Google+ Create community, where we were recently asked to share a post about our proudest accomplishment for the year (this is mine!).

I feel incredibly lucky, blessed and grateful for good health and an active mind. Somehow, without really trying, the haphazard path I chose for my life has set me up for a glorious old age.

#ThatsAPlus my #Route66Travelers community on Facebook has over 2,222 members so far, but what is more important and what I actually wanted to accomplish with the group: members helping each other getting along the Mother Road, giving and getting hints and suggestions, news about #Route66 its people and businesses.

There's another plus with this community on Facebook - there's NO SPAM so far and I never had to deal with any spammers from the beginning.

+Route 66 Travelers +TimeTraveler 911 on Route 66

#ThatsAPlus for my photos on #GoogleMaps ... I actually should have waited until I reach the half million views on my photos, but I was so suprised by having 50,000 views in only two weeks, that I had to call it already now #ThatsAPlus.

Will add a comment as soon as my photos reached the magical HALF MILLION views.

#GoogleLocalGuide +Google Local Guides +Google Maps

#ThatsAPlus
It's time to celebrate again!
Finally I have the outline and the main components for a continuously ongoing project Route 66 Travelers - the interactive #Route66TravelersMap.

Back in time
My first encounter with the Mother Road was not really impressive. A few neons and some nostalgia on a drive with the ScFi Author William F. Wu, back in 2001, while he was showing me the surroundings of Palmdale and a tin bowl with the inscription "Get your kicks on Route 66" from the Chief Editor Dennis Anderson of the Antelope Valley Press made me curious and as soon as I was at home, I started to do some search on the web. I was fascinated by what I found, but for many years I didn't have the opportunity or the money to visit the US or do any extensive travel.

Five years later
But then I met my new partner back in 2006. We started traveling and enjoyed it a lot doing it together. My love for the American Southwest was still there and in 2010 we decided to go on a four weeks round trip: National Parks of the Southwest, Route 66 by then between New Mexico and Santa Monica, we drove Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Francisco and then via Death Valley back to Las Vegas, where our trip started. Every single stage of this trip left some deep impressions, but now we are going to concentrate on Route 66.
Driving Route 66 was going back in time, was meeting wonderful people, finding out that the journey was the reward not the destination. My very first conscious contact with Route 66 was at Petrified Forest National Park, when finding the body shell of a rusty car next to a bench, the back of which was the front of an old car, as well. Sitting on that bench allows a view onto an old stretch of Historic Route 66. It was also the very first photo with me on the Mother Road.

That's when my actual passion for Route 66 started and still goes on today.

For those who would like to read a German version about this first contact, you can do it in my travel blog, by clicking the following link: https://goo.gl/5qf8W4

We were on a second trip on Route 66 back in 2012, a little better prepared than on our first trip and we met many interesting people: writers, bloggers, historians, business owners. Getting back I created the Route 66 Travelers group on facebook (1,631 members on June 22, 2017) and a community with the same name here on Google+ with 696 so far, but very few active lately. Partially my fault, as I was trying to get on with a huge project.

One step of this project is the interactive Route 66 Map I created over the last few weeks. It shows all locations, some places to visit, some lodgings and diners, the Route 66 organizations will be added soon ... everything that is split over hundreds of websites will now be integrated into one map which links to many sites.

Today I would like to present you this map, as part of my Route 66 Travelers project, which includes a lot more. I added all main locations to this map, some interesting places to see, some motels and diners, but some historical sites that you should see when visiting and one of the artists and enthusiasts of Route 66 has been added with his business, too.
I suppose it will never be a 100% complete as always changing situations along the road will make that impossible, but a first time travelers of the road and experts all the same, should be able to create their own itinerary and select the places they want to visit by following the map.

I still have to figure out, how much of this map can be used offline - Route 66 Travelers come from all over the world. They usually have Internet access only at night, in their motels. So I hope at least the locations will be shown while offline. Links to other websites will not work, but it would be a great plus to have all the locations and being able to navigate along the stretches that still exist and can be driven.

*The map will always be free to everyone. *

#Route66Travelers #Route66Map #Route66InteractiveMap #BeKnownForWhatYouCreate

Meeting former G+ CM +Natalie Villalobos in Japan? > #thatsaplus

#OnlyInJapan #Creasia+