Hiatus?

Call it what you will. Forgetfulness? Perhaps procrastination? Let’s just say “busy.” The fall was a whirlwind of travel and work leaving me little time to type up tidbits of where I have been. So now I will attempt to catch up. In October I turned in the manuscript for Backroads and Byways of Wisconsin a 12-chapter road-trip guide which will hit bookstores in June 2009. Check The Mad Traveler in spring for updates. January should see the release of the Rails-to-Trails Wisconsin guidebook which I updated. I’ll post links to that as it becomes available as well. I have been to the Gulf Coast of Alabama for a seafood festival, Door County for fall colors, and Tennessee for Graceland, Memphis music, whiskey distillery tours and some excellent paddling on a couple of riverways that canoeing fans should look into. I spent a week in Vietnam in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and now I am in Thailand, the Land of Smiling Protesters who had effectively shut down both airports in Bangkok until yesterday’s judgment against the controversial prime minister Sonchai. Over the next week or so I hope to post a few anecdotes and numerous photos. The photo above is the celestial smiley face we all saw here in Bangkok a couple nights ago. Venus, Jupiter and the moon brought everyone out to look up.