Since the day before I left Oklahoma I have been carrying that entreaty in my signature on some message boards where I'm a regular. "Follow our mega-trip adventures at my blog", handily hyperlinked to the URL you are currently visiting. Unfortunately my blogging over the past five-plus weeks has amounted to one brief report of something funny the kids said and two drive-by entries bemoaning my lack of entries. Hmmm. Somewhere along the way my good intentions were derailed and I've never been able to get them back on track.

It's not for lack of things to report; oh, no. We have done nothing but run up and down the state since we've been here. We've been as far south as Santa Barbara and as far north as Livermore. I've driven to the San Jose area and back three times, not counting coming down from the airport when we arrived. We've done so much (and been here so long) I'm having a hard time remembering what we did in the first week after we got here.

I'll shamefacedly admit that part of my problem, I think, is Facebook and probably Twitter, too. I have been updating quite often in both those places and I suspect that, once done, that satisfies my urge to share and I have no motivation to post here. So, um, hooray, social networking sites?

Surprisingly enough, despite all the things we've done I'm still feeling like we should've done more. Even with all the planning and all the time there are still things I didn't even come close to accomplishing and, frankly, I'm sitting here scratching my head over how I managed to miss this or that. Alas, that's always the way of it with me. There just isn't enough time to do everything I intend to do while I'm here. It's one of the hazards of only being here 2-3 times a year. To really do everything I want we'd have to live here. Which we'd totally do were it up to me. But that's another post for another day (and quite possibly for a therapist).

I really do have a lot to tell if I can ever get a move on. I think, instead of doing one massive, rambling synopsis of the trip I will do a number of shorter entries telling the story of individual experiences. And I also think that I will wait to get started until we get home. Tomorrow is a busy day. Mom and I are doing some last-minute shopping, I'm picking up the rental car for our return trip to San Jose International and I must pack all of our things into a box and drop it at UPS. It will be a typical last day in California -- too brief, melancholy and tinged with regret.

On that happy note, friends, I bid you good night. Next time I write I will be 1500 miles away and considerably deflated. Thank goodness Paul will be there soon to help pull me out of the lowlands.