Most of you know that my husband, Mike (aka Hubby), and I have a house in Maryland and a house in West Virginia. The MD house is our residence and the WV place, as I affectionately refer to it, is a getaway.
The WV place is small. It’s not on or near a lake or river. There’s no golf course nearby (we’re not golfers anyway). It’s not at or even close to a ski resort. There’s no hunting allowed (we’re not hunters either). It’s just a little place in the woods that we built for ourselves.
So why build a house in West Virginia? Because we’re motorcyclists. And the roads in West Virginia are awesome. Seriously.
Since 2005, we’ve discovered quite a few great roads. Not just in West Virginia, either. In neighboring Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Maryland, too. I’ve written about quite a few of our journeys here. But the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to share that information elsewhere.
ToadMama’s Interstitial Space is really a personal, general interest blog. Some of you readers are family members who like to see pics/read stuff involving the kids and grand kids. Some of my readers are primarily interested in news/pics of the dogs. Still other readers are interested in my photography. A few are motorcyclists like us who want to read about/see pics from our motorcycle trips. Truly a mixed bag.
So, if I started writing more about the motorcycle stuff here, I’d probably end up with quite a few disenchanted followers. Besides, the plan is to bring that motorcycle info to the attention of a bunch of strangers who really could probably care less about my grand kids, kids, dogs, recipes, etc.
That’s why I decided to create a new Web presence specifically for the motorcycle stuff.
More specifically, I decided to create a blog AND a website devoted to riding/driving tours of the Greater Appalachian Valley region.
The Blog – http://appalachiantours.blogspot.com/.
It’s been a work-in-progress and has gone through a few different iterations. I couldn’t decide on a look. I wasn’t sure if I should use our real names or pseudonyms. I flip-flopped between Blogger and WordPress for the blog platform. (I’ll still probably transition to WordPress after I get some technical issues sorted out.)
This was all done in my spare time, too. And I don’t have much of that, which is part of the reason why it’s been such a long process. It will continue to evolve, but I think I am ready to offer folks the basics. I’m telling you all about it today for the first and maybe last time. If you’d like to follow both blogs, cool! I’d love to have you. If you could care less about the motorcycle stuff, except general trip reports which will still be mentioned here, that’s cool, too.
Oh yeah, there’s also a companion website, which is very cool if I do say so myself.
The Companion Website – http://www.appalachiantours.com/.
Now that you KNOW about my secret project, finally, I need your help.
I need all of you to spread the word to everyone you know who might be interested in free information about driving (car) or riding (motorcycle) tours in West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia, and/or Pennsylvania to let them know my blog and website are out there. It takes a long time to build a blog following. But having you guys spread the word might give me a nice little jump start.
So whattya say? Care to help me spread the word? Here are the links again…
The Blog – http://appalachiantours.blogspot.com/.
The Companion Website – http://www.appalachiantours.com/.
Feel free to check them out for yourself, too. Constructive criticism is always welcome.
Don’t worry, I’ll be keeping this blog, too. I wouldn’t want to abandon you guys. That would just be mean. Right?
It’s okay if none of your friends ride, like to go for drives, or live in the area. Maybe they know someone who does and wouldn’t mind helping to spread the word.
Helping me get the word out would be super-awesome. But you don’t have to feel obligated. And I won’t ask again.
Tomorrow I will return to some regular, unscheduled posting…
YAY! What a bunch of hard work to get those sites up.
I just started on my new WordPress blog today and already my head is spinning. You give me hope that it can be done.
Jess, I started this project a LONG time ago. But there IS hope. 🙂
For the record, this blog uses WordPress. All works fine. The other? I kept having weird issues, so I need to try and reinstall. I haven’t given up.
Hurray!! Good luck with this!
I have dozens of biker-buddies, including some in your area. I’ll promote your new sites vigorously.
Thanks, Ralph! I’m anxious to meet up with you when/if you ride through here this year.
I’m planning future trips and would like to pass through your area with a sincere hope that we can meet. You’ve become a good friend and I’d cherish that opportunity.
Very cool! Good luck with that! If the hubby and I were anywhere near the East Coast, I’m sure we’d be doing some of those motorcycle tours!
You’re off to a blazing start there! Well done!
And thanks for the nice comment, too!
Is it possible to add name/url for commenting on App Tours? I don’t use any of the available services in the dropdown and can’t leave you comments there. 🙁
Fuzzy, I fixed it. Thanks for the tip. I didn’t even notice that option was missing. 🙂