Twitpic Travelogue

I have so much to learn. First, I launched my new personal blog here just a couple of weeks ago and traffic was growing every day. I was pleased.

Next, I had my annual New England road trip to visit family in Maine and Massachusetts.

Both homes had desktops and speedy Internet access, but just how does one peel off from loved ones during a holiday visit and tell them he has to go blogging?

I missed a few days, and traffic plummeted.

In a nutshell, the lesson for me – however obvious – was that I will need to anticipate trips, and prepare enough good posts in advance to carry me through future travels. Maybe I should even consider automating the distribution times? We’ll see.

Meanwhile, I hit the road with nothing but my iPhone and decided to chronicle the trip with the built-in camera. I have a substantial background in photojournalism but if I was going to persist, this would have to be effortless, and so I posted pictures with the minimum effort, taken through the windshield in traffic, etc., with occasional assistance from one of Santa’s elves in the passenger seat.

Using the Twitterfon app for the iPhone, we posted to the pictures to twitpic.com and the links to twitter, and – much to my amazement –  the at-replies were in double digits and I picked up nearly 200 followers in a few days. At a time when most people should have been busy with the holidays and more, there they were following me to Maine and back. (FYI – LOTS of people are posting iPhone pictures on Flickr too.)

So, what’s the lesson in my case? Beats me, but I think I can narrow it down to either frequent posting or attaching photos – unless people just like to follow travelers  to familiar places. Or, was it just the accepted stalking nature of the twitter community, watching me like an ant farm behind glass?

In any case, it was an adventure; we clocked about 1,000 miles in 100 hours with plenty of shopping squeezed in, precious time with the family and even some rest.

Next, I will experiment with some quality photography soon, and see if it gets more response than snapshots. I really don’t have a clue what to expect.

Finally, here is a look back at the trip in chronological order:
• Leaving Philadelphia, 1230pm Dec. 21 http://twitpic.com/uyrp
• Entering New Jersey via Pennsylvania turnpike bridge, 103pm (after a refreshment stop at Wawa). http://twitpic.com/uz8d
• Woke up this morning … Passed Tony Soprano on the NJ Turnpike.http://twitpic.com/uzr5
• Vince Lombardi rest area, 215pm http://twitpic.com/v06p
• The Bronx, with New England in sight … sort of. 230pmhttp://twitpic.com/v09s
• Just past New Rochelle, on our way to Connecticut, 245pmhttp://twitpic.com/v0gw
• Sunshine and slushy roads in New Haven, 335pmhttp://twitpic.com/v152
• Sunset near Westbrook, Connecticut, 415pm http://twitpic.com/v1lj
• Providence is just a blur at 6pm.
• Snowmen in Harvard Square greet us as we get detoured to Cambridge by a blizzard in Maine, 725pm. to be continued…http://twitpic.com/v41x
• Merry Christmas from Boston Common! http://twitpic.com/vbwd
• The realities of winter in Boston. http://twitpic.com/vbx5
• Holiday greetings from Downtown Crossing and the store formerly known as Jordan Marsh. http://twitpic.com/vd2e
• Finally, en route to Maine http://twitpic.com/vd35
• Just north of Boston on the Fellsway http://twitpic.com/vd8g
• On the Spaulding Turnpike bridge in the Granite State.http://twitpic.com/ve9
• Have a seat in North Berwick, Maine? Not so much. Dec. 23, 10amhttp://twitpic.com/vkik
• Drip, freeze, drip, freeze … Icicles! http://twitpic.com/vkmx
• Is it real, or is it Cabela’s? Dec. 23, Scarborough, Maine.http://twitpic.com/vmnx
• Hunters beware. http://twitpic.com/vmq2
• L.L. Bean, here we come. http://twitpic.com/vmtk
• Giving Maine the boot; heading to Portsmouth, NH.http://twitpic.com/voxp
• We’re still in Maine on the morning of the 24th. The snow is melting today. http://twitpic.com/vxo
• This will take some scraping… http://twitpic.com/vxx0
• And back again to Maine, the way life should be. Kittery, here we come! http://twitpic.com/vys1
• Oops, forgot photo! Chief Broken Arrow, Kittery Trading Post, Kittery, Maine. Dec. 24, 145 pm. http://twitpic.com/vzi3 
• Grrrrrrr. Kittery Trading Post, Kittery, Maine. http://twitpic.com/vzj7
• It wouldn’t be Kenmore Square without the Citgo sign.http://twitpic.com/w14e
• Both Hancock buildings … If you know the weather rhyme, you’ll know that steady red means rain ahead. http://twitpic.com/w164
• Merry Christmas from Cambridge! http://twitpic.com/w2wt
• Heading home to Philly now! Weston, Mass, Dec 25, 1:30pm.http://twitpic.com/wf2z
• Very sunny and glare-y driving into Connecticut, but in a good way. Driving up in a snowstorm was white knuckle-y.http://twitpic.com/wfs
• Hello, Hartford. http://twitpic.com/wg91
• Big sky over White Plains, N.Y. Dec. 25, 4:10pm.http://twitpic.com/whjs
• Tappan Zee Bridge at sunset, part 1: http://twitpic.com/whob
• Tappan Zee Bridge at sunset, part 2: http://twitpic.com/whpj• After about 100 hours and maybe 1,000 miles, we are back in Philly. Merry Christmas! http://twitpic.com/wjh0

To get every post, make sure you subscribe to the RSS feed!