Travel Update, etc.

Since leaving Louisiana two weeks ago, Mother Nature has been reasonably good to me. All through Texas, across New Mexico and into Arizona the daytime temperatures were in the low 60s. But the nights were just a bit chilly – in the upper 20s and low 30s. For the most part I stayed in campgrounds that had electricity so I kept warm with the aid of a small electric heater. But still, getting up in the mornings with those low temperatures is not a lot of fun!

So I did some checking of the weather and took a look at the map and have found a spot that is quite comfortable – at least it has been for the past few days! Temperatures have been in the 70s during the day and only dropping into the low 40s at night. I'm not going to say exactly where I'm staying, just that it is in western Arizona – and, no Carol, it's not Quartzsite!

After thinking it over a bit, I've decided to stay here until the end of January when I'll head north to Salt Lake City for RootsTech. I'd like to do some more research while I'm there so I'll be taking this time to review the documents and information obtained last year on my two visits there. I will also be taking a look at my database to try and select which ancestors to research and devise a plan for them.

In addition to that, I have begun (just barely) the boring and tedious but absolutely necessary task of re-organizing my digital files! With everything that I acquired last year and all of the genealogy stuff I had scanned (and never got around to properly naming) prior to leaving on this journey, my digital genealogy files are a really big mess. I can't easily find documents I'm looking for and several, that I know I have, still haven't been found! Anyway, that project is still in its infancy. I'm working with several smaller surname folders to devise a file naming scheme that makes sense to me... more on that later!

In conjunction with renaming files, an even bigger and more complex project on the horizon is to go through and view every document and file – just to see exactly what it is and to ensure that the information and source has been entered into my Legacy database. I know there are a lot of things that have never been entered... Heck, I may even (finally) get around to “attaching” those documents to the appropriate people in the database! But first, before doing that, I need to ensure that the file structures and names are the way I want really want them.

Maybe then, I'll know what I do have! And, just as important if not moreso, where it is located.

One of my favorite quotes regarding genealogy is from fellow Joslin researcher, Dr. Donna Ihns - “When I get to thinking genealogically, I feel like Yul Brynner in 'The King & I': There are times I think I am not sure of what I absolutely know."