Hitting the Road
Hi everybody,
So, just wanted to give you all a little heads up … we are going on a cross-country family driving trip to pick up our daughter from college and see some friends and, yeah, it has been a LONG time since we have done anything like this. I’m not at all sure what it will feel like.
Anyway, until after the holidays, we’ll be a little quieter here at Joe Blogs. I’ll bet that I still find some time to get some stuff up because I’m a crazy person who cannot help himself. I can tell you I’m working on a massive, super fun essay on No. 57 in the Football 101 — I think you’ll really like it, lots of rabbit holes. And I’m hoping to make a big announcement soon. And I’m preparing all sorts of cool new features for Joe Blogs in the new year. And so on.
I’d love it, of course, if you would subscribe or give a gift subscription:
In the meantime, I’m hoping to hit the road and recharge the batteries just a little bit — it has been one amazing year for me with the wild success of The Baseball 100, the incredible response to Honor Your Hometown, the absolutely wonderful support you’ve shown here at Joe Blogs, the total joy I get talking nonsense with my friend Mike Schur on the PosCast (now at Meadowlark Media!) and the big news that I will share soon … in many ways this has been the most spectacular professional year of my life.
I’m so glad to have you along for the ride.
Before I get in the car — and who are we kidding, you know I’ll give you updates along the trip — let me share with you a couple of photos that make my heart sing.
That is my son in bed reading in the first photo. This was the year that he fell in love with baseball. I took him to his first big-league game (Braves-Brewers in ATL). I had to wake him up close to midnight so he could see the Braves celebrate the World Series victory. He wants to go out in the yard and throw every day.
He is also an avid reader. When I asked him in September what he wanted for his birthday, he said, "I don't know, how about a big book?" That day I ordered an autographed copy from Rainy Day. I had to contain my excitement until his birthday rolled around in late November. I told him, "you said you wanted a big book. Well, here is the biggest I could find." He was thrilled, and began reading it every night before bed. Now we talk about the player he read about on the way to school every morning.
Thanks Joe, your book is helping me share my lifelong love of baseball with my son.
Joe, you are not the first Substack writer to practically apologise for taking a vacation.
But your readers are good employers. We are happy to pay you for vacation time, when you are not expected to work at all. No permission is required. Hopefully your family will remember this as a family time together, not as you working in a different place from usual.
Enjoy the trip!