On the road

I thought it timely to explain to visitors, especially those here for the first time, what my blog is all about, and how or why I write what I write. 

This blog is titled On The Road but was never meant to be a travel blog. I do not really travel a lot but when I do get the chance, I always make it a point to document my experiences visually and note whatever insights I may have gained from the people and places I encounter.

It has become second nature for the journalist in me to gather photos and videos from every experience, when possible and appropriate, knowing for certain there is a story in even the smallest things we encounter. My years in journalism—broadcast and multimedia—have taught me that I may not always be compelled to write a story at that moment. But eventually, after some time, reading, interviewing, and reflection, the images will yield narratives worth sharing. 

The images I have collected are not always tourist-y views. Some are everyday sights or unexpected happenings I am lucky to be around to film. My impulse has always been to pull my smartphone and take a picture, especially when the scene before me is unique, interesting, or breath-taking.

This blog’s origin story recounts a road trip that took a detour that led to a dead end. And it happened because Google Maps’ information was wrong. Who would have thought Google Maps gets it wrong? But it did, in that particular place and time sending us on a wild goose chase and delaying our arrival. 

The trip was not the disaster it should have been, even if we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere. We were on the slopes of a mountain range and the scenery helped turned what was a misadventure into an adventure. That sort of mindset has guided this blog; it is my way of expressing what I discern beyond the images. 

Writing about that trip during Covid times helped me draw parallels between personal and collective journeys—the world reached what seemed like a dead end in 2020-2021, upending plans and prospects for the future. The world came to a stop, but eventually moved on.

Over the years I have collected a huge number of photos and videos and filed them away. Some find themselves in my Facebook account, mostly set to “Friends” only, and in my Instagram account (public).

Some visuals are about official events that could be considered newsworthy. For the purposes of this blog, I write about them from the first-person point of view because this is, after all, a personal journal.

Because my family has taken to visiting places around where we live, much of my recent writing focuses on California, in particular Monterey County. Monterey alone is a visual journalist’s delight—it offers a treasure trove of images that fill up my smartphone and force me free up space for more visuals. 

So welcome again, readers. I write and share for you, and knowing that someone has read my blog tells me it is all worth it. Most of all, though, I write for myself.  As the novelist Isabel Allende wrote, “For me, life becomes real when I write it. What I don’t write is erased by the winds of oblivion.”

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