Nonmotorized Trails WAS on Indefinite Hiatus
...but will be returning, albeit reconceived and more sporadic.
(Edit: June 2025) Okay, look: this wasn’t mean to be an announcement; this wasn’t meant to be something new distributed to the mailing list for this blog. However, it would appear that Substack does not allow me to perform even a minor edit to a previous post (e.g. crossing out a link to a social media account that I no longer used) without triggering a new mass mailing. Thus, I had to change the title, because the old one is presently false: I can’t in good faith allow an email with the title “Nonmotorized Trails on Indefinite Hiatus” be distributed to the audience of Nonmotorized Trails today, when I am nearing completion of a new long-form post on the intersection of car-free places and International Dark Sky Places in Europe, this time replete with practical advice for would-be visitors to the places featured. If that is interests you, stay tuned… What follows is last summer’s outdated announcement.
FYI: If you are interested in my travel/nature/bird photography, you will have better luck following me on social media. At present, I have two public accounts where I sometimes post photographs: Instagram (@imwithheron) and, as of a few weeks ago, BlueSky (@carfreebirdnoticer.bsky.social).
As for this blog, Nonmotorized Trails, it was a test of a new format for publicly sharing some of my photography in connection with anecdotes about car-free living (which, as a reminder, is a lifestyle choice that I adopted to free myself from a major source of stress and anxiety, and which never had anything remotely to do with a desire to live sustainably). However, I never really got into it, and around the time that the last installment was “due,” I decided that I would prefer the website format to the blog format if I want a space to share photo galleries in addition to relevant information (e.g. tips and advice related to car-free/car-lite islands in Europe, car-free astrotourism in Europe, or car-free nature adventures within the city of Columbus, Ohio).
And then I did something personally liberating (although not nearly as liberating as back in 2017 when I sold my car and never looked back…): I withdrew from my one outstanding commitment related to environmental ethics, thereby closing a chapter of my life which had been a false start. The latter is another story, and one that needn’t detain us, but the upshot is that withdrawing from said commitment caused me to feel blissfully free to recreate my interests from scratch, and at the time it led me to develop a new “research agenda” fully detached from the topics of noticing and photographing birds, sauntering or visiting quiet islands. I continue to do all of those things, mind you, and I enjoy them immensely. The point is that I realized that I need not write about them, nor make them the cornerstone of my online persona or “brand.”
I have been procrastinating on posting the announcement that I’m putting this blog on hiatus, because it felt like I should combine with something substantive, as well as a collection of carefully culled photographs — but that’s exactly the sort of work I just can’t seem to get into, especially when I am remembering just much there is to research, learn and contemplate… when I’m not out sauntering and noticing birds, that is — the off-screen life that always comes first!
I might or not might post new installments of Nonmotorized Trails in the future. If I do, it will be entirely at my leisure, and I will make no attempt to adhere to a schedule.
Thank you to those who have read and appreciated (any of) the first four posts.
