I did several things:
My husband and I set up distribution lists before I left. His evolved over the course of the summer as more people asked to be added to his. When I would call him along the way he would send out an update on my progress and adventures. People loved these. When I was near a computer I would send out a short message myself to my list, as well as personal messages to those I wanted to communicate with one on one. Computers at libraries and hostels are more easy to come by than you might think. I sent very few postcards or letters, after writing in my journal at night I didn’t feel like writing a letter to someone.
The business of getting your journal updated is best left to someone at home too-if you want to set up a TJ here on this site, don’t try to manage the updates yourself. You’ll really be spending ALL your town and library time doing just that. But finding a reliable person to type in your entries can be trying too-I went through several transcribers from the trail which was frustrating as people were bugging me for daily updates, like there was anything I could do about it while hiking !! I notice many of the hikers on TJ this year seem to have Pocketmails which means you get their entries faster and can follow alone more closely, but journaling isn’t for “us”, it’s for you.
If you have someone you’ll be calling on a regular basis and they have internet access, I recommend the quicky updates that way and then they can read the details later in your daily journal (if that’s kept on line). I also gave the poster maps to all family members for Christmas the year before so that they could follow the trail.
Bluebearee
