In the beginning . . .

I started this blog many moons ago but haven't used it. I'd like to claim that I've forgotten how it works, but the truth is I never really did figure it out in the first place. Anyhoo, I'm determined to join the blogging generation, so I'm going to be pounding away at it again . . . or may I be struck by lightning right now as I type.OK, having survived that, I'm still looking for a few good bloggers who would like to share their traveling adventures in Europe -- preferably KarmaBum camping spirits -- but not necessarily limited to those who sleep in tent and/or trailers. If you have a travel blog, email me -- rlee(at)karmabum(dot)com if you'd like to share your stories with thousands, and I'll link to you from the KarmaBum Cafe homepage.Just in case you're wondering, the picture was taken a few years back at a campground near Barcelona . . . click here to read more about that adventure, but wait until you've finished this post (it's only polite).My wife and I are going to the UK for an all-too-short trip this summer, and I'll be sharing our preparations and planning in the coming days, and possibly even adding a few posts during the trip.We're flying into London, catching up on our sleep with one night in a hotel near Kings Cross, and then catching a train for Edinburgh. We'll be in Edinburgh for five days/four nights, and then be going back to London for a week.We're contemplating an overnight Eurostar trip to Paris just because we can . . . but then again, we may just focus on London.

About the logo . . .

When I first started building the KarmaBum Cafe I wanted something unique to put on the logo. My oldest step-son did the picture for me. He took the picture of the caboose near Chico, California, and the layered in the cafe scene, Don Quixote, Sancho, and the windmill in the background. It's rough, but it was put together many years ago, and I like and have kept it. This picture is featured on the KarmaBum Credo page.

I put the logo together using software I purchased online. It's rough, but I like it and I'm keeping it. Some people have suggested that maybe the peace sign ought to go . . . it makes the site a little too uncommercial because of the hipster-dipster connotation . . . OK, I can live with that. A buddy and I were on a zig-zag roadtrip (east to west, mostly) quite a few years ago. He was reading the Dharma Bums and I was reading Don Quixote. Along the way we did some good deeds and passed the time getting across the miles 'n miles of Texas planning a restaurant we might like to open someday. It was going to be a combination of some cool eateries we had discovered along the way, and by and by we just arrived at a good name for it -- KarmaBum Cafe. Well, the restaurant never happened, but the name found a home. As it happens, he's the same friend navigating on the Traveling With The Infidel trip. Helluva dude.