This is really going to happen!

A year has passed and I haven't posted anything.  Here are my excuses:  Last January I moved to a different job within the same organization I have worked for since 2009.  The new position was a welcome change but a bit of a learning curve.  Then Jane and I decided to put our house on the market.  It sold immediately so we were forced to consider our options.

Not owning a home actually put us in a great position to take the US road trip we had always dreamed of and combine that with my desire to research housing for LGBT seniors.  I asked for a six month leave of absence from my job and, thankfully, I was given approval.  Magic happens!  We are leaving San Diego on February 2nd and will return on August 1st!  We'll be traveling in our 25 foot motor home with our two dogs, Punkin and Rosie.  Our route will be coastal when possible, and counterclockwise.  We'll meet up with my brother in Florida in March, then head up to east coast to Boston in April to watch my niece, Angela, run the Boston Marathon.  We'll continue into Maine, then cross into Canada and back to the US though Michigan, and then take a northern route to Washington state to spend a few weeks on Whidbey Island visiting family and friends before heading back home.  Along the way, we'll be catching up with friends and family, but during the entire trip I'll be spending time doing research on senior housing, and talking with LGBT seniors about their hopes and desires for housing if living at home is not an option.

Jane will be taking pictures to help document our work and I'll be keeping up this blog to share highlights with you along the way.  I'm so excited to be getting back into qualitative research, a major focus of my graduate work at the University of Washington,  There are many things to consider and I am still in the process of sorting out my research process so I can make this study manageable.  Thankfully, I have friends with a variety of skills and expertise that will advise me along the way.  I hope to take questions and receive feedback from all who are interested in this important topic.  Keep posted!