2011 - Happy New Year!

                                              HAPPY NEW YEAR!
2010 was a great year for Three States Plus One and I owe it all to you! Your continued unwavering support
has made writing this blog more fun than a middle aged white guy is entitled to. Since I started this gig back in mid-June, you, the readers, have viewed it more than twelve thousand times! That's way more than I ever expected a mere six months ago. In that vein, Three States Plus One is now read in forty-eight states in the Union and fifty-nine countries around the world from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, and all places in between. I am confident that Three States is set to have a breakout year in 2011 and that, too, I owe to you. Earlier tonight I was reading some analytics of this site and found out that on December 29, the day I wrote about Texas History, one of my posts went viral. As far as I know, that's a first for me and I am damn proud of it. But, it wasn't my brilliant writing and biting satire that propelled that post to go viral, it was you, the reader, who generously recommended it to your friends and family. I could write with the eloquence of Shakespeare and if nobody read it, this blog would go belly up pretty quick. Every time I write a post, I try like hell to make it better than the last one. I do that for a couple of reasons. One reason is that I am a proud man. If it's got my name on it, it had damn well better meet my own expectations, or it isn't fit to post. The second, more important reason, is because you give to me the gift of your time to read what I write. The very least I can do for you, is to make it worth your time to visit Three States Plus One. Please understand that I take the gift of your time very seriously and I am grateful and humbled that you give me that gift on a regular basis. I only hope that I give something back to you in return. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. Now it's on to 2011 and time to kick ass and take names!

Happy New Year and God bless,
Toby

More of the Best of 2010!

Church

We'll continue our look back at 2010 with some "Best of..." posts today, but first I want to remind you of what you missed if didn't get a chance to read yesterday's entries about my hometown and some other of 2010's best and most popular posts, including a very emotional and powerful post on the anniversary of 9/11. Sit back with a hot cup of coffee and enjoy a recap of what you, the reader, determined to be our most popular posts of 2010.

• The Rio Grande Starts Here - I was kind of surprised when I looked at the blog archives and noticed that this was our most- read Colorado Chronicles post of the year, but it was. 
• Caught - This was, without a doubt, my personal favorite post of the year. It's about "going to church" with a fishin' pole at a pond way up in the Rockies. A place where God and I have a Father-Son talk amongst the majestic Rocky Mountain peaks, the brilliant sunshine and of course, a fishin' hole. To me, that's "church". Can I get an amen from the readership?
• Tomah Joseph - Another personal favorite and you guys liked it, too. Tomah Joseph was an Indian who lived in the early 20th Century near where my wife grew up in Eastport. He was an amazing man with an amazing life story. When you click over to the story, be sure to click the links embedded within the story. it really is a great read.

The three posts I listed up there ^^^, are well worth the time to take a look at... not because of my legendary literary skills ( I just made that part up...), but because the subject matter is something that you won't find anywhere but where I found it or right here on Three States Plus One. Thanks for making these posts easy choices to be in the "Best of 2010". You done good.