In the middle of a love affair with bicycling and Washington, D.C., I wrote my first post for Chasing Mailboxes. Four years later, this blog is still going. The love affair has hit some sticky wickets over time, but most days it continues, too.

In the initial year, posts read more like postcards than letters. More reserved with my topics and content, I often wrote from the outside in, contemplating what the blog’s audience would think while I composed each post.

Over time, that changed and this space became a place for greater reflection.

Now I post more about whatever is knocking around in my head, and wonder as I press the big “Publish” button if anyone who reads this blog may have felt something similar or have some perspective to offer. I have enjoyed the progression.

I also write, as my friend Nick commented recently, as a way to memorialize my experiences and to say “I was here. I did things.”

Recently I compiled my posts by year (2010, 2011, 2012, and 2013) and I have added those to the menu at the top.

Chasing Mailboxes readers, you have been so encouraging over the years, and the feedback I have received from you has been helpful, inspiring, and thought-provoking.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in the Chasing Mailboxes challenges and to those who have written guest posts for the blog. This blog is better by your being part of it.

Thanks to Bill Beck for all the rando photos he has taken of Felkerino and me over the years.

I am so appreciative to those that have stopped by to read Chasing Mailboxes. Many thanks to you who have commented, liked my posts, and encouraged me in one way or another to keep writing.

Finally, a special thank you to Felkerino, my randonneur and real-life spouse, for sharing so many of these great adventures and memories with me.

Cheers, everybody.