Hello friends,
Happy Cinco de Mayo from sunny Tucson, I hope all are well wherever you call home. I wanted to post a little update and commemorate my one year anniversary since I departed on my now completed tour.
Yes it was the fifth of May of last year that I rolled out of my driveway all loaded and determine to complete my set of goals, never imagining that my fifty states journey would take almost an entire year. So much of it went as I planned and so much more did not, which is what made it into the wonderful adventure that it became. Indecently I just purchased a used laptop to be able to start writing my book about the past year. I’ve been using a keyboard and my 8 inch tablet to post my blog the past few weeks since I trashed my computer with a cup of coffee while in Hawaii!
I plan to devote the next few weeks writing the story at night while I resume my small business during the day. I’m quite excited about reliving my entire experience on the road and sharing so much more with you than I was able to post here on this site. I hope I can relive and express my feelings, thoughts, and countless emotions I lived and shared on my blog in the same manner, for your reading pleasure.
If you read my last post I began a fundraising effort to jumpstart my idea of a Gigs Photo Gallery here in town and to help with my expected publishing cost, but up to now it’s pretty dead in the water, Lol! Nevertheless I will continue forward with my goal of having at least the first 25 states completed by June and ready for publishing, saving the photo gallery idea for a later date, depending on the funds available.
I also have another interview this Tuesday at the local PBS station for a radio segment on their show. Then it might be sent up to National NPR for a larger audience! I’ll keep you posted.
My dermatitis condition is slowly getting better now that the medicine seems to be working and I still don’t have a clue where I contracted it. I believe it was somewhere in California or Hawaii, my last two stops. It has sort of robbed me of any sort of rest and relaxation that I so badly looked forward to all these months on the road, suffering from a vicious itchy urge to scratch myself all over my body, especially at night, thus keeping me up for hours at a time! I don’t wish this on anyone.
Well enough about me friends, despite the physical setback, I stoked about being home with my family and friends who have done an amazing job of welcoming me home and praising and congratulating me for my accomplishments. I guess it still hasn’t totally hit me completely and I still feel a bit uncomfortable when folks refer to me as a local celebrity or famous for my television and newspaper articles. My only goal now is to write my book and to plan my next adventure for 2018!
Thanks for checking in and for believing in me.

 Juanjohn

Hello friends,
Good morning to you from the warm desert air of Arizona hoping you are well and had a great weekend. I’m still trying to find my footing now that I’m back home and still dealing with a rash I picked up somewhere in California or Hawaii the doctor thinks. My motivation to go forward with the next phase is there but my body still needs to catch up to myself. I’m sleeping well and eating better here at my sister's home who by the way is thrilled to have her little brother home!
I began a few jobs that I had waiting for me here in Tucson for some of my long-time clients who have been patiently waiting for me for a few months as you well know. It makes me feel great that they waited so long for me having other options available to them. Although the need to work obviously still exist for me, the desire to commit myself to the book writing portion of the tour must be my first priority. With that being said I decided to stick it out here with my big sis for the duration of the writing and publication process. He two older children have flown the nest and have left a bedroom available for me to settle in for a few months. Angie and I are both single at the moment and have always gotten along fine since we were kids so it will work out fine for both of us I believe.
I received plenty of attention from my television interview last week on the local NBC affiliate and my Spanish language article was printed City wide this past Friday, as well as the English version posted on line yesterday. The Arizona Daily Star printed a full centerfold with my story and many of my pictures today and that newspaper has the largest circulation in the southern part of the state! I also received word from Spanish media giant Telemundo for a possible interview this week. That would be amazing for me since it would be my first opportunity to tell my story to all of North and Central America, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that one!
With all that attention now focused on my accomplishment I decided after much thought to begin a fundraising campaign on the backside of the tour. As I wrote about in my last post I decided to move forward with my idea for a Photo Gallery here in the downtown area. With the intent of sharing some of my hundreds of pictures and stories with my local community. I realize the creation of something like that can seem overwhelming with cost and hard work but after surviving this past year on the road I feel like nothing is unattainable for me anymore! I’ve done lots of research and investigating lately and feel confident I could pull it off by doing most of the work myself and with a little help from some friends who share my vision of a Gigsacrossamerica gallery.
And so first of all I want to thank you again my followers for all your support and encouragement through out the year with your positive responses and comments that I no doubt feel helped me tremendously move forward to the end of my journey. You shared my high and lows, my joys and frustrations and my days off plenty and those in want. I am still thrilled when I receive messages from folks I met or worked for and those of you who faithfully stayed interested in my adventure from beginning to end. Now ask you once again if you are able or willing to support my dream of the gallery and of set some of the publishing cost with my fundraising campaign. I set up a GoFundMe account under the “ Gigsacrossamerica Project” name last night in an effort to raise the funds. I hope you find it a worthwhile investment of my time and your help as I will keep everyone updated as the project advances in the coming weeks! I can only reach so many people with my stories of the past year and can only print a few select pictures of the many I took on my book so the gallery idea I believe is a natural extension of my journey that I can share with many more people.
I also want to welcome many new followers from my recent interviews. Although the travel portion is complete you can browse the site by tapping the menu for all the gigs I worked and pictures I posted.
Well friends that’s all for today as I have to go visit the tax lady and do some yard work here before it gets too hot. Have a great day and thanks for checking in!

Juanjohn

Hello friends,
I’m glad to be writing you this day from my sister’s home where I’ll be making my stand for a few months while I get back on my feet again after my long journey on the road. I hope all are well wherever you call home.
I actually spent the day yesterday in the hospital recovering from a small skin irritation that affected me in almost fifty percent of my body. I developed a rash back in L.A. last week and it seemed to go away after a day but came back with avengence this weekend. I also was suffering from a bit of exhaustion from the road and they saw fit to hook me up to a IV cocktail for the day. I feel better now after two days of treatment and my immune system seems to be back on the upswing after months of feeling drained from the stress. Well that’s enough about me and I should be glad I reached home and my loved ones safe and in one piece!
I want to give you a few stats about the journey and tell you the plans I have in mind the next few weeks concerning the Gigs tour. I’ve been busy with a newspaper interview and today a recorded a local television interview which will air tomorrow. I’m happy for the buzz as my community followed me from the start and are thrilled by my return.
After all stats were completed I ended up traveling fifty states plus the District of Columbia.
I drove 34,394 miles, flew 12,276 to Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii.
I worked 62 jobs in 48 states.
I was on tour for 349 days.
I slept 189 nights in my truck.
I went through 2 computers and two cell phones.
Two flat tires and one set of bearings.
Two Kidney stones.
Two colds and one flu bug.
Two serious hand injuries.
And one rash!
I of course have more stats for the book that I will explain in more detail.
Now I will began the sorting through the half dozen or so publishing companies I’ve been in contact with for months. I will began writing about my adventure next week and plan to be busy with that for a few weeks. I think I could have it complete by the summer and plan to have it available in both print and e-book. I’m really excited to get started while it’s still fresh in my mind and the interest is current.
I also wanted to tell you about an idea I have been thinking about for months. I have an idea for extending the tour in a photo gallery setting. I’ve been looking into creating a gallery here in the downtown district or near by. I believe I could create a walk through sort of display duplicating my adventure with the hundreds of pictures and some of the momentous I collected along the way this past year. And at the same time writing my book along the way. I hope to be able to share my journey with my community, bringing it home to them as it were. I realize it would be a difficult endeavor put I have no doubt that I can pull it off. That being said friends I plan on starting a fundraising campaign to help with the start-up costs. I will keep you posted on that project as it developed in the next few weeks.
I wanted to thank you my website friends and followers for all your encouraging emails and comments through out the year and for checking in frequently and consistently. It was so heartwarming and humbling to know so many good people exist everywhere on this planet and so many of you took the time to show interest my adventure. I lovingly once again thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have another tour in the works for 2018 and hope you once again find it interesting as you did this one!
I will check in soon with up dates and news of the publishing process. Take care and good night!
Juanjohn