tl;dr The rvblogz.com domain is now available for anyone to do with it as they wish. RV Blogz was one of our original projects, that never left the lot. We were a bit busy with Tripawds and Live Work Dream.

RIP RV BLOGZ

The year was 2006. Shortly after we decided to sell the business, Rene said “we need a blog.” I hesitated. Why? She insisted blogs were the next big thing. It could help us market the sale of our full service graphics shop. It would help get our prospectus discovered. And it did. That’s when I discovered WordPress. Little did I know this nascent content management platform would become my calling. And later my bread and butter.

I found it easy to work with, and kinda fun. As we ramped up preparations to hit the road with Jerry, I had already started to wonder how we might make a living on the road. Sure, we planned and budgeted for a year off. But then what?

Did I mention that I discovered WordPress about this time? Shortly after registering this liveworkdream.com domain, I had a brilliant idea. I registered tripawds.com next, because our life revolved around Jerry. After all, his cancer diagnosis and amputation were the reason we hit the road in the first place. But this isn’t about that.

I figured we could host travel blogs for other RVers. I was quickly becoming proficient with WordPress. It would be easy for me to set up blogs for folks. Then, I discovered WordPress Multisite. Technically, it was WPMU back then, for WordPress MulitUser. But I was hooked. Before long, I was a WordPress network administrator. And RV Blogs was my first pet project. The rvblogs domain, however, was already registered. So I grabbed rvblogz.com made the announcement and the rest is history.

Video Memorial to RV Blogz

What Happened to RV Blogz?

Not much really…but I did give it a good go. The RV Blogz network was my training grounds. I used it to hone my skills with multisite, and various WPMU premium plugins. I even had a handful of strangers signup and create their own RV Blogz. It was my first freemium network. I built a Supporter platform that provided free blogs for other RVers. They had dozens of themes to choose from. And I provided a nice mix of early WordPress plugins. We ran Google ads on all the sites. And the WPMU Supporter plugin allowed me to configure different levels of paid plans. For a nominal fee, ads would be automatically removed. Pay a bit more and get more storage space, or unlock new features with additional plugins. Like the Grunion contact form (Last updated 12 years ago).

Just yesterday, we were listening to a story on the radio which mentioned the Grunion. No, not the plugin. The fish. And that inspired me to publish this post. It reminded me of when I announced the new Grunion Contact Form available for RV Blogz Supporters! However, for posterity’s sake, also felt the urge to document the demise of RV Blogz. You see, we finally let that domain lapse.

As a result. I just pulled the trigger and killed the rvblogs hosting account on our server. Yes, I made some backups first. Because I did have a few favorite blogs. The first test blog I created on the RV Blogz network, was Vacilando. Steinbeck fans and true nomads will get it. My skewed take on Travels with Charley lived at vacilar.rvblogz.com. And over the years I sometimes spouted random thoughts there with even more random photos.

And then of course, there was the first KillBarney blog. That’s where I shared pics of Jerry’s little purple nemesis in random spots throughout our travels. That spawned the Killbarney Tour which still lives on at Tripawds. But I digress. Lisa kept their Purcells on Wheels blogs going for a while. And I made sure to get them a full backup before I pulled the plug. But even Rene had her own secret little Giddy Cowgirl diary. Now, it’s all gone.

Why?

As I mentioned, I used RV Blogz as my testing grounds. Before long, I became fairly confident that I knew what I was doing. And that’s when I launched the Tripawds Blogs network. WordPress Multisite management does get a bit technical, but it is not that difficult. However, it does open a can of worms when it comes to hosting management and server resources. So, needless to say, I’ve become more of a sysadmin I ever dreamed of being, nor really cared to. But fast forward 16 years or so. And Tripawds now hosts more than 2,160 three legged dog and cat blogs. We’ve welcomed 25,000+ registered members over the years. And we host countless helpful resources. In addition to the blogs.

And we owe it all to that first RV Blogz network.

RIP RVBLOGZ.