But, alas, no sooner do I get another 200 miles down the road than I find I have fallen behind in my journals, in the letters I need to write, in the growing batches of taped interviews I must carefully label.

I also interview people for the books I will be writing later, tape conversations for National Public Radio, do an occasional magazine article, search out interesting subjects to photograph, and fill three journals for each day. The first journal is for recording the mileage and places visited; the second describes the people I meet; the third sums up my personal feelings and adventures.

That's not all. I have almost daily meetings with the media and city officials. I take time to explore each area I visit. And then there are the "domestic chores"--the laundry, the personal hygiene, the feeding my never-quite-filled stomach, and, at the end of the day, the searching out a hayloft, an old building, or a cut field to bed down in.

And let's not forget about the walking part. I must walk at least seven hours to get in 25 miles. No wonder I go from 7 in the morning to 10 or 11 at night! Reviewing my mileage log, I find that for nearly every day I walk I spend another day "resting" and catching up on my work.

I'm not complaining. I'm madly in love with the whole project and falling more deeply in love with it by the hour. How can I not? Writing, traveling, and meeting people are three of my greatest loves, and--like some incredible dream come true--I'm filling each of my waking minutes with all three.

Even now I pinch myself from time to time to remind myself that this is all very real, that I'm not dreaming.

And now the magic of Ireland looms just over the horizon. How blessed can one person be?

Steven