Thank You, San Juan Island

Posted January 1, 2022 at 4:31 am by

Enjoying some hot cocoa and solidifying big plans at South Beach on Christmas Day right before the snow flew – Shannon Dean photo

A note to you from Tim Dustrude, editor of the San Juan Update…

As many of you may know, my passion in the past couple of years has been traveling with my wife Shannon in our camper van and seeing our beautiful country. We have been many places so far, from west coast to east coast and from north to south. We’ve made new friends in red states, blue states and other states in between. We’re loving it and we want to continue because there is so much more to see. (click here to see where we’ve been).

We started this journey just over two years ago, and I’ve been able to keep the San Juan Update running during this time, however it has been either extremely challenging when I looked after it myself entirely, or not cost-effective when I’ve hired people to help me.

So I have made the very difficult decision to discontinue the daily publishing of the San Juan Island Update.

To you the faithful Update reader – I want to thank you for your enthusiasm and encouragement. It feels so good to see you around town and hear you say how much you love the Update.

To you the advertiser – I want to thank you very much for your support – there is no way the Update could have remained viable in its current state without advertisers like you, and I really appreciate your faith in me to promote your business while helping to keep the island community aware of things going on around this beautiful island.

To all you contributors – Thanks for sharing your news and announcements, enabling me to provide a venue to amplify your message to share with your fellow islanders.

But it is time for me to move on, so beginning on January 1, 2022 – I will no longer be publishing new daily content. However, the Update isn’t going anywhere yet – it will remain online as a sort of archive at least for the foreseeable future. And I’m sure I will add things from time to time, especially critically important announcements to the community or things that I believe are especially of interest for whatever reason.

I really hate to think of it going away permanently so it is my hope that I can find someone to take over the reins.

To that end, I will be entertaining offers from people interested in buying the Update and keeping it going – if you are interested or if you know of someone who would like a “turn-key” business, I would love to hear from you. I really do believe it could be a wonderful opportunity for someone.

But for now, I will close, and say once again, thank you so much San Juan Island for all of your support over the past nine years!

You can support the San Juan Update by doing business with our loyal advertisers, and by making a one-time contribution or a recurring donation.

17 comments...

  1. Thank you Tim for building a very credible and pertinent source for local news and issues. I am sorry to see that you are moving on but think that you guys are onto something good with Van travels. Life is short.
    I especially appreciate your willingness to allow me a little soapbox on so many occasions and to support my Freezer Burned column over the last 20 months.

    Best to you and Shannon

    Comment by Steve Ulvi on January 1, 2022 at 8:30 am
  2. When my husband and I first moved here, an initial piece of advice (and what turned out to be excellent) was from a friend who said that “Update” was THE place to go for news around and of SJI. Not dire news, not gossip inflated for sensation, not unsubstantiated rumors, but decent, pertinent information. I have followed “Update” just about every day since even when we’ve been on extended road trips or cruises. Thank you, Tim and Shannon, for this superb journalism, unique to the world of printed material, for being an integral and important aspect to our lives here on the island.

    Comment by Gay Graham on January 1, 2022 at 10:24 am
  3. Thank you Tim for all of your good work. Best wishes for your travels and come home someday!

    Comment by Marilyn O'Connor on January 2, 2022 at 8:56 am
  4. Your gain , our loss. Thank You, I really appreciate San Juan Update

    Comment by Jane A Burton-Bell on January 2, 2022 at 11:57 am
  5. I read sanjuanupdate every single day I’m able to…even traveling! It’s my “island good news” go-to. Thanks for all the good news through the years!

    Comment by Margaret Bell on January 2, 2022 at 12:28 pm
  6. Tim & Shannon, we’ll miss you! Have a wonderful time out there in the world. We’ll keep a candle in the window for you.

    Comment by Victoria Compton on January 2, 2022 at 1:04 pm
  7. I will miss the daily quotes and info, but glad you and Shannon are living your dreams, especially after all you’ve been through.

    Comment by Caroline Armon on January 2, 2022 at 1:15 pm
  8. Thank you Tim. Happy travels!

    Comment by Shelley Alan on January 2, 2022 at 1:42 pm
  9. Thanks for all that you guys did. Will really miss this resource. I hope your adventures are amazing and may 2022 be your best year yet.

    Comment by William F House MD on January 2, 2022 at 6:26 pm
  10. Oh Tim and Shannon,
    you will be dearly missed around town, but the UPDATE! Once the Island Record years ago held the spot for local human interest news; I always felt Ian filled that spot. You were wise and generous to undertake SUCH a time consuming venture and you upgraded it with your fabulous pictures, stories and the local platform it has been.
    I can only say hooray also for you both, you are in love, can make a living on the go, have had the adventures few have courage or ability to do as you have done. I too have read Update daily since its inception, and always look forward, but also looked at your travel blog and will continue. Very excited you are living life, in this weird alternate universe, creating your own fun and joy; be safe and continue the adventure! Thanks for coming back and checking in this winter!

    Comment by Pam C Fry on January 3, 2022 at 9:08 am
  11. The Update is my go to news site. Thank you for your fine journalism over the years.Your willingness to celebrate poetry month with my poems and other island poets was a welcome arts feature.

    Comment by Sherry Bell on January 3, 2022 at 9:49 am
  12. Thank you Tim for all these years of supporting the island community with the Update! I’ve followed the Update since the beginning even when I was living and working in Europe. I wish you and Shannon all the best in your travel adventures. Stay safe and take care!

    Comment by Darcie Nielsen on January 3, 2022 at 10:03 am
  13. Tim, you are a rock star! Thank you for providing this valuable service to the community. Your support for the many years of the monthly History Columns was so appreciated. Now, go seize the day! You and Shannon deserve a break.

    Comment by Shaun Hubbard on January 4, 2022 at 2:24 pm
  14. Thank you for such a great service all these years. You deserve an open ended vacation! Happy Trails to you!

    Comment by Jeanine on January 10, 2022 at 7:01 am
  15. Tim,
    Many thanks for keeping me in touch with my original hometown. Safe, and wide ranging, travels to you and Shannon.

    Comment by Dave Weed on January 12, 2022 at 10:16 pm
  16. Oddly, I keep opening the Update as I have every morning for so long, somehow thinking that it will be refreshingly alive again. No luck so far but I probably will continue to do so for some time. The Islander and Journal are OK but…

    Steve Ulvi

    Comment by Steve Ulvi on January 13, 2022 at 12:46 pm
  17. I have to add a ditto to Steve’s comment re. checking out “Update” every morning…yes, perhaps a futile habit but I remain hopeful.
    (I also can now do a spelling correction…”superb” rather than “suburb.”)

    Comment by Gay Graham on January 14, 2022 at 8:53 am

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

By submitting a comment you grant the San Juan Update a perpetual license to reproduce your words and name/web site in attribution. Inappropriate, irrelevant and contentious comments may not be published at an admin's discretion. Your email is used for verification purposes only, it will never be shared.

Receive new post updates: Entries (RSS)
Receive followup comments updates: RSS 2.0