SANTA ROSA, N.M. — We ventured west along Interstate 40 to this community.

Our intention was to relax in our fifth wheel, do a little swimming at the Blue Hole and just get away from the hustle/bustle of our regular lives — although it’s a lot less hustle-and-bustly than it used to be.

However, one of my travel indulgences includes purchasing a newspaper.

So, we awoke and, given that this was a Sunday morning, I only assumed I’d be able to drive to the nearest convenience store, truck stop, grocery market and purchase a paper from a large metropolitan area that’s not too far away from here.

Silly me.

I went to three retail outlets. At the last one, I asked the clerk: “We’re from out of town. Is there anywhere here where we can purchase a Sunday newspaper?” The lady said, “Oh no. They stopped delivering the Albuquerque Journal some time ago.”

That did it!

Then it occurred to me. I can blame the Internet for this catastrophe. Newspapers everywhere are cutting back — or eliminating — regional distribution of their editions (I refuse to refer to newspapers as “products,” which is what my former employers in Amarillo have taken to calling the newspaper that’s being published there in diminishing numbers).

Thus, one of the staples of my traveling habits has been eliminated whenever my wife and I travel to markets that don’t have a daily paper of their own.

Thanks for nothing — whoever it was who invented the Internet.