Well we made it. Home again. We are both really tired. It was a short drive home and a quick unloading in time for a party at my nephew's new house. We saw both sets of grandchildren and had some good hugs. It is good to be back with family.
On this trip we drove more than 6500 miles through North Dakota, Montana, Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming, and South Dakota. We stayed in 22 campgrounds - some great, some not so great. We were gone exactly 6 weeks. We read 31 books between us. We watched the entire "Winds of War" mini-series on DVD. We took 674 pictures and I wrote 44 blogs.
It is funny to be home after a long trip. It seems to me that things should be the same as when we left as though we were gone just for the weekend. But baby Bennett is crawling everywhere, Kellen has new teeth, darling curls and even more dimples, Carter says he missed us and "don't go anywhere more."
We need to wash piles of clothes, get haircuts, read the mail, pay bills, go to the library and grocery store, wash the RV, dust the house.........and plan the next trip. YUP, we are already thinking about several more places we want to go - the Natchez Trace and Nashville, the Blue Ridge Highway on the East Coast, Rocky Mountain National Park and other Colorado high spots and narrow gauge railways, Yellowstone and the Bear Tooth Mountains, Big Bend National Park in Texas - the list goes on and on. We had a great time with Mark, Joyce and Jo Ellen. I hope some of you will join us the next time we go wandering.
Life on the road can be tiring, worrisome, expensive, dusty. But it challenges us, makes us learn something new every day, gives us time to talk with each other, and makes us appreciate our country and the life that we are lucky to lead living here. Thanks for your comments, support and interest. "Happy trails to you, until we meet again."
