I’d like to apologize to those of you who kept checking the site looking for updates on our whereabouts. Our journey took us into so many great places while covering thousands of miles of travel I decided to forgo trying to update while on the trip and instead take in my surroundings. It was only after my return to home that I learned just how many family, friends and coworkers had been looking regularly only to find the site stagnate. Again, I’m sorry to disappoint.
In any case we have made it home after better than 31 days on the road. In that stretch we racked up the following;
- Visited 17 states
- Took over 9000 photographs
- 4 National Parks (Theodore Roosevelt, Yellowstone, Wind Cave, Badlands)
- 3 National Monuments (Little Bighorn, Devils Tower, Mt. Rushmore)
- 2 Theme parks (Cedar Point and Six Flags New England)
- Traversed Granite Pass (el. 9,033 feet (2,753 m)) on Route 14 in the Big Horn mountains of Wyoming
- Viewed 17 trillion stalks of corn while passing through Iowa
- Our biggest mileage day was over 700 when we pushed for home from Western Pennsylvania last Monday.
- The only rain we had the entire trip was in the last 2 days on the road.
- The vast majority of days were perfect sunshine and reasonable temperatures.
As I mentioned above we pushed to get home on the last day. With no more specific sites to visit and having a fair amount of road fatigue we just wanted to go home. As such we arrived home around 4:00 am Tuesday morning. Everyone except Andrew (our oldest) Terri and myself were asleep when we pulled into the driveway. Having been away so long brought a sort of surreal quality to actually being home. As such we didn’t go directly to bed but instead went inside to check on our cats and look at the stack of mail that had piled up in our absence. While we were gone a neighbor of ours had been collecting the mail and tending to the 3 cats.
As we approached the door we realized that we did not have a house key since we had left one with the neighbor and the other one was on the key ring that had the van keys on it. Those were safely hanging just inside the door on the rack.
Okay, now what? Since it was rather late/early we didn’t want to wake the neighbor but we also didn’t want to wait until morning. So with a little work and some tools from the RV we broke into our own house. Fortunately we live in an area of the country where we don’t have to bullet proof our home from thieves. Granted, if we can break in so can they but since the house is occupied nearly 24/7 I’m not too concerned. Most criminals fear getting caught and won’t approach busy occupied houses.
In any case, the cats were happy to see us and after 20 minutes or so Terri and I returned to the RV to sleep. Since our pillows etc. were there already it was simpler than sleeping inside given the lateness. Besides, Amelia would have been more than a little lost in the morning when she woke up and found us not there. Andrew however said that he would just as soon crash on the couch.
I slept until around 11:00 and woke up refreshed. Andrew - as I learned later - never went to sleep. Soon after I was up he wanted to take the car and go see his girlfriend who was some 40 miles away. Knowing that being that tired behind the wheel can be deadly I refused to let him drive. I did offer to drive him down to her house and leave him with the car there. None of this sat very well with him so we all stayed home until late afternoon.
At around 3:00 I noticed that he had fallen asleep talking on his cell phone while sitting in the RV. After letting him nap for an hour or so I tried to wake him to get him into the car to go.
He may as well have been in a coma. Talking got zero response as did poking and shaking him. At one point MaryAnne grabbed his baseball cap off his head to which he then opened his eyes long enough to snag it back and go back to sleep. It took 20 minutes or more to get through to him enough to get him to move. Ultimately he did wake up enough and he arrived safely at Shawna’s to spend the night.
With school looming next week and the typical family grind of scheduling that goes along with it we decided to take the “Let’s just ignore it all” approach and relax. So, for the last 3 days we have done just that. We haven’t even fully unloaded the RV yet but instead have just enjoyed being home. We were blessed with 2 “perfect” weather days Tuesday and Wednesday. You know the ones, where the temperature is just right and the sun shines brightly all day through a crystal clear blue sky devoid of any clouds.
At one point I sat alone under a shade tree on the lawn - in high grass that needed mowing - just reading a Clive Cussler novel I picked up for $1.00 in Iowa called “Black Wind“, completely stress free.
As John Denver once said;
“Hey its good to be back home again - yes it is
Sometimes this old farm feels like a long-lost friend
Yes n hey, it’s good to be back home again”
Yes it is.
~Steve