Before I start to wrap up these
past 3 amazing months, we had 3 great surprises today. Matt showed up at the campground about 9
am. And he brought foo-foo coffee!
(Starbucks). We thought he came to help
wash the RV, but he had to get home to mow the lawn before we get there on
Wednesday. He stayed just long enough to
see our niece Deni and granddaughter Payton pull up, something he
orchestrated. What a joy to see them! The hugging didn’t stop there as nephews
Logan and Sean and niece Kendra came for dinner. The best part of returning home after an
extended absence is seeing loved ones.
And Michael, Gavin and Shaylon are next at the top of that list.
Now. . . where to start? As Julie Andrews sang in “Sound of Music” –
“Let’s start at the very beginning. A
very good place to start. . . “
First and foremost, we are fully
aware, and humbly acknowledge, that this adventure was a gift from God. A gift of the time to do it, a gift of the
good health to do it, and a gift of the resources to do it. Looking back, before we left we did not truly
comprehend what wonders we would find.
The journey was SO MUCH MORE than crossing things off a “bucket list”.
We are beyond thankful.
Three months seems like a long
time, but we certainly didn’t visit all the states west of the Mississippi. We didn’t even see all the interesting things
in the states we did go to. But we are
not going to regret the places we didn’t get to; we are grateful and thrilled
with how much we did see and do.
Guess how many miles we
traveled? (I should have bought a tacky
souvenir along the way for a prize and had an actual guessing contest!) Give up?
When we pull into our driveway on Wednesday, the motorhome will register
7,861 miles since we left Zephyrhills, Florida on April 3rd. The Jeep’s mileage is even more amazing. When it is towed behind the RV, the odometer
doesn’t turn. So the 8, 247 miles
we put on were all day trips after we were set up in a campground! That is a total of 16,108 miles! We have
the sore bottoms to prove it! And
thousands of bugs from all across the country have met their demise on our
windshields. I counted them every time
we washed the motorhome and Jeep. Mike
says our greatest achievement on the trip is that after 16,108 miles of being
together 24/7, we still like each other!
We held firm on our desire to stay
away from chain restaurants. (Our last
stop in Galena tested that resolve as the campground was right next to a
Culver’s.)
In every state we supported local
restaurants, diners and pubs. We bought
cookies from Girl Scouts in Arizona and popcorn from Boy Scouts in Utah. We had the Jeep washed in Louisiana by a high
school class raising money for a field trip.
I purchased several hand-made items from a Native American woman in New
Mexico. We are bringing home beer brewed
in Oklahoma, wine from Napa Valley, huckleberry jam from Montana, caramel corn
from South Dakota and BBQ sauce from Kansas City. The majority of the campgrounds we stayed in
were family owned and operated.
We’ve watched more orientation
films and filled our heads with more trivia than we will be able to recall if
we are ever asked to appear on Jeopardy.
The number of people who rent RV’s out west surprised us. “Cruise America” and “Cruise Canada” Class C
motorhomes are everywhere. (That’s a
good thing, by the way. It means families are vacationing). So many more than we see in Michigan. Traveling down the road we passed a variety
of forms of power; oil refineries, rural electrical co-operatives, hydroelectric
facilities, ethanol plants, lazily turning wind turbines and horse-drawn
buggies.
It was stressful driving and our
fuel mileage was terrible climbing the steep, twisting roads in the mountains,
but I miss seeing them already. We don’t
miss the wind.
We stopped at every state welcome
center we came upon, and found the staff to be just that, extremely
welcoming. When we drove past churches
and schools, it was a reminder that no matter where you live, community life
revolves around such things. Signs in
front of churches invited us to attend and my favorite school mascot was in
Cody, Wyoming, where the high school proudly announced it was the home of the
Broncs and Fillies.
We had several things on the RV
that needed to be repaired or replaced over the three months. Nothing was major enough to end our trip or
strand us somewhere for several weeks.
Having the “check engine” light come on back in Florida was a blessing
in disguise. The motorhome never would
have handled the mountainous driving without getting the turbo-thingy
fixed. We were so happy with how it ran.
Much of our adventure involved
logistics. Mike handled that part. Choosing places to go and things to do was
another part. Let’s just say that
bowling ball was right up my alley. Mike
is the oldest of 7. He inherited the
responsibility gene. I’m the youngest of
7. I got the fun gene. (I can almost see my siblings shaking their
heads in agreement). Mike said he got to
the point that he knew if there were 2 hours left in the day, I would find
something to fill them – there was always one more place we could stop and
visit.
The natural thing is going to be
for people to ask us, “What was your favorite part of the trip?” (Mike says my
answer better not be the week he was back in Michigan and I was in St. George,
Utah by myself!)
Please don’t ask! How do you choose between the majesty of the
Court of the Patriarchs at Zion, the orange hoodoos of Bryce Canyon, the beauty
of El Capitan and the waterfalls at Yosemite, the unbelievable diverse areas
and wildlife at Yellowstone, the rugged coastline of the Pacific Ocean from
California to Washington, the colors of the Painted Desert, the quiet of the
Badlands, the magnificent mountain ranges, or standing in awe under a giant
sequoia or redwood?
It’s impossible.
You notice that everything
mentioned above was created by God. We
talked often on the trip that the beauty we saw at almost every turn was
natural. God’s handiwork cannot be
adequately described in a blog post.
America is so interesting. We
have seen “spacious skies, amber waves of grain, purple mountains majesty above
the fruited plain.” You have to discover
it for yourself. Every state is unique,
including the one you live in. If you were just humming along to “America The
Beautiful”, try Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is Our God”. It conveys how we feel.
Thank you, also, to those of
you, family and friends, that said “Let us know where you are going and what
you are doing.”. Little did I dream
that we would be here, 48 blog posts later.
I would not have thought to do a blog, and now, while trying to paint a picture for you with words, we have a detailed journal of our travels. Another gift.
So – Wednesday is home. Beyond seeing our family, there are several
things I am looking forward to. Mike got
a haircut back in Missouri. Guys can do
that. Girls don’t let just anyone mess
with their hair. I look like a shaggy
dog. I have had to hack away at my bangs
several times just to be able to see.
When I knew for sure when we would be home, I called my hair gal in
Ionia on Monday to ask, “We will be back in Ionia on Wednesday. How soon can you get me in?”
Mike says he has gotten so used to
our bed in the RV that he may go out and sleep in it once we are back. (we park the RV right next to our
house). Not me. He will probably have to drag me out of our
bed on Thursday morning. I’m excited to
see what flowers and shrubs are in bloom in our yard. My watch, which I kept on Michigan time, is
now correct. I no longer have to
subtract 1 or 2 or 3 hours to know the local time. I can stop looking for Michigan license
plates in every parking lot or on every car that passes us. I’m surrounded by them now.
Of course, the first time the lawn
needs to be mowed, or the house cleaned, or the weeds pulled, we are going to
wish we were back on the road.
But for now, Dorothy probably said
it best: “There’s no place like home.”
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:22-26
Kendra, Logan and Sean
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