Are We There Yet??? And Other Questions Asked Over 6,000 Miles: The Final Push

The adventure is winding down. There are no more places on the agenda, no more national parks to look forward to and no more questions as to where we are going. Due East. That's it. We left Denver Monday morning and my intentions were to continue with the secondary highways as they had brought so many amazing surprises this far. Once we were out of the city, the houses thinned, the roads straightened, and the cars diminished. Suddenly, in what seemed like the blink of an eye but was about 2 hours later, I realized just how remote we were. As we drove, I was looking at the map to find the next "relatively" big town (anything on the atlas should be of some notable size, right?) for gas. I was waiting, watching the miles tick away, thinking the next town should be coming soon. It came, it went, and it consisted of maybe 5 houses of which were ramshackles and barely standing. At this point, rather after having passed through 5 or 6 of these small towns thinking at least 1 would contain said gas station, I realized the interstate was created for a reason. We've been in some remote places on this trip, but knowing it was uncertain of how far we were from gas started to make me nervous. Turns out secondary highways are not the best route to take when tackling Eastern Colorado and headed towards Kansas. I quickly rethought my trash-talking of the interstate and decided me and the Interstate should make up, quickly. There is a reason it exists (so one can get through this part of the country as fast as possible) and today, and the next 4 days it will serve it's purpose. Apologies to my friends who live here or come from this neck of the woods, but honestly, there just isn't anything. Nothing.

Eastern Colorado. Goodbye Rockies.

After a transition to I70 we started to make a bit more progress. We drove. And we drove. And we drove. I can't say I was necessarily looking forward to this part of the trip. Logging this many miles every day with not much to look forward to becomes tiresome. Quickly. Our first night we made it to WaKeeney, KS. What? You've never heard of it? Allow me to sum it up: windy, hot, flat, no trees, more mosquitoes than you've ever seen (anywhere), and really, really windy. Did I mention it was windy? In the middle of the night, the wind went from annoying to destructive. The tent stood strong, but I seriously questioned, at 2am, whether or not I was going to find myself in a far away land with red ruby slippers. There was no sleep for me. One could assume my Kansas experience was less then desirable. I'm sure it's a great place though.

No reprieve. So hot. So windy.

WaKeeney, KS. You can't really tell how windy it is, unless you enlarge the photo and see the rain fly is blown up like a balloon on the right side, which is where the wind was coming from.

Tuesday, we got in the car and we drove. It was hard to not stop and check out more things that make this country this country. Night 2 we made it to St. Louis (summed up: humid and just as many mosquitoes as Kansas) and camped 11 miles to the East of the Arch. I debated doubling back the next morning and showing it to the girls. The thought of dealing with morning rush hour (something I hadn't experienced for weeks) all to bring the girls to see something that they'd look at. That's all I got. They'd stand there and look and not get it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

There was something that happened once we jumped on that interstate. It was like a tractor beam pulling us home. For weeks we've been moving fluidly around the country, stopping if we wanted, feeling no rush, and suddenly, just like that, I had no interest elongating our interstate experience and just wanted to get this part of the drive over with.

Just looking at this makes me feel how hot and humid it was. Gross.

I have a new-found appreciation for this sign. While not my preferred way to camp, it was exactly what we needed on this trip.

The road was long. The girls were amazing companions. They toughed it out. I stuck to my rule that they could watch a movie in the morning and a movie in the evening, but it was still 5 hours a day they had to fill the void. They read, they listened to books, they played, we even broke out the car-eoke cd's and "sang" together (using that action loosely as I'm sure it was anything but singing), they were super champs. The moments could be high, and they reached some lows too. But in the past 7 weeks we've learned how to talk to each other, removing some of the toxicity out of our communication.

There was a lot to look forward to; being together again with Daddy, loving on the doggies, swimming at Baboosic, seeing friends, having our own spaces, but for me, this vagabond life was well suited. I loved, LOVED, living day to day.

Day 3 we made it to Washington, PA and camped our last night in our home on the road. I can honestly tell you I slept as hard as I ever have in this tent. At night I would rest my head and take a deep breath, a happy breath, a restful breath for being in our home. It was THE best way to travel this summer.

Our last night camping. Such a heavy heart. So many memories. The girls playing on the playground in the back is what I love about this - the ability to explore so many new surroundings.

A cool bug.

Trying to capture that moment when the odometer rolls to 10,000 miles.

Yup, no 10,000..... just rolls to 0 again.

So much driving time. What does one think about for so many hours? I couldn't tell you.

Day 4 we made it across PA to Easton. This was to be our last night on the road. It was also our last visit with friends. Tonight we were to stay with a friend I hadn't seen since 1994, when he graduated. Dang, that's a long time ago. My nephew, who graduated this year, was not even a glimmer in my sister's eye. We pulled in to Glenn and April Honnen's and for the last time (on this journey), Sierra and Mckenzie ran up their kids and within seconds had created a friendship that you'd think they'd known each other years. Laughs were had, memories were shared, a lifetime of catching up and then it was time to pack up and hit the road. One. Last. Time.

Glenn & I - old friends

Myself, April and the kids (and a neighbor kid who made it in the photo) - new friends

East Coast = Traffic

Friday. Our home day. Exactly 50 days since we'd left. It's still hard to think about all the emotions that happen as you finish up those last hours of one hell of a journey. How does one just end it? Two weeks later and I'm still trying to figure this out.

Video of our final feet before seeing our house, and me seeing Dan in the drive way

Those last miles, the familiar miles that have been driven time and again for countless reasons, those miles were difficult. Suddenly having a sense of surroundings, knowing where we were, knowing what to expect, it was all so surreal.

But this, pulling in the driveway to see Daddy waiting for us, after 7 weeks of being away from each other. This.