Forty Day and Thirty-Nine Nights

We pulled in to Portsmouth, my grandmother's home, at exactly six o'clock on July 2nd.  We dined on proper Southern diner of bar-b-que, cole slaw and iced tea and slept indoors.  We spent the better part of yesterday emptying out the car, cleaning off the camping supplies and sweating.  I'm not adjusted to this heat yet. 

In all we traveled over 8400 miles, visited 19 national parks, visited 15 states, saw wildlife a plenty, met loads of interesting people and spent gobs of money with nothing much to show for it but memories and annoying anecdotes suitable for cocktail parties.  Should I ever go to a cocktail party again I guess.

I'm sure if someone pressed me enough, I could tell you what was my favorite place or what the best time was.  But honestly, the whole thing was.  The trip in and of itself was superlative, it was the experience that I will remember most and the reason, the reason for doing it all.

The worst was west Texas though.  I still hate west Texas.  If it's going to be that hot and dry and least get some cacti or mountains to look at while I drive though.  That's what the other states in the Southwest did.

So concludes this blog though.  While Liz and I will surely have many more adventures finding the means and measures to restart our stationary lives, I doubt they will make for interesting reading being so few and far between the days of staring out the window of my grandmother's house, waiting for something to happen.  So I will leave you with this picture.  It's an historic old cabin along the Appalachian Trail, surely built by some of the first people to strike out 'west' to find new lives and happy to live dirt poor up in the mountains.  I can dig that, maybe if we play our cards right we can be so lucky.

Thanks for reading this far.

Before We Wrap This Up

Let me introduce you to the third member of our adventure, Ted.

Ted and I got together in Denmark back in 2003.  I met him on the streets where he was doing performance art for small change.  He chose to come with us back to the states and has been going on adventures with Liz and me ever since.  Here are some highlights...

In the desert, looking hot

Walking out on one of the arches at Arches NP.  A no-no for humans

Admiring the ancient pueblo dwellings of Mesa Verde

At the Smokey the Bear Museum in New Mexico.  Obviously a childhood hero.

In New Orleans on Bourbon St

Getting a bev at Buc-ee's

Taking a turn at the wheel

Ah memories.

The Last State

We are now in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Odds are that we'll camp tonight in the Blue Ridge somewhere and then float into Portsmouth tomorrow evening. And just like that the trip will be over. Sometimes it feels like it just started.

We had a great time in Ashville yesterday, seeing Liz's family and the town. It was my first chance to get around downtown there and I really liked it, very bohemian. Caroline, if you're reading this, why didn't you move there instead of Raintown?