We arrived home yesterday afternoon and have spent today slowly unpacking, doing laundry and settling in.
I had several goals for this trip and for a change, I think I accomplished all of them. I wanted to visit with family and friends and make sure they know how important they are to me, and to have a mental picture of where they are and what's going on in their lives. After a couple of years of virtual living, I wanted the real thing, complete with hugs.
We're leaving for several years. I didn't want to leave the country feeling like I was running from all the problems and turmoil and negativity that is the current US landscape. I was hoping to find the America that exists in my mind, and hold it to my heart. I want to carry an image of home with me on my travels. I think I found that. People were unfailing kind, helpful, decent, all across the country. There was whimsy and humor everywhere. And America is stunning. I couldn't believe how beautiful and varied she is, from East coast to West, from North to South.
I wanted to field test our gear, and do a test run of our travel plans under extreme conditions. We will be travelling much slower when we leave the US, fewer destinations, less complicated itineraries. It worked well. Our luggage held up beautifully. We were able to flex and change plans quickly when the unexpected happened (COVID in week 3, for both of us). Our packing was pretty spot on, really I only forgot an emery board and would have liked another pair of socks, and it hadn't occurred to us to pack quarters for the laundry.
We also wanted to see if we would still WANT TO DO THIS, after a month of non-stop road travel. Would we be home-sick? What we discovered was how very much we want to continue on. We both felt mentally charged, excited by all the new sites, and all the things we learned as we went along. We called every hotel room home. Our biggest complaint was that we would have liked more time, just about everywhere we went.
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