10. I learned that I often take for granted the simple inventions that make life so much easier. Things like – a windshield. Without our van’s windshield, we would have been splattered with bugs and pelted with hail. Instead, it was our windshield which took the hits. Thanks, windshield!
9. I learned that the three most harrowing drives on this trip were (in reverse order): Iron Mountain Road, Pike’s Peak, and Chicago.
8. I learned that travel websites like gasbuddy, mapquest, travelocity, and tripadvisor really do work!
7. I learned that my daughters really, really, really love horses. They consider their time with Asia to be the most unforgettable moment of the trip.
6. I learned that I have really good taste in music. (I loaded up my ipod over a year ago and had forgotten all the cool tunes that were on it!)
5. I learned that if I ever go out west again, I’m going to budget more time for driving in Yellowstone and also more down time for just relaxing and swimming.
4. I learned that if I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn’t there, I never really lost it to begin with! (Oh wait, that’s the Wizard of Oz!)
3. I learned that we live in a country that is amazingly beautiful and special in so many different ways.
2. I learned that fast food stops tasting good after about five or six meals of it in a row.
1. I learned that God is an incredible artist with an infinite imagination and a limitless palette.
Acknowledgements:
Thanks . . .
to God, for making such a wonderful world and seeing us through our travels safely.
to Dave MacRaild, my high school principal who led a trip out west from Woodridge High School over 20 years ago which inspired me to take my family on this adventure;
to the Science Hill VBS staff, my mom, and an anonymous donor who gave us gas money toward our trip;
to Adam and Patti and Addison for hosting us and our laundry;
to Mark and Julie for providing the great horse experience for our daughters;
to my wife and kids for putting up with my go-go-go attitude;
and to you, for reading this blog. I appreciated reading all the comments, even though I chose early on not to respond because I wasn’t sure that I could do so consistently on the road.
I think more people read this blog than I thought, and it was even linked in a Yellowstone site at one point. (By the way, that inflammatory and infamous “liberal” commenter was discovered to be none other than Dave Stofka, that prankster!)
Writing regularly, even on the road, reminded me why I like writing. This blog helped me to organize my thoughts and preserve a record of the things we did each day, something that would certainly have been lost if I hadn’t keep notes. I always intend to journal but rarely follow through. This blog helped me to do it.
In a way, blogging our trip was a modern-version of something my dad used to do on our family trips. He would make audio tape recordings of our vacations to keep track of the hilarious things that went wrong and our reactions to them. (We were famous for stopping to eat within 15 minutes of leaving home!)
Now we’re home again and the house is quiet. (Well, sort of.) For many years I have been looking forward to this trip. It feels weird to have this journey completed after so much planning and preparation. It really was an adventure! Debbie says that our next trip will be some place boring and peaceful, like the beach, so it probably won’t be blog-worthy.
The West is a beautiful region and, in spite of the long, long drives, the high gas prices and the missing of a class reunion, I am very glad we went. Sometimes it feels like our kids will be with us forever, but we know that really isn’t true. We have to live life and make memories while we have the chance!
Oh, but anyway, Toto, we’re home. Home! And this is my room, and you’re all here. And I’m not gonna leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all, and – oh, Auntie Em – there’s no place like home!
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