Saturday, May 21st was the last day of our western trek but far from the end of our journey. For thirty days we'd been good little vagabonds, living out of our car and in hotels and cottages, wandering from town to town, over mountains, along rivers, by lakes, traipsing through vineyards, and dipping our toes into the Pacific Ocean.  We'd been affected by a landslide, avalanche, snowstorms and brilliant, warm sunshine days.  I'd become adept at making yummy lunches in the car, spotting the few and far-between 'Starbucks' signs (their morning oatmeal is delish!), getting Steve to stop arguing with the GPS woman, and viewing the world through bug-covered windshields.  And one important thing I learned:  never head out on a road trip without at least one chip clip; there were many times when I missed that handy plastic device, but that's almost enough fodder for another blog!  I realize this list of mine does not signify a single, huge (or even tiny) accomplishment but Steve and I really had no problems at all being together 24/7 in the confines of a motor vehicle and without the comforts of home that one might think would be missed. 

Life on the road, or anywhere away from family and friends, is so much easier these days, as so many other things are.  Gone are the days when letters and even phone calls were the only means of communication.  When I was younger we'd line up on Christmas Day to talk on the phone to our relatives overseas, quickly spewing our hellos during the ten seconds each person was allotted to talk, with telephone costs being astronomical.  Nowadays of course we have instant connections through email, instant messaging, texting and those masters of communications, Facebook and Twitter.  We had an iphone with us on the trip, which provided almost constant email connections to everyone, except in the mountainous regions where coverage was non-existent.  And almost all of the places where we laid our hats each evening had wifi connections, enabling us to pull out our laptops and blog. 

This trip of ours was made possible by the fact that Steve was laid off from his job in March and had the time to take extended weeks away.  While he has been searching for a new position through social media, such as LinkedIn, he's also following the more traditional route of recruiters and peer contacts.  There have been a few leads and it seems that the world of hospitality is beginning to fall back on its feet again, but at press time, there are no firm job offers.  We'd love to continue wandering and would like to get out to the east coast, but Steve does have some consulting work to complete, so we'll see how the next few months go.  Perhaps we will be back on the road again.

I gathered a lot of knowledge on our trip, mostly geologically speaking.  I think if every kid was able to travel through a country, they'd gain a lot more knowledge than sitting at a desk in school.  So many times I related places I saw to the tidbits of information I received in school, years (and years) ago.  If as a kid I'd seen a desert or a mountain range, or a geyser spewing up from the earth I would have 'got it', understood it, marveled at it and wanted to know more.  While I realize not every parent or child has the luxury of travel, kids do need to be out of doors more, their hands in the earth, their faces to the sun and their minds open to the wonders of the world.  There is so much to see, everyday!

Our travels on the last day, from South Dakota, through Minnesota and back to our home in Wisconsin, took us about ten hours.  Mountains flattened, hills appeared and farms galore became the norm.  We finally saw that tourist spot in our state, Wisconsin Dells, and chuckled at the tacky, but fun-looking world of water slides, family hotels and restaurants, the famous Wisconsin Ducks, a 'boat' for roads and water, amusement parks and casinos and did feel a pang of guilt for not taking our guests, especially the many kids, to the Dells for some old-fashioned fun.  It is a two and a half-hour drive from our place though...way too far!  ;)

Now we are home and in the process of unpacking and then packing up again, this time the whole house; we are scheduled to move at the end of June.  Not sure where we are going yet so gotta hang onto that vagabond spirit for a bit longer!