Almost Home!

It’s about half a day’s drive from where I sit now, on the tired carpet of a Ramada hotel room, to Seattle. Before you get started on us, it was 104 degrees yesterday and yes, we either could have camped or toughed it out and arrived home around midnight, we chose to do neither, opting for a good night’s sleep, a shower, and sanity. Our mosquito ridden campsites and truck stop showers have proven that we’re no sissies; our refusal to tough it out when there’s no need shows that we’re smart.

Yesterday we crossed the Rockies through Glacier National Park. It was a wildflower extavaganza and the sky was so bright, so blue. The road is a little asphalt shelf high along the mountains, every now and then there’s a stone archway to let a waterfall or creek continue downwards. We saw mountain goats finding their way up, up, up, at the pass, we saw more prairie dog hilarity (lord, those are funny critters) we saw flowers, flowers, flowers, did I mention the flowers?

Now, we’re back in the land of strip malls and traffic. And tonight, I’ll be in my own bed. We won’t have to pack up a wet tent, find our route for the day, figure out where to sleep, chase off bugs, wander around in the dark looking for the loo… it will be easy and sweet for the first night or two.

But after that, I am quite sure I will miss the road. There was not enough time for everything, anything, there never is. A day in Glacier? What kind of craziness is that? A week, that’s more like it. Flying through Montana’s abandoned little roadside towns? That makes the photographer in me die a little. Missing all the second hand stores where ukulele themed treasures languish, tossed out after someone’s uncle’s trip to Hawaii? Oh, just break my heart again, why don’t you?

Yes, I’m complaining even though the trip was the right side of perfect. Sure, there was a little bad weather, some ugly welts from biting bugs, and bad coffee. But there were no sour moments and wow, the US is a grand place to travel! Wow! You should go!

This afternoon, we’ll unpack the van and go for pho. Tomorrow morning, I will shuffle barefoot into my kitchen and make my tea exactly the way I like it. I will shop for vegetables and make big salads to counter the awesome greasy breakfasts and diner lunches of the road. I will sleep quiet in my own bed, in clean sheets. And in a day or two, I will wish, with no hesitation, that I was still traveling. Peter, Kelly? What about you?

Rodeo Dust on Nerd’s Eye View

Blogging a Road Trip on Travellious

Photo of the Day: Used Cows on The Carey Adventures