We are back at home, safe and sound.  We were very fortunate throughout the trip to have no major issues and arrived safely.  There is still a ton of unloading and cleaning to do and I also will be providing some stats on our trip after I have calculated the summaries in our diaries. I am really only home for 2 days and then my husband and I will drive the RV back to Mesa, AZ to turn it in and pay out the contract (OUCH).  We will stay in AZ a few days to visit his uncle and aunt and to have a little personal time together after having been so far apart for so long.

We want to thank the friends and relatives that were on our route that took the time to fit us into their busy lives on pretty short notice.  It was nice to connect with all of you and we appreciate your hospitality to give us a little reprieve of a home cooked meal, a real bed and the pleasure of your company.  If you come our way – we will return the favor. Also, to those of you who have been reading this blog on a semi-regular basis  – thanks for coming along with us on our journey. We hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Our last day of driving took us past Saguaro cacti and Joshua Tree forests.  We saw some fall color again near Wikieup – where we also saw a life-size T-Rex and a man “carrying” a cross (that had wheels on the bottom) to re-enact Jesus’ stations of the cross.

Then, we moved into a more rocky area with boulders precariously balanced like a game of Jenga by the gods.  A purple ground plant colored the sides and median of the road and occasionally a bush or yellow or white desert flowers provided a splash of pizazz to the otherwise drab landscape. The mountains surrounded us until we reached Lake Mead Recreational area and then we were enveloped within the giants and looked down upon amazing vistas that stretched horizon to horizon.  We crossed the new Tillman Bridge that we had seen being built in 2009 when we last took our cross country tour.  This new flyover allows traffic to be diverted away from the Dam, which became a concern following 9/11.

As the skyline of Las Vegas began to emerge, we realized that most of the cities that we had passed through were different, but the same.  As we reached the local city streets, we saw people going to and from work, getting on and off buses, waiting at traffic lights, going to the millions of fast-food establishments and going about the routine activities of the day.

The words of the day (found on an advertising sign in Sun City, AZ for a housing development) are a lesson to all of us: Life at a New Pace.  We all need to take charge of how we spend our time and to re-prioritize to do the things that are important to us.  Don’t waste even one day.  We are so glad that we took the time to do this trip together and we hope that we have inspired some of you to pursue one of your dreams.  As promised, I will give you some stats about our trip soon and then we will be into the Thanksgiving and overall holiday period so look for some recipies and family stories, so keep on stopping back.