The End

We are home.  We got here Sunday, August 29 at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  We spent 3 great days in Boise visiting Terry, Elizabeth, Emily & Thomas and Jole, Jim, Nick & Max and Melissa and Sheri & Mark and Warren & Amy.  It was a good way to finish up our 9-week sojourn; visiting friends in a town that sort of seems like home.  It eased us back into reality.

The Yard Bauble's last road trip appearance 

Can you see it?

Milepost 21 on Highway 21 between Boise and Idaho City

Home of Amy & Warren and their menagerie

Seattle - Portal to the Pacific - Home Sweet Home

About 40 states worth of bugs - poor things

Here are a few final thoughts, comments and stories:

• Thank you EVERYONE who hosted and visited with us.  We very much appreciate your hospitality and your friendship.  We apologize that we were unable to include photos of everybody.  Know that you are all equally loved by both of us.
• We were very fortunate to have no accidents, no car problems or break-ins and that we did not hit any wildlife.  We must have had angels traveling with us!
• We drove over 12,000 miles and final count on the pictures is 1,710.  Average MPG 26.16.  Over-budget?  3.58%. (Did I mention that I kept an Excel spreadsheet with detailed information and tracking?)
• This trip was very valuable to us on many levels.  We urge you to consider doing it too.  We are available for coaching appointments!
• We had some really bad hotel and restaurant coffee over the last 2 months.  Here's the worst.  At the Budget Motel in Burley, Idaho the lobby coffee was so weak that Rob pulled out our camping coffee setup and used the motel coffee as the hot water to pour through our coffee grounds and filters!  The result was pretty darn good.
• When we left Elkhart, IN we started listening to iTunes in alphabetical order.  We aren't through the letter A yet.  That's what happens when your husband has over 8,900 songs in his iTunes library!
• We saw lots of ARRA (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) money hard at work repairing and improving thousands of miles of roads all over the country.
• Our car is sporting 18 new bumper/magnetic stickers.  When I was young I always envied the kids who got to go on long summer road trips and whose parents put those state stickers on the station wagon to show where they had been.  Now I have a fun bumper too!  The Wall Drug sticker didn't make the cut, though.
• Heather and Will are having a BOY! 
• Seattle's recycling program and our generally green/sustainable culture is light-years ahead of most of the places we visited.  It was really hard to see how much garbage/trash/waste is still being created in most of the rest of the country.
• We are glad to be back and look forward to re-engaging with our family, friends and community here in Seattle.
• THANK YOU HOMESTEAD SITTERS!
• We are already talking about what our next road trip might be...
• Thanks for reading all the way to THE END.