Well, we made it! Mrs. C' the two dogs and I backed the SilverCliche' into her spot in our driveway in Vero Beach at about 3:45 this afternoon. I took a pic of the trip meter and fuel economy display on the Tundra once we were parked. It looked like this:
- Visited 17 states (FL, GA, AL, MS, TN, AR, MO, KS, CO, WY, SD, NE, IA, IL, IN, KY and TN). Actually, 18 since the Mrs. and I went to MT, but we left the trailer and dogs in Yellowstone so it doesn't count on her record.
- We burned about 650 gallons of gas (I am not looking forward to my next Sam's Club Master Card statement... but the 5% rebate they send me in March on gas purchases will look good this year!)
We climbed over 2 miles above our sea level home (max elevation 11,013 in the Rockies between Denver and Dillon, CO on I-70)
We tried every local food option that was offered and enjoyed them all.
We saw bison, elk, black footed ferrets and a host of birds that don't exist in Florida and which I could neither identify nor describe. Eventually we considered bison a nuisance species, but a delicious one.
We crossed the paths of historic American figures including Elvis, John Wayne, the Tuskeegee Airmen, the Pony Express riders, the Oregon Trail pioneers, Lewis and Clark, Jimmy Carter, Herbert Hoover, Rosa Parks, Crazy Horse, and who knows how many others.
We met relatives we didn't know we had and have started documenting those we knew about in detail (thanks and sorry to those of you who we pestered for fun family facts once the genealogy bug bit us!)
We saw amazing places we did not know existed and lots of places that looked exactly like some other place we have been in America (I intended to write about that. Turns out most of the East looks like some other place in the East. I didn't realize that Alabama looks like Pennsylvania or Kentucky looks like Maryland until now or any of the other similarities we noted to each other by saying "Doesn't this place look exactly like _____________)
And now we are home. Here's what the rig looks like tucked safely under the Live Oak trees in the spot where we load and unload her for our adventures:
She's airing out now (I won't elaborate) and will be there for a few days for a cleaning and refit before going in for service then resting at our son's house in her storage space until our next adventure. I'm not sure I'll ever get the dust from Wyoming out of the nooks and crannies... it still comes out every time I put the exhaust fans on.)
So what's it all mean? Well, it may be too early for me to appreciate completely, but I have some initial thoughts...
America is a huge place. We all know that. Just look at the area in which you live on a map of the US then extrapolate to the entire land area. It's big. But when you drive it for days on end it feels really big. Kansas alone is longer than a State of the Union address and arguably more boring (sorry Alf Landon). In the spring we plan to cross Texas. That should put Kansas to shame.
More than that, America is an empty place. I know what you're probably saying "SilverCliche', your're wrong about that. It's so crowded in my area that there isn't room for another family to sneak across the boarder and drop their sad butts in my neighborhood." Well, thank you Mr. Trump, but if you took the people jammed tightly into the places we all live and spread them across the places we just visited there would be room and resources for everyone. You couldn't reach your nearest neighbor with a bull horn. Maybe instead of Obama phones the government should issue anyone who asked 160 acres like they did in Oklahoma in 1889. We have lots of usable 160 acre plots still available. I'm just saying.
Americans are a wonderful, engaging, fun loving people (the Mrs. and I talked about whether to include the low point of humor we experienced on the trip. I'm not sure whether in the end she said "Don't" or "You wouldn't" but I'm about to.) Driving in southern Kentucky we were on a 4 lane state highway. We approached and eventually passed a truck from a local septic service. I can't imagine that either of the two men in the truck said to their spouse over coffee that morning "I can't wait to get to work today and see what new challenges await me, Honey!". However this aging truck which was probably due for it's 100,000 port-a-john service at the dealership reflected a sense of humor that we found in various forms all across America. Carefully painted on the truck along with their phone number and business name was their slogan: "Yesterday's meals on wheels". I feel really cheap and dirty for having shared that with you. But now you, like me, can't "unhear" that. If you are as twisted as me and over 3 Million other Americans you may think of that repeatedly in the coming days and shake your head in shame at yourself as you try your best to suppress a laugh. That's the kind of people we are.
American humans are a heard animal That's not always a good thing. It's the reason people complain of overcrowded America when so much space is usable and empty. When the heard is small and heads in a sensible direction it's wonderful. We saw many communities that were unpretentious and genuinely nice places. We saw others where the heard took a wrong turn and entered a twilight zone of culture. In most cases it appeared to be consumerism that drove that (Jackson, WY, Chattanooga, TN and even today in Ocala, FL at an I-75 exit where we stopped for gas and couldn't fight our way into a place to eat despite being 13,500 lbs and 8 1/2 feet wide!). I'm all for consumerism... but come on America, show some restraint! I'm not sure what that means. It's just an observation.
Some parts of America need to be patched and painted a bit faster than we seem to be getting to them or they need to be left for reclamation by the earth on which they sit. Memphis comes to mind. Come on, people... We've built a great country, let's maintain it.
And that from just a short trip. We have a lot more elbows to rub. For now, we're home. We have a plan to hit the road around Labor Day and visit out dear friends in Buffalo, NY. I'm signing off for now, but will resume writing when the SilverCliche' hits the road for her next adventure in America.
Oh... one last pic. When we got home our good friend Grace was there dropping off the dog we left in Vero (one of our 3 does not have the traveler gene). Grace took this pic of Mrs. C' and me in our family room.
Thanks for reading and sharing our adventure. Until the road grabs us again....
SC
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