Besides the grand nature of the trip itself, the last ten weeks came at a significant time for the both of us. Greg had just finished graduate school, and Amy begins graduate school in the fall. It's felt like a "transitional" stage in life, if that makes sense. Maybe our generation is a little behind past ones, but for the first time, I feel like we are actual, real live adults. At least for me (Greg), it is the first time in my entire memory that I do not have taking classes to look forward to. Instead, I will be teaching. It's new, strange, and exciting.
The reason I bring this up is because for the past year, all I could think about was this trip. I saved all I could to make sure money was not an issue. And, really, it wasn't. We splurged sometimes and were thrifty other times, so everything balanced out. Still, during the trip, I started to think about debt, student loans, saving for a house, etc. I found myself Googling personal finance, worrying about how irresponsible this trip was.
But, with the excitement each day brought, it was easy to forget about it and have the best time of our lives. And really, it could be the best stretch of ten weeks we will ever have in our entire lives. That's fascinating. So, I don't regret it for a single second.
We did often think about home. We constantly found ourselves saying, "I wish ____ were here" or, "We'll have to come back here with our family." Truth is, we will never be back to most of these places. Still, I couldn't think of a better person to share this experience with. Although a common expression is, "It's not about the destination, it's about the journey," another one is, "It's not about the destination or the journey, it's about the seatmate." I like that one better.
It's hard to put a blanket statement over a trip like this, where every day could be the highlight of a different year. I've found myself using the same adjectives (beautiful, wonderful, awesome) over and over again until they've become meaningless. I guess words can't describe certain things, certain moments - or at least my words can't.
We've tried to prepare ourselves to hear a common question: "What was your favorite part?" And the easy answer is that it's too difficult to choose any one thing. There are the big things - the national landmarks, hitting the west coast for the first time. Moments that are hard to share, but we've tried. But then there are the small things. Moments that are impossible to share. Like the realization, overlooking a valley for the first time, that you really are living out a dream. Or that feeling you get when the perfect song comes on during an evening drive as the sun sets. Or the laughter that comes from a joke that will never make sense again. Those moments. We've all experienced them in one way or another.
I know I'll always hold onto those.
So, in one way, the journey is over, but there are so many more moments like that to look forward to. So many more places to go. Really, then, it's just a transition. The end of a chapter. Because the adventure is only beginning.
Here are some pictures from our last day:
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| On the road again |
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| First and last time in West Virginia! |
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| Cheapest gas we saw the whole trip. Of course we didn't need any! |
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| PA |
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| Lunch |
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| Scraping at the bottom of the barrel for pictures of this day |
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| First Philadelphia sign |
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| Last rest stop |
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| That sweet, sweet Philly traffic we missed so much |
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| Yes, it is. Yes, it is. |
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| Of course, a cheesesteak |
Day 71 Rating: There's no place like home 10/10
