John has been asking me if I was going to do another blog post, so I decided to do a final reflection to close out this digital journal of our trip.
Everyone wants to know if we are happy to be back. The answer is a resounding YES. The trip was an adventure of a lifetime and we made fantastic memories, but it was time to come home. While in Yellowstone, we hung out with a family who has been RVing full-time since their children were babies, and they said they return to their home base every three months because their kids (now 9 and 4) get squirrelly if they're on the road for much longer. Sure enough, it was around the three-month mark that the boys and I started to feel travel-weary and homesick. (Eric is much more adaptable, so he wasn't bothered.) The boys missed their friends back home - even though they always found kids to play with at every campground, it was bittersweet knowing they'd have to part ways just a few days later. For me, the biggest fatigue was the constant decision-making: where will we stay next? is this route safe for towing a massive RV? how far away is a grocery store? (Food deserts were an unanticipated but very real problem throughout our trip. I knew I would miss Publix, but when the only decent grocery option is a Walmart an hour away in another state, it becomes even more painful.) Traveling the country was an awesome experience, but it's such a relief to be back in familiar territory where everything we need is easily accessible.
It's hard to believe we've only been home for two weeks - it seems like much longer because we've been so busy getting settled. It took me a couple of months to pack for this trip, trying to anticipate everything we'd need for 5-6 months of all possible weather and activities, and finding a place for everything in 400 square feet of living space. But thankfully the unpacking went much faster - I was able to finish almost all of it in just a few days.
A few observations since we've returned:
- Our house feels HUGE!
- Re-acclimating to Florida weather has not been as difficult as I thought it would be. After spending most of August and all of September in sub-70 degree weather, I expected it to feel much hotter here. Of course, the cold front this week helped!
- There are SO MANY PEOPLE AND CARS!! We got spoiled with the empty roads out west - sometimes we would go miles without seeing another vehicle. The national parks had warnings about high visitor traffic and some even required reservations, but these places rarely felt crowded to us.
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