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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.

We traveled over 15,000 miles through 21 states.
Gold stars indicate states where we camped in at least one location.

We visited 13 national parks, plus some state parks and
national monuments such as Mount Rushmore and Devil's Tower.

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.
So the big question is, will we ever do something like this again? Yes, but we'll do some things differently next time. We won't try to homeschool again - that has not been going well. (The boys are returning to their school in January and we are ALL excited about that.) We are looking at doing a 2-3 month trip up the east coast next summer. We would like to downsize to a smaller RV, since it is even more difficult to travel with a large rig in the east. I'm also hoping to have a more structured itinerary this time around. I usually plan every detail of our shorter trips, but this time we had to be more flexible due to Eric's work needs. It was an exercise in letting go of my need for control, trusting God to handle the details, and embracing serendipity - but from a practical standpoint, traveling in more populated areas during peak vacation season will require a bit more planning.

This was a huge adventure for our family, and we have no regrets in doing it. We are so thankful that the Lord blessed us with this opportunity to follow a dream that we've had for years. The memories we made will stay with us forever!

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