Trip home. Wow. One day short of fifteen (15!) weeks. Not ready for it to be over, but then again, way ready.

Got a late start to the day – another cold morning, but it warmed up acceptably fast. This KOA has the latest check-out time I’ve seen – noon. Most are 11, some have been 10. Today, no rush, which is good, because we need to take almost everything out of the trailer. No need to leave food in it, so all the dry and canned goods have to go (and there are a bunch! We’ll never go hungry on a trip!), as does everything in the fridge – the refrigerator needs to be off and open so it dries out and doesn’t mildew. It takes longer than we expected, but we’re done just minutes before noon … but then we get to talking to the neighbors (a very nice couple from Garland (!) … and jabber on until one! Well, we don’t get charged extra (we’re practically the last two campers in the whole park, and definitely the only ones within 100 yards. We are surrounded by empty sites!)

One o’clock, on the road. In less than fifteen miles, we’re in Oklahoma. It’s official – Oklahoma has the WORST highways of all the places we’ve been! There were dirt roads on several National Forests that were smoother! Seriously! There was one stretch where I literally had to clench my teeth to keep them from rattling! And a few miles later, the road undulated up and down at least six inches every second or so, at the speed limit. Hard to maintain control! I thought they had a lot of oil revenue that they could tap into to fix their highways. Go figure.

Anyway, six o’clock, arrive home. The house is still there. Looks just like when we left! Try to remember where the car keys are! Oh, yeah, in one of the safes … which one? What are the combinations? How does the TV work? What’s the network password? It’s amazing how all these things are blank, until you think about them, and then, slowly, they come into view in your mind. An hour after I get here, I’m back. There’s so much to do. Clean out the house, cut down the tree, build a fence, buy several new appliances and install them. So much to do.

12,130 miles. Over $4,000 just in fuel. Camping, about $3,000. Food … I’ll have to add it up, but probably more than fuel. Expensive trip! And worth every penny!

I’m sad the trip is over, but excited that we can start planning the next one, and just knowing how much better it’s going to be.

But that’s for the next blog … I’ll post a link.