Epilogue

Well that was seriously exhausting.

After a fantastic late night dinner with MG and John and 1 more night in a hotel, I woke up early, had an $8 coffee and made my way to the airport.  Meanwhile, Tom and Ari moved her stuff into their new apartment and awaited delivery of new furniture.

What took 6 days one direction took 6 hours on return.

I landed in sunny LA.

And was happy to be home.

It was such an amazing trip, eye-opening in a lot of respects, really fun, and all in all, just very memorable.

I learned a lot about America, such as: 

- It is an exceedingly vast, staggering beautiful country, filled with genuinely nice, giving people. 

- Americans do love their guns and their God.  Lots of churches and at least one billboard that read:  Black Market Automatic Weapons  - Exit Here. 

- It is really struggling economically.  Outside of the cities on either coast and a few pockets of ultra-rich, there is so much that is destitute and decrepit.  One scene sticks with me, of a family with very young children in West Virgina, the man hoisting up his son to the back of his semi's cab, which seemed to also be their home. 

I learned a few things about Tom, such as: 

- He has a weakness for Swedish fish, chocolate and coconut combinations, and Rod Stewart. 

- He is a way better driver than navigator. Unless there are storm clouds, then he's crap at both since he just cranes his head to see if he can spot a tornado. 

- He sees animals and thinks of food. 

And he learned a few things about me, such as: 

- I have a weakness for Red Vines, dark chocolate, and know the words to every Led Zeppelin song. 

- I get grumpy if I'm not fed at least every 4-6 hours, and outlet malls make me feel like this. 

- I see animals and either want to save them or play with them.  I cried a couple silent tears over the 300 or so road kills we saw, and pointed out several/many (too many?) baby horses, cows and pigs.  

There is more to learn and see, and I still have the southern route and the northern route to do!

And now I am somewhat in to this ridiculous blogging, so will continue when I go to Denmark next week.  However, since being ridiculed for using Blogger (the MySpace or AOL of blog sites...what do I know?!), I'll switch over to something more 2014 (sorry Clarisse)...more to come!

Thanks and thanks Tommy...

xx