Home Again!

We arrived safely back home late Sunday afternoon as the Lord's hand of safety was on us for over 9,000 miles in the motorhome and another 3,000 miles driven in the car seeing all of the sights around each place we visited. It was certainly a trip of a lifetime. Most of the places we visited we had never seen before, and even those we had experienced before, seemed new and exciting. As we traveled over these past nine and a half weeks we discovered quite a few things...such as: People in all parts of this country are basically nice, friendly and eager to help a stranger with directions or information... most everyone is very proud of the part of the country they live in and can't imagine living anywhere else...there is a LOT more open space in this country than some would have us believe...corn is the national crop, it is grown everywhere in great abundance...southern Utah is a hidden treasure with both Arches National Park and Zion National Park just a few hundred miles apart separated by lovely mountains and rivers...each of these parks is so different with Arches rock and desert in a beauty found no where else (well, maybe in Sedona, AZ) and Zion is lovely mountains with lush forest and rushing steams and rivers...you can drive for miles on the Interstate highways in the Dakotas and not see another car in either direction...speaking of roads: the best Interstate highways are by far right here in Florida and the worst are in California...horrible and in dire need of repair and everyone who can get behind the wheel of a car or truck in California is, for some strange reason, in a major hurry to get wherever they are going...the 17 Mile Drive around the Monterey Peninsula in the prettiest stretch of roadway anywhere in America...the best food was at the buffet's at the Mirage in Las Vegas and Harrah's in Tunica, MS just south of Memphis...Mt. Rushmore is still the best National Park in America...the buffalo in Custer State Park do not care that you drive on the roads, when they feel like it they will just stand there and stare you down and not get out of the way until the spirit moves them...setting aside the millions of acres in this country for National Parks to keep nature in it's natural state for all to enjoy is probably the best thing that Congress has ever done...gas prices were basically in the same ballpark ($2.40-$2.80) everywhere except California where they were over $3.00 a gallon (do you see a pattern developing here)...Gator Nation is everywhere...the nicest RV Resort we stayed in was Outdoor Resorts Pacific Shores in Newport, Oregon...I, for one, could have stayed a lot longer...wonderfully cool temperatures and the coast of Oregon is the most beautiful and rugged anywhere...we really did not run into any really rude people anywhere...and finally...it was impossible to cover as much territory as we did and see so many different terrains, mountains, deserts, rivers and beaches without wanting to praise God for His handiwork and give thanks that He has made all of this available to everyone at no charge!