Conclusion

We’ve learned a lot on this adventure. We’ve seen so many things that we didn’t know were possible in this country. This nation, its history, its people, its geology, its economy, its societies, its ideas, its WEATHER are all fascinating! Amazing. The whole country is not just like Durham. It is not just like the South. It is not just like the east coast.

We saw how economies try to destroy people in Lubbock and Detroit. We saw how people pull themselves up by their bootstraps in Detroit. We saw how people lived 1,000 years ago in Arizona. We saw the deserts of the Southwest and the beautiful fields of the Great Plains. We saw the Grand Tetons and the Alleghenies. We saw LA recovering from the loss of a controversial superstar. We saw people relax and have fun at the Cody Rodeo in Wyoming and Beale Street in Memphis. We saw laser shows in Atlanta and the Black Hills of South Dakota, one honoring the South and the other honoring Native Americans. We saw buffalo and bears, and we saw burned trucks on the shoulders of highways. We touched the cool waters of the Pacific and the warm waters of the Atlantic.

We stayed in 130-year-old row houses, 70-year-old apartments, 30-year-old motels, and an 8- year-old Toyota. We met tourists from all over the country and the world. We had people offer to take our pictures, and we took other people’s pictures. We saw ancient mesas and cliff dwellings in Arizona and amazing feats of modern architecture at Fallingwater and the Ledge at Sears Tower. We saw homeless people in LA, San Francisco, Chicago, and Atlanta.

We learned how calming a beautiful scene can be. We stopped in the middle of the desert to hear absolute silence. We heard true echoes in the Grand Canyon. We listened to wild life at night in Montana. We heard the trains driving immediately behind our hotel in Arizona in the middle of the night. We felt the rains of the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone. We looked into the San Francisco Bay from the Golden Gate Bridge, and we looked into the face of the moon from Yellowstone. We drove through low elevations and extremely high elevations. We saw a crater formed by a meteor and canyons formed by ancient rivers. We saw old-ass cars everywhere we went.

We saw the locations of the murders of Wild Bill Hickok and Martin Luther King, Jr. We learned about the lives of Buddy Holly and Andy Warhol. We saw the graves of Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill Hickok.

And, my God, we ate every thing we could find at every awesome restaurant on our route. We had Mexican food all over the country, Thai food in SF, Korean food in LA, BBQ in Memphis, pizza in Chicago, and steak salad in Pittsburgh.

We learned that most Americans are terrible spellers and that they make hysterical signs. At nearly every city where we stopped, I hit my head on the door frame of the car at least once. I learned about the importance of organization in my life. At every camping stop, we had to pack up all of our stuff to put it all in the front seat so we could sleep in the back of the van. Everything had to be in the right, most convenient place at all times. I cultivated new habits: after I brushed my teeth, I packed my toothbrush again. We've been home a week now, and the house is quite tidy. I challenge you to drop by our tidy home without calling. I hope I can keep this up after school starts again.

We drove 8,440 miles through half of the states of our Union in six weeks. We spent time with our relatives around the country. We bought postcards everywhere we went: one to keep and a couple to send. We spent time with friends and spent time alone together. We’re still in love and closer than ever. There’s no one in the world I would have rather spent this time with than Dave.

And so, my friends, our long trip of a lifetime is finally over. Thus, the Cantwell Roadtrip blog has come to an end. Thanks for reading and following along in our journey across the US. We’ve been given an amazing opportunity here. Special thanks go to Dave’s folks for helping to make this trip possible for us. Thanks also go out to Jane and Michael Stern for writing amazing books that guided us to the best food in the country. Thanks also to our friends for their amazing recommendations and well-noted advice about everything from camping gear to restaurants. We love you all and are grateful for all you do for us. Please feel free to come over for the slide show anytime.