The Last Blog Post

Dear friends, family, and acquaintances;

It is my sad duty to report that after nearly a year of being home I have not been able to finish the blog posts and tell of every day on the trip. It is solely my fault and my responsibility I did not finish. However, I will tell you of what we did each day from the drive to Malibu Canyon and onward. I got so busy and now it is too far back to describe it in great detail. I have failed.

I can say that it was a wonderful trip and I had such a great time learning, going to museums and national parks, and enjoying the serenity and beauty of our great nation.

In the months of April, we took San Francisco by storm and my older sisters came by plane and spent a week with us there. We then did Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, and enjoyed the dazzling nature that the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone had to offer. In the Northwest we saw many mountains, including Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. Next, we engulfed ourselves in the West, such as Utah, Northern Arizona, and Nevada as we went to Las Vegas, Arches National Park, and the Colorado River. We drove a boat down the latter river, and spent time in the Grand Canyon, over in a helicopter and in on a pontoon boat.  I will never forget the ascent and descent, all of the wind around the small, tight contents of the metal aircraft, and the tints of orange and red we saw as the speckled dots of humans became larger and larger, and went into a pontoon boat guided by a Navajo Indian. Colorado and Arkansas were the last states to go, as we saw the Bill Clinton Presidential Library and the various tourist attractions around Denver and Aspen. Just seeing the purple mountain majesties and the amber fields of grain in our nation was enough to give me an insightful perspective of how immense life was, and when the trip ended I was glad to be home in my hometown of Roswell...but yet, at the same time, I regretted that  this eccentric, amazing, and pleasant journey was finished.

This great excursion gave me the infamous "travel bug" to always relish the joys of leaving your place of residence and exploring the vast world, to smile at those small, terrible gas stations, to feel the breeze in your hair at wide, open expanses, and to widen your eyes at the discovery of yet a new wonder. This is the supreme bliss of traveling in an R.V. for a year. We love the hum of the engine, the whine of the dog, the ache of the head, and the stuffed quarters of a motor home or small jeep. These may be surprising things to like, but when on a vacation or long trip, that feeling of freedom never escapes you. Never.

I hope however unfinished this blog may be, it has helped you understand this nation better, this land we live in, and provided you with a pleasant account of one family's adventures for a year. I will leave you with a quote...

"The world is like a book, and those who don't travel read only one page."

-St. Augustine of Hippo.


And now, I say for the last time...goodbye for now.


Sincerely and with thanks,
Andrew Bourne.