We made it. 56 days, exactly 8 weeks of traveling on the road and taking in what mother nature has to offer.

I don’t think it’s quite hit us yet.  We keep hearing that going on this trip is incredible and a once in a lifetime thing and we agree. It doesn’t seem like it yet. Perhaps with time and growing up it will truly feel like a trip of a lifetime and make it an even more cherished experience.

It’s good to be home, weird but good. After traveling for 2 months and moving on to a new place within a few days after you just got there makes staying in once place feel weird and different. Knowing that we don’t have to plan on what we’re doing or where we’re going tomorrow makes today feel slow and almost dull.  It may sound depressing, but it’s a good thing. It means we’re home and it means we’ve seen and done all the things we set out to do.

That’s the thing about this trip. We’ve seen countless things. There isn’t something we missed and said, “I wish we saw that…”  We’re very satisfied with how things panned out and we’re glad just to be home.  We missed our families and friends.  Just to see them and spend time with them again makes the return home even better.

I suppose it’s bittersweet that it’s over, but hey, we all knew that was going to happen. :)  You hate to say goodbye to such an awesome trip, but its got to end some time and I’m just happy we got to do this.  That’s all. I’m happy and feel very fortunate.

In case you were wondering about our return trip, here are the details.  There isn’t much to report, so be warned.  We left Friday, July 4 (Day 54) and drove from Truckee, CA to Twin Falls, ID.  We got to watch some fireworks in Twin Falls, but after traveling for 7-some hours on the road, we just wanted to crash.  The following day (Day 55), we drove 12.5 hours from Twin Falls, ID to Rapid City, SD.  That was a long day and it felt good to hit Rapid City because we knew we were only a day away from home.  The following morning (Day 56), we met up with Shayanne’s grandparents to have breakfast and say goodbye.  It was good to see them again and I know Shayanne was excited to see them.  We left Rapid City about 10:00 mountain time and hit Waconia about 7:30 central time.

Shay’s family was expecting her and I elected to keep it a surprise and only tell my roommates.  Everyone was super excited to see us and we got a nice welcoming.  It just felt good to be home…

I have the remaining pictures uploaded to the site.  I’ll write another blog following up with my thoughts of the trip sometime in the near future.  I just need some time to walk away from it and let it absorb.

Day 51 Pictures
Day 52 Pictures
Day 53 Pictures
Day 54-55 Pictures

Wow!

That is probably the best, single word to describe the past week.  Why wow?  Because we have seen a lot, met a lot of people, done a lot of things and have just been busier than ever.  Let me recap the past week for you.

Friday, June 27th (Day 47) was our last day visiting Anna and Nate in Eugene.  I worked during the day while Shayanne and Anna ran errands.  They ended up coming back to the house while singing happy birthday and carrying my very own ice cream cake, which happens to be my favorite.  Shayanne also bought me the movie, “Hot Rod.”  We first saw the movie while we were staying in Pagosa Springs and we both loved it. It’s so stupid, but it’s a good stupid. :)  So we cut up some ice cream cake and watched the DVD, it was a really nice gesture. Thanks to both Anna and Shay for a nice early birthday moment.

In the afternoon, we headed down towards Medford, Oregon to camp for the night.  We wanted to cut our drive down to Redwood in half and the KOA at Medford did just that.  It was a warm day. It was in the high-90’s, but by time the sun it went down it was quite comfortable.  We made hot dogs by the fire and just had a relaxing night around the campfire.

Saturday, June 28th (Day 48) was my 25th birthday.  Quarter of a century already, wow.  Makes me sound old.  We started the day off by driving from Medford down to the Redwood National Park.  We drove through it while in awe of the most amazing trees we’ve ever seen.  We stayed down Hwy 101 and eventually hit the northern coast of California.  It was hazy and a bit cold, but still very cool to see.  Neither of us have ever seen the Pacific ocean from the continental U.S. I saw it when I was in Hawaii, but the Pacific Ocean there is MUCH different than the Pacific Ocean you see in Northern California.

We continued down Hwy 101 until we got south of Eureka and then checked out the Avenue of the Giants.  It’s a road that stays close to Hwy 101 but runs through a bunch of small towns and LOTS of redwoods.  We stopped at a few places to marvel at the beauty of nature and take in some of the attractions in these towns.  We saw the Eternal Tree, which is basically just a hollowed out Redwood that they built a little tree fort of it. It was neat to see.  After that we continued southward and eventually hit Myers Flat, California.  Myers Flat has a redwood you can drive through, so we decided to check that out.  It was pretty cool and to be honest I was worried that I’d fit the width clearance because of our bikes.  We made it through, but by no more than a few inches. No lie there.  We also checked out a lot of the wood carvings they had at Myers Flat. Just a very cool place to see. I’d definately recommend stopping in.

After Myers Flat, we headed down Hwy 101 and then turned off on to Hwy 1 to ride down the California coastline a bit.  Very beautiful, despite it being hazy and cold.  We stopped in Fort Bragg to grab a birthday dinner.  First thing I noticed was the prices in the menu.  A regular hamburger was $13.00. Incredible, California is SO expensive!  We then headed east on Hwy 20 towards Ukiah.  Once we hit Ukiah, we found a hotel to rest our heads and decided to go to Applebees for a free birthday drinks. We had fun and it was good to share my birthday with such a good friend.  It was tough though that I couldn’t share my birthday with ALL of my family and friends, but I got plenty of phone calls, emails and text messages that made it easier to bear.

Sunday, June 29th (Day 49), we headed for Truckee. Originally we wanted to see the Napa area and try the wineries, but we decided to skip that and head to Truckee because of all the wildfires that are going on in California.   The wildfires also presented a problem with travel. Many major routes were closed because of the fires. We had to call and ask around for the best possible routes to get towards Truckee.  We had two problems: wildfires and road closures.  We figured Hwy 20 all the way from the coast to Truckee would be our best bet, so we took it.  It was a very nice drive actually, it was smoky out (in fact, it still is) but you couldn’t smell it. We hit Truckee late in the afternoon and just hung around until my friend Lucas got home.  Lucas Meyer is an old friend from high school and he was kind enough to bring us into his home for the week.

Monday, June 30th (Day 50) I spent the day working. I’ve been working all week and have been SUPER busy doing it.  I’m working as much as I can this work so that I have a good chunk of time I can take off next week to travel back home.  We spent the evening hours sipping beers with one another and catching up.  It’s been great to see old friends on this trip and just catch up. It’s always interesting to see what people have been doing with themselves since high school.

Tuesday, July 1st (Day 51) was another pretty laid back day.  I worked all day while Shay did some odds-and-ends things like go for a mini-hike with Lucas’ dog. After work we headed south to Lake Tahoe and checked that out.  That was very neat to see.  Emerald Bay was breathtaking and we made it as far as South Lake Tahoe and decided to grab a bite there.

Yesterday (Day 52) was more of an active day.  Again, Shay would go out for a walk with the dog while I worked, but we went out for the evening. We first headed to Donner Lake and hiked a bit.  We eventually hit a boulder where most of our party went to climb it while the rest of us drank beers and watched.  I decided to scale the easy side of the rock. Really, that was nothing special. I’ve climbed harder things on this trip. :)  After our bouldering session, we jumped into Donner Lake to cool off.  That was super cold and I didn’t last long.  Once we were done with the lake, we headed into town to BBQ and check out Truckee’s Wednesday Night Music in the Park.  It was pretty cool and just nice to be outside and get fresh air with everyone.

Today (Day  53), it’s been the same-old, same-old story.  I worked all day.  Shayanne went for a hike along the river and floated down the river with one of Lucas’ roommates, Bob.  They’re still gone, but I’m not sure what we’re going to do when they get back.  The thought of going to Reno has come up, but I’m not sure.  I really would like to be able to afford the trip back home.

I have pictures posted of Eugene, Medford, Redwood National Park and Ukiah up on the site.  We will post pictures of Lake Tahoe, Donner Lake and Truckee shortly!  Again, sorry for the long overdue update. We have just been SO busy!!!  Hard to believe, we’re only a week away from being back home.  Where has the time gone?

Day 47 Pictures
Day 48 Pictures