WE made it! 23,977 miles...the circle is complete!

Here we are, back on the shores of Chemo Pond and hearing the loons calling in the night.  We have been here since Saturday, reconnecting with Katrina, Mike, Torrey and Cammi, and the dogs and the Guinea Pigs.  We had the van inspected in New Hampshire during our visit with Carrie and family,  and are now in Maine, to start the round of yearly appointments with doctors. Mostly, we look forward to catching up with friends and family here.

A few reflections to share today:

My first thoughts are filled with gratitude for the miles of safety.  So happy that the van worked so well and continued to maintain 24 miles to the gallon, and even better on Canadian diesel fuel. So many things that could have happened, didn't! No flats, etc...

        

I am also so grateful that the door opened for our trip. It was totally unexpected when we left Maine last fall. In fact, I had given up any hope of visiting Alaska and the West, as it just didn't seem like something that would happen for us. Little do we know what lies ahead for us!  (We are grateful to our families who endured our time away, and a special note to mom...we are getting closer.)

                              

I am also grateful for all the support we have had for our trip.  For many, our experience was "living the dream" and you shared our journey as if you were along for the ride!  In our hearts, you were with us! Thank you for the comments and letting us know you have enjoyed the blog.  It was fun to maintain that form of sharing.  We also met so many wonderful new people along the way.  We would not dare to name some for fear we might miss one.  Please know you are all part of our "heart village" and we thank you.

         

We have had such an intense experience of seeing our country over ten months and now we have visited 44 of the fifty states, and driven the perimeter of the US. We do hope to visit the last six middle American states next spring when we travel back to Maine for the summer.  For many travellers, it is quite a moment when one enters state number 50!  We look forward to that as well.

      

We are so grateful for the beauty of the land and the glorious joy of experiencing the wildlife we have seen.  It is difficult to say an adequate thank you to all who have protected and preserved so much of our country that we can now visit these lands like the national parks, monuments and forests. Thank you to those who had the vision and the resources to make our parks a reality!  And thank you to those who continue to work for their protection.

My final thanks would be for Latona and her willingness to support a dream that was more mine than a shared one when we started out.  She patiently waited while I fished, captured pictures of birds, and arranged the boat rides to find whales and seals.  Our partnership has grown so much during our trip.  We have appreciated the van as our home more each day as we have lived out our life on the road.

We never know what lies ahead, but we are so grateful for all the wonderful moments of the past year.

She always finds the hearts! She will always have mine - filled with love, and gratitude for her and our shared journey in life!

PS. Here is the funny footnote..."she says Me too!"