The Home Stretch

Travel is a pretty cool thing. But there comes a point where you really can get too much of it. When I was working, I thought there just couldn’t be enough time off, and now that I don’t work, I still think that. Not working is a dream come true. But living out of a suitcase for more than five months does wear on you. And thus, as I approach my last few days in the U.S. for this summer, I must say I am looking forward to getting in the car Tuesday, and heading south.

The past 20 weeks since we left our home in Puerto Vallarta have been filled with adventure, and lots and lots of travel. But somehow this summer, unlike like summer, it seemed more “manageable.” Perhaps that’s because it was spread out a bit, and we stayed in most places for more than just a few days.

Probably the highlight of the summer was the Scandinavia/Russia cruise. Really spectacular scenery and culture and places we had not seen before.

Spending ten days in a houseboat in the heart of Vancouver, BC, was also a very cool experience … so much so, that next summer, we’re going back to the same place for two weeks.

New York in the fall was totally fun and entertaining, and then heading to New England for a week for the fall colors was a great way to wrap up our travels.

Shorter strips to Laguna, Clear Lake, Portland, and Gabriola Island filled out the summer. And, for the past month, we’ve just been hanging in the desert where the weather has cooled.

But it is time to move on. We will stay just north of the border on Tuesday. Then we will cross into Mexico at Nogales Wednesday morning and put as much distance as we can between that crime plagued region of Mexico and our first stop, probably in Navojoa. Thursday night we should make it to Mazatlan and by early Friday afternoon, we’ll pull into PV, the final leg of the memorable summer of ’10.