"From Sea to Shining Sea"

The View from our Thanksgiving Table

When I was a young girl I took sewing lessons.   I loved sewing, picking out materials and patterns, watching the whole thing come together piece by piece, seeing the “almost finished” product.  But I hated hemming….that last final step of completing a project and seeing my completed work. And so my creations stayed hanging in my closet.  I am sure there are all kinds of psychologists who could analyze this trait – I probably don’t even need anyone to analyze it, it’s probably pretty self-explanatory.  But the reason I am starting out with this tidbit of information is – I have many “unfinished” blogs.  I start writing them, get the words down on paper, but then I seem to have an aversion to finishing them and putting them out there.  People have been so very kind to me, encouraging me to write more blogs and telling me they miss reading them.  So, I am going to try this again, but from a different angle.

A bit of Americana

First of all, for anyone who is wondering…yes, we are still on the road, and yes, we are still loving it.  We have learned so much…about our country, our history, about people and, about ourselves.  Maybe one of the most important things we have learned about ourselves is, although we love all of the adventures that we find, there is still a part of us that needs some kind of stability.  With that in mind, our travels have changed a bit from our original plan, but we are doing what works for us.  The first winter we were on the road we learned just how unpredictable the weather can be.  There was snow and ice where we never imagined it, and it made us a little uncomfortable.  The second winter we discovered Tucson and quickly learned that it could become a “home away from home” for us.  We love the area and the people, the weather is so consistent with everything we want to do, and we can find pretty much anything that we could need here.  And we found that it is good for us..comfortable for us..to have the same place to return to so we can deal with everyday issues, maintenance on the vehicles, as well as maintenance on ourselves.  There is something about “familiarity” that helps rejuvenate us. So we head down here in November, and leave early in April.  We then spend the other 3 seasons doing “loops” around the country.

A Typical View in the Midwest

Last summer we headed East, and traveled to New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.  We took a side trip to Wisconsin, The Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Minnesota to climb their high points. And because everyone else’s life doesn’t come to a standstill because we aren’t around, we welcomed our first Grandson into the world. We got to visit family in Wisconsin, Florida and Maryland and our daughter was able to come visit us in Tennessee. We visited Memphis and Nashville, immersing ourselves in the music, history and the cultures of the cities.  We got very adventurous with our taste buds trying cheese curds, chicken gizzards, chicken livers, quail and, believe it or not, our first corn dog.   We stayed in our first tornado shelter, watched rain and wind battering other RV’s while the campground roads become rivers, and witnessed some of the most amazing sunrises and sunsets that you can imagine.  Early in the season we saw baby calves in the fields finding their “new” legs and we watched farmers diligently plowing and planting their crops.  And then, coming full circle, as we made our way back to Arizona, we watched those same cows off in the fields on their own and saw the farmers, just as diligently, harvesting the fruits of their labor.  And, we have gotten to know people.  People whose lives never would have crossed with ours, yet meeting them has made our lives richer.  We met a bartender, who remembered us from our one visit there 2 years ago, we’ve met so many locals in small towns who just want someone to talk to and always want to share their story, and those who want to hear our story and are either amazed or appalled by it, and in Iowa I started an early morning coffee routine with a park owner and forged a lifetime friendship.

The Iowa State Fair

What never ceases to amaze us, is what an incredible country this is.  I think one of the biggest things I have learned about myself, is that growing up in the same place my entire life, I came to believe that everyone’s life was just like mine.  I have come to learn so much about the background of how this country was formed, the struggles that I never truly understood, and still really know so little about; I’ve learned more about the reasons why people have the beliefs they have and I have seen firsthand why we truly are a “melting pot”.  I have always considered myself a  patriotic person, and now when I listen to the National Anthem, I see things differently, with more pride than I've ever had.  When I listen to the crowd sing along at a rodeo because they can’t contain themselves from their pride, when I watch a show start with a simple prayer, or a game start with a salute to the military, and when I watch our son carry the flag in his Honor Guard, I am so very grateful to have this opportunity to have a better understanding of just how different, yet the same, we all are, and how many sacrifices have been made to get us here.

Winterset, Iowa
Smalltown America

And now our journey will continue.  After a winter spent with familiar faces and places, we'll head north, the ultimate goal being Montana..with as many small towns, festivals and as much natural beauty as we can find along the way.

And, yes we are still alive, yes, we are still on the road and yes, it is every bit as exciting and as adventurous as we hoped it would be.  And hopefully, I will stop worrying so much about “hemming” my clothes, and try to concentrate on why I started making them in the first place.