End of the road

Hello All!  It's been 9 months, 10 countries, 23 states, 10,000 miles driven in the U.S., and finally we're done.

Today, after scooting through the ranches of Montana, over the imposing Rockies, and wheat fields of eastern Washington, we finally reached our final destination: Home. And it was fitting that our final night in the van was a bit of an adventure/ridiculous event. The choice was to backtrack a bit to Spokane (from the casino where we won $45!!) or keep heading west to the small town of Davenport where Sarah "knew" there was an RV park. So we headed west and found a motel/RV park that made the Bates Motel look inviting. Luckily there was a sign for a campground 20 miles away so off we went into the darkest of nights. Turns out, the campground was completely empty, eerily silent, and a raging wildfire was burning across the lake. Then Sarah "definitely heard" a bear so we jump back in the van and drive all the way back out - 20 more miles. Now it's late and dark and we have no destination.

New plan = drive all night. On and on, up and down, through the rolling hills, fields of blackness, and then like an oasis in the desert, like a beacon of light in a scary storm, we find Wilbur, Washington and the Bell RV Park. And here, on the side of the road, sandwiched between a couple of mobile homes for a whopping $15 we spend our very last night of our three month road trip and nine month travel experience. Perfect.

But what a trip we had! It has been an amazing experience. People often want to know about our favorite places. But really, every place was our favorite because in every place we learned and saw something new and met somebody new, too. We cannot stress how nice and helpful people have been to us as we moved around the country, and what a delight it was to chitchat with all of them. The scenery has been astounding with every state having something unique to offer. And living in the van...well...it was definitely memorable... check out the video we made below.

So THANK YOU to all of you for following us around the USA and the world. We hope you enjoyed our blatherings. We both feel we could not have completed the trip without so much love and support from home (thanks for the supportive/fun/funny comments on the blog, for loaning us clothes and books, for listening to us whine when things got tough, for letting us stay in your homes, for always being there when we needed you).

For the next month, we'll be living in Winthrop, Washington where we'll be stationary for a bit until we can move back home in July. We look forward to catching up with all of you when we return or seeing you up in the Methow Valley this June!

Love,
Sarah and Vanessa