To Everything there is a Season!

So after 12,610 km, 72 campgrounds, 54 cemeteries, 2 weeks with a dear friend, 6 visits with family I haven't seen in years, 3,260 new ancestors to document, 7 provinces going and coming back, 8 time zone changes, 21 beautiful beaches, umpteen lighthouses,5 days with my daughter and grand daughter, 1 plumbing mishap(which could have been a lot worse) and a million wonderful memories, I'm home. Oh, and I should add, no speeding tickets, no flat tires, no food poisoning, no swimmer's itch and the same 2 cats I started out with. Getting back to normal will be interesting because I think normal is going to be different now.

Today, Carolyn asked me what I've learned from this trip. I know I can tackle anything and make it work - somehow. I know not to anticipate the worst - because it probably isn't going to happen. I've learned that facing a tricky situation (like high bridges) that I can just tell myself to be brave and everything will either turn out OK or it won't. Whichever, there's no point in worrying about it.

I've also learned that two ladies "of a certain age" have quite a different travel experience than we would have had 20 years ago. There's the added bonus of false teeth, blood pressure medication, arthritic knees and the inability to remember "what's his name's" name. It's the ability to tell each other the same stories over and over and neither one remembers that we've already been there. It's also hitting the sack at 9:00 rather than painting the town red every night. Instead it's the ability to laugh ourselves silly over the most ridiculous things and to see the very funny side of things that would have been major traumas before.

All in all, it's been a wonderful trip - an adventure in the intricacies of operating a motorhome with all it's systems and setup. It was learning not to argue with Miss Hathaway, the GPS, because she usually knew better than I did where we were and where to go next. It has been enjoying the comments on the blog and the emails I've received and loved reading as I travelled along. It has been reconnecting with my roots in a big way and giving a lot of thought to those who came 1 or 10 generations before me. I'm so glad I went.

The End!