Monday, October 24
We got off at a fairly decent and early hour on Monday. We had a long day of driving ahead of us. I was like a woman possessed – I was getting close to home and just wanted to get there now. This was going to be our last full day on the road – at the rate we were covering miles, we would get home tomorrow. Zoom.
From Terre Haute, we crossed the state of Indiana. We passed through Indianapolis and snapped a photo of Lucas Oil Stadium, the home of the Indianapolis Colts.
We had passed through a lot of NFL cities on our ventures through the Midwest and the rest of the country. It was fun to see all the stadiums I have seen on football broadcasts – you sure do hit a lot of them along Route 70!
In all, we covered the state of Indiana’s 150 west-east miles in just shy of three hours. Then we crossed into Ohio. Zoom.
Ohio is a big state, too. But I apparently didn’t care. I was driving home. The big highlight on Route 70 in Ohio is Columbus, which comes about 100 miles after you enter the state. It was a fairly unremarkable place this time, and I mean no insult to the people of Columbus. We didn’t stop. We were driving home. We covered another 130 miles through Ohio until we got to its eastern border. Zoom.
You hit a tiny little corner of West Virginia next. Wheeling, WV, is right there, tucked into the hills and forests that arise. We passed through Wheeling and continued east. Zoom.
You’re only in West Virginia for about 30 miles, and then you hit Pennsylvania. I kept looking for Maryland license plates and had been doing so for some time as I got closer to home. But I didn’t see any – we were still the only one.
When we crossed into Pennsylvania, I cheered again. I was born and raised in Lancaster County, PA, on the other side of the state. But to be back in a state I have strong ties to made me really anxious to be home now. Zoom.
We finally pulled in to our KOA campground in Washington, PA, about 7 pm. We were just a little south of Pittsburg. It was dark when we found the campground – we took the last site they had. As the weather got colder, many campsites had closed down for the season. Since there were fewer campgrounds, each one was fuller because there still were a surprising number of people traveling in their RVs at the end of October.
In total, we covered more than 410 miles this day. Auggie was wondering if we’d ever stop.
So was I.
Part of me was tempted just to keep driving and do the final five hours it would take us to get home to Silver Spring. But I decided against it. I was tired and hungry, so was Auggie, and we both could do without insanity. We’d worked so hard this trip to rid our lives of insanity.
As Auggie and I walked around the campsite that evening, though, it finally hit me. The excitement of coming home was now being overwhelmingly overcome by the anxiety of coming back to “real life.” And as we settled in to make our final dinner on the road and spend our last night at a campsite on this marvelous trip, the tears started to fall.
I had to sit down on the floor of the Champagne Chevy several times as I was overcome by waves of tears.
This marvelous trip was always something to look forward to. It had been something that had helped encourage me to quit my job. It had been something that occupied my mind as I bought the Champagne Chevy, planned the summer and outfitted the van with supplies. I had been planning this trip for so long. And then we had been on this wonderful adventure for three-and-a-half months, visiting friends, touring the country, relaxing, reading and enjoying some amazing nature and a slower pace.
Suddenly, it was all about to be over.
I was really sad. I was already nostalgic for our life on the road. Frustrating as it may have been some times, Auggie and I had had a FANTASTIC trip. Life in the Champagne Chevy had been a heck of a lot of fun.
And I also realized that I was scared.
What would life be like when we got home? What would I do with the rest of my life? How would I start figuring out what I want to be when I grow up? What professional direction would I take? Would I be able to build a life that was not so crazy busy and focused on work? These are not easy questions, and I didn’t have any answers.
Many people had asked me what I was going to do when I got back. I mostly told them that I didn’t exactly know and that I would figure it out when I got home. I was fine with that. But suddenly, it was time to start giving those thoughts more space … and leaving the fun adventures of the Champagne Chevy in the past.
Whew.
I couldn’t sleep that night. Try as I might to relax, breathe and sleep, I couldn’t. My brain was too full of thoughts. All kinds of thoughts. I think I finally fell asleep close to 3 am with Auggie snuggled up tight for warmth and support.
Have I ever said how much I love this dog? J
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