Turtle Tales: Day 51 - There's no place like home!

I apologize for not getting this blog posted earlier, but I had to wait to post until we had our internet up and running at the house again!

We left Ardmore, Oklahoma amid rain showers but the closer we got to the Texas border, the lighter the rain became! This was a good sign, as the rain that was suppose to linger along the IH 35 corridor actually moved out rather fast and the rest of the day was blue skies and plenty of sunshine!

We had planned to stop and visit with our son in Arlington, but as it turned out, he had a few committments at school that would keep him busy, and our time to visit would be limited. So we determined we were close enough to home to drive the rest of the way, so that is what we did! The closer we got to Port Lavaca, the more excited we became! Of course, the closer we got to Port Lavaca, the hotter the temperatures were! After being in much cooler weather, this was an adjustment!

On the ride home, we talked about the fact that we were certainly going to miss being on the road......we've had such an amazing time traveling! We talked about all that we had seen, the deserts, the mountains, the beautiful waters and flowers in Hawaii, the snow, the cacti, the beautiful homes along the lakeshores, the lighthouses, the Pacific coastline, etc. We talked about the people we had met along the way, the different foods we had tasted, and the fact that we made it home without any major incidents or issues! (Other than losing Speedy in the snowbank in Montana!) As I have stated before, we have been truly blessed!

Once home, it was time to face reality.....unloading the truck, unloading the RV, washing clothes, going through mail and basically getting back in the groove! It's been a little bit of an adjustment, but it is amazing how fast things seem to get back to "normal" once you have got the big chores out of the way! The dogs are certainly pleased to be back home, and ran around the yard like crazy dogs when we got home!

We are home earlier than originally planned, primarily because the lighthouses we wanted to visit were easier to find than anticipated. On occasion, we have been known to spend days looking for lighthouses as some are precariously perched on cliffs, or on private property and we need to attain permission to visit the lighthouse, or after searching feverently, we have discovered the lighthouse has disappeared (been distroyed or crumbled on its own). We were amazed at how easy it was to find the lighthouses on this trip. We only added one lighthouse to our Hawaii lighthouse quest this trip, as we had seen the other lighthouses on Oahu on our last trip to Hawaii. Most of the lighthouses in Southern California were too difficult to reach or required a lot of walking , which Jim was not up to doing, so we passed. The great lakes on the other hand, are teeming with lighthouses around every bend. We only visited a few this trip, and will catch more when we return to that area on a future journey.

The other reason we are home early is so that my sister and my brother-in-law can begin their trip to New York by May 29th, to attend a surprise birthday party for a relative on June 3rd. They have been watching our house, taking care of our yard, collecting our mail, calling us when bills came in and taking care of our 13 year old cat! This made our trip much more enjoyable because we knew things were in good hands at home! Now we get to return the favor as they begin their travels! Thank you June and Phil!

Other than Hawaii, our favorite places to visit on this leg of the journey were Washington and Wisconsin. The area surrounding the Columbia River in Washington is very nice and picturesque. Our time spent there was very enjoyable and the RV park on the Columbia River was very serene and inviting. Door County, Wisconsin was very unique and quaint, and we enjoyed visiting the different harbor areas. There is a lot of scandanavian history in this area and most of the towns are comprised of scandanavian restaurants, shops, museums and other interesting sights. Just a very nice ambiance throughout this area, unlike anywhere else we traveled to date.

So, here's a summary of our travels on this leg of our journey:

Gone 51 Days

Visited/Passed Through 16 states

Made 22 overnight stops

Traveled 6,785 miles

(Not counting side trips or travel in Hawaii)

Traveled 8,256 miles

(Counting side trips on the mainland)

590.5 gallons of gas consumed

Averaged 13.9 miles to the gallon

(towing the RV)

25 Lighthouses visited

(Total Lighthouses visited to date 130!)

We were delighted to meet our new "adopted" Speedy when we arrived home, and will take some time to get acquainted with him prior to our departure on the second leg of our journey in August.

So far his personality seems to be very comparable to our first Speedy, so we are not anticipating any issues!

Please keep watching the blog as we continue to sort through the events of our journey thus far, and prepare to set out on the second leg of the journey in August.

Thank you for coming along on the journey with us! Peace be with you........

Dallas Skyline - Still gray, but not raining!