We’re home!!!
What a great trip. We laughed and we cried. We might have even chortled once or twice. We drove 5,438 miles. From the heat of the Badlands, to drinking Starbuck’s on top of the Space Needle in Seattle, to peeling back layer after layer of American history – it’s been amazing. We’ve been from sea level up to up over 12,000 feet in elevation. We’ve switched our clocks four times and we’ve crossed the Continental Divide at least six times. We’ve seen some of America’s tackiest places and some of American’s most beautiful locations as well.
Now it’s all over. The six months of planning was worth it.
We know this wasn’t the most fabulous trip, or the most expensive. In the end, the blog was probably more for us as a journal than anything else. With that said though, it was great having you all along for the ride. As Dennis mentioned – the tent was cozy with you all in there with us. We loved every minute.
Everyone needs to do a trip like this once in their lives. We live in an incredible country. As students of history, there was nothing more fascinating than traversing the west in a Chevy. Although far from a Conestoga wagon, the feeling of carrying your belongings with you on your journey is an exciting one.
We ended up camping 11 of our 17 nights. National Forests are the way to go. They are cheap, beautiful and filled with friendly people. We met people from all over the world on this trip. It was a very enlightening experience for us.
What’s next? Well… we’ve got 1,762 pictures (thank god for digital) to weed through. Then we’re doing a quick canoe trip up to the Boundary Waters with our friends Mark and Stephanie. After that we need to start thinking about work again. It’s getting to be that time of year. The back-to-school commercials are starting already! It’s time and we’re ready.
Thank again for everyone who hung in there with us. We look forward to seeing each of you in the not-so-distant future.
Love,
Jeff & Amy
Kline Road Trips 
hey hey! welcome home, my dear friends! your trip sounds absolutely fabulous, and i’m so glad i got to experience it with you in this way. you’ve inspired me to plan a trip for myself ~ but perhaps i’ll start with a weekend get-a-way. how about the san juans? wink, wink! (thank you for that!)
See this is why we don’t pay teachers anything. You take a month off vacationing, and then you need another vacation! Ridiculous! Oh well, I guess you do bear the wait of influencing the future of America.Morse
Yeah… but you get to put “rocket scientist” on your business card. That’s still pretty cool! Amy and I told you at St. Norbert to come over to the education department… You didn’t want to listen! :)Get NASA on the horn and get these astronauts home safely will ya?
i often feel, upon returning home from a vacation, that i could use a vacation ~ from my vacation! maybe it’s just that i would like to avoid my job…