My trip home the final 2 days of travel included many, many miles of Interstate 25 with very little vehicular traffic, then more miles on Interstate 40 with all kinds of trucks, trailers and cars. I stopped at El Malpais National Monument in Grants, New Mexico. There are many trails to hike in this area where 5 different lava flows came through thousands of years ago. The scenery was spectacular! So was the Western diamondback rattlesnake casually crossing the road! Fortunately I never saw one on a trail!

As I think about this trip….

Happiness is within me when I can enjoy adventures in nature. It is as though my brain lights up, my heart lifts up, and my eyes see anew. As a past backpacker with years having escaped to the Adirondack Mountains and now as a hiker with my van travel, I enjoy being outdoors 24/7. I see more sunrises, more sunsets, many dark skies, live very simply within natural elements and love to discover and/or learn while having no distractions with the mundane everyday living I get caught up in when home. My ultimate goal: to enjoy this season of retirement for as long as I am able to move and appreciate the wonder around me.

My adventure included: two new national parks for me: Olympic and Great Sand Dunes. I stopped at numerous state parks, and two national monuments: Colorado National Monument and El Malpais. Although not a birding trip, I did see 10 new birds! I had fun bicycling on 5 different occasions and even floated in a pontoon boat on Henry’s Fork of the Snake River in Idaho! I met friends along the way, saw spectacular scenery, talked with a variety of fellow travelers and listened to 5 audiobooks, NPR, BBC and music. There was very little rain to contend with. However, wildfire smoke was through eastern WA, MT, ID, and UT at different times during my travel, but never anything to cause me to detour from my original travel plan.

Although I know I will return to daily living at home, I also know there will breaks away from it. Travel allows me to do that. Having an understanding partner in life helps tremendously too. While the pandemic has been a hamper, it has not stopped me from enjoying the outdoors in the United States, a wonderful place to explore! I hope to include international travel again! For now, I head home and cannot wait to enjoy those homey comforts of life too with my partner! Please pour me a glass of wine!