All good things must end

Hi everyone,
(Jay) As they say, all good things must end. And so, after driving 6,300 miles,we have come to the end of a really beautiful journey. We visited many wonderful relatives who opened their homes and hearts to us. We met some nice strangers with whom we had interesting conversations. And we found that the three of us, yes I include Zoe, got along well; were companionable and entertaining. The final three days were a little rushed as we hurried home. We got a little tired of hotels! Zoe and I had a little excitement one evening just outside of Madison, Wisconsin. The hotel had a very long hall and Zoe and I had just stepped out the door of our room for her evening constitutional; I heard the door click shut and at the other end of the hall an elderly couple had trouble opening their door and accidently dropped the leash of their dog. He, or she, was about twice the size of Zoe and once she saw us charged full tilt in our direction. Zoe put on an air of nonchalance while I moved to intercept the flying ball of fur. Fortunately, he/she was friendly and we returned he/she to his embarrassed owners, who also proved to be nice and talkative. We met again at breakfast the next morning.


(Rachel) We arrived home on Wednesday at 4. I remembered saying years ago that I would never do that drive from St. Paul to Maine again! Actually, I did not do it as Jay did all the driving on the way home. In retrospect, we should have planned more time and had some stops on the way…oh well.
Final thoughts:
1. The best parts of the trip were when we were with family: Kaitlin and Jeff, Jeffrey Zollers, Jason Zollers, Minda and Steve, Andy Richardsons, John and Lois Carlson, Alberta and Viola.
2. We loved having an RV and would definitely do it again! It was so much more relaxing than a car. We had our food, the same bed every night, our clothes were unpacked and we could step back to our “house” anytime we wanted.
3. There is still an awful lot of open space in the U.S. We drove for hours seeing only a few houses and vast amounts of fields, open prairie. It is hard to remember this on the east coast.
4. The National Park system is incredible. Their exhibits, movies and bookstores were wonderful at every stop. The only issue we had was limiting how many books we could buy!
5. Nebraska or Iowa should educate the public about their farming. Some crops we couldn’t identify. We wanted to know how things were harvested and when. Perhaps they could put up informative billboards instead of ads! (John Carlson gave us a lesson on farming when we visited them in Benedict, NB) We discovered that in addition to corn, much of which goes for ethanol, they are raising acres and acres of sorghum and soy beans. We can’t begin to tell you how many miles of each we drove past!
6. Maine is fortunate to have an anti-billboard law! They are practically everywhere else and obnoxious!
7. Every new development in the states we were in is the same - small lots and cookie cutter houses. Sadly regions are loosing their individuality. There are MacDonalds and Burger Kings, among others, everywhere!
8. It is hard to find regional foods AND farm stands!
9. America is run on trucks!
10. Zoe is an incredible traveler. She slept on the back seat or between the seats of the RV. She did well in motels, other people’s homes, and loved being with the grandchildren, especially Espen who spent a lot of time with her. I don’t think there was a person or animal she met that she didn’t like. It all worked out better than we hoped!
11. Thanks for reading about our great adventure. It sure was fun!!!!

Love, Rachel, Jay, and Zoe