Muchas Gracias!

Some folks deserve a huge shout out for their essential support for our journey!

First:  God for giving us every good gift to see us down, around, up, and over, until we returned safely home!

.....Where we can enjoy each other in the comfort of our own pool!

Next person:

My terrific husband!  John encouraged this journey from its inception!  He suffered being alone (?) for two weeks without us, as well.  And, and this is a huge AND he has worked extremely hard and smart in order to financially support us, and me, as I lavishly spent our resources on camp grounds with flush toilets, and showers...!

Moving on:

My in-laws, Karen and Bob Peterson who cared for our puppies with love for two weeks!

   Two dogs, 2 weeks!  Now that's a lot of walks!

Karen, along with Katie, cleaned some pretty nasty spaces (think boys' closet and bathroom) in the house too! Folded towels, tens of them, greeted me, having been stacked by Karen in the linen closet (The kids didn't even know we had one!) Thanks guys! Without you watching Minnie and Zeus we couldn't have gone away!

Zeus

Brian with Minnie

Snail Mail still exists, and my mom drove over to the other house to collect it....bills must be paid! (thanks mom (?) Also, the balloons and meals upon our arrival smoothed the transition to "real" life.

Works still goes on!  John's amazing staff at Peterson Law Firm:  Wendy, Nickie, and Beverly worked diligently so John could have peace of mind during his first extended vacation in years!!!  Thanks ladies!  I truly appreciate you!  Also, Don Harper, John's partner for many years, stepped up to the plate as the closing attorney so Peterson Law Firm could continue serving the Fort Mill community.  His dedicated and professional help was a true gift!  Many thanks, Don.

Our neighbors, The Lais Brothers, who mowed our lawn, just because, deserve a "shout out" too!  Thanks guys!

Katie, my lovely daughter, who turns 23 today!  "Thanks Rosalita for taking care of Dad while we were gone! ...and the house and refrigerator look amazing!"

Family extends a continent: Laura, John's sister, and the two Charlie Humphries!  Thanks for opening your home to us with love and fun!  (In DALLAS, TX)

Thanks to Kate and Ken Warren, Katie's godparents, who welcomed us with a lovely dinner and much desired friendship in Phoenix!

Norman, thanks for your hospitality in Phoenix as well!  Ah!  A real house to sleep in !!

Peter and Alden Egan:  We loved apartment living for ONE NIGHT!  Thanks for the homemade yogurt, too.  I'll begin my new hobby tomorrow!

To all the characters along the way:  you are America!  You are good!  To the woman in Phoenix who lead us to the highway!  Thanks for showing us the way!  To the waitresses who brought steaming dishes and encouraging words, I raise my glass to you! To the vineyard guy, thanks for praying for Nick!  And I have prayed for your mother in law too! To the Alaskan family traveling the country: safe travels. You're welcome to settle in Charlotte!  (I know a good real estate attorney!) To America's First People: the Navajo teen excited about her handmade jewelry in the  Chee Gift Shop, AZ; the Hopi college kid in Santa Fe; to the Shoshone- Bannock owner/worker in the tribal service station in Idaho, your grace, peace, simplicity inspires me.  To the proud papa of baseball champs in Idaho, who I met poolside at a Days Inn:  Yep!  All parents are the same, we love our kids! Thanks to Jacob Muir at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry for working hard to provide a pleasant environment within the beautiful facility.  To the nameless, beautiful individuals and families who unwittingly accompanied us, YOU enriched this sojourn with your stories, your lives, your presence.  Nature bequeaths serenity, wonder, harmony, but not shared experiences and meaning.  Nature acts as a metaphor for the relationships formed over a lifetime with brothers and sisters of the same Father.  I feel, in ways, like the Texas tumbleweed among you.  As I rolled across the highways, bits of you gathered in the sticky outcroppings of my soul.  You're there still.  Thank you for giving of yourselves to me, a stranger no more, but a fellow citizen separated by a few boundaries on the map!

Prayer warriors!  I may never know who you are, but GOD does!!  Thank you for praying us through rainstorms in TN, around hairpin, on-the-edge curves in CA, during long hours of too-getherness in car rides along interstates in NV, SD, MN.....Thanks for all your support!  Thanks, too for following our journey!  Knowing fans were in the stands, encouraged me to become my best self!  Also, I believe I had a duty to "do it well" in honor of everybody who vicariously joined us!

Thanks to my kids: Brian (21), Kirsten (19), Rebekah (17), Johnny (15), Michael (13), Lydia (11), 

Luke (9), Grace (7), Annaliese (5), Benny (2).  Love of you inspired this journey. Without you, to whom would I give the gift of America the Beautiful?!  What joy I experienced sharing my beloved country with the people I love most in the world; YOU and Dad!  Family life continues, with all of its opportunities to "grow in wisdom and in grace". Thanks for your sacrifice:  the sharing of chargers, Starbursts, Camelbaks,  pillows, mattresses, Oreos, air, space, time, patience, independence........   As Pope John Paul II said, "The family is a School of Love".  Yes, "classrooms" of love emerged during this trip!  Yet, the indelible marker of shared experiences will continue writing this story, our memoir, over birthday dinners, Thanksgiving feasts, or when we're gathered at some hall, that suddenly becomes "Memory Hall"! 

Thanks to the weather for--mostly--cooperating!  

Thanks to the pilots for John's and Brian's safe flights!

Thanks to the other drivers on the highway for driving responsibly.

Thanks to cooks, clerks, cleaners, the unseen.....

Thanks to nature for being.  Just BEING.

Thanks to our tent for not leaking too much!

Thanks to our bodies for good health!

Thanks to the Silver Whale, my van!  Over 8200 miles without a single hesitation!

I end as I began: the Alpha and the Omega! 

 Thanks to the Trinitarian God for all of the above.  May God bless each of you richly, and may God remember anybody I forgot in the above tribute!

                                      Receive life as gift....Spend your days opening presents