Day 34: HOME!

We slept in late today...just because we could. We awoke to excellent cinnamon rolls, fruit salad, and a breakfast casserole that we enjoyed with all the Matt Miles' family (even Milo the dog). We sat around and talked until 1pm. I was pampered by Miss Mattie with a back rub, a hand rub, AND a mini-manicure (french tips and all!). It was hard to leave but going home had a pretty good pull.

 
We pulled away in the mist. It was pretty uneventful, and was only misting and windy for the first hundred miles or so. The second hundred miles we hit harder rain. The area of southeast Missouri and southern Illinois was hit by really hard storms today (apparently tornadoes had been spotted near the areas we went through).

The only real issue we ran into was my face shield. We have a plastic face shield that snaps onto our helmet for days like this. I guess mine doesn’t snap too well because we were going along the highway and POP there it goes, tumbling behind us. We turned around and picked it up off the side of the road. Luckily there was nothing wrong with it, only a very small scuff on the corner that attaches to the helmet.

We caught a lot of mist but missed a really good portion of rain, at one point actually drying off. At a gas stop Devin accidentally touched his rain suit pant leg on the pipe and melted a small hole in the knee. We hit really hard rain not too long after that...sideways kind of rain. We eventually got to Sikeston, MO and that was a good stopping point, both because of the rain and because we had already gone another hundred miles or so. It was around dinner time and although we weren’t really hungry we were going to try to eat. We stopped at Sonic but just as we did it really started to pour and blow to where sitting on the patio was no longer a welcome idea. We went next door to stand inside a gas station for refuge. In that much rain there is no rain suit to keep you completely dry. Our socks were soaked because so much rain just leaks through your boots (and we have real nice boots) and in your suit; mostly around the neck and ends of the pant legs (and Devin's melted pant knee too). After a few minutes the rain let up and we went back to Sonic to get the bike. We went to Arby’s just down the street to get away from the continued rain and to try to dry out a bit. There was some punk kid working there that really got under my skin but I digress…not worth blogging about. We stayed there for about 30 minutes, watching the radar on our phones and taking in a small bite to eat. We eventually saw a break and the big line of storms was past our northbound travel route. We took off and really only hit mist then dry the rest of the way home. We saw a rainbow on the way which was refreshing. We made it home just at dark…very soggy but when you’re home after this long nothing really bothers you.

Brown Dog was VERY happy to see us, for about 3 minutes before running off into the night. He eventually came back soaking wet and covered in cockle burs. I guess that’s his way of saying “welcome home.” He did stay close the rest of the night.

Mom had bought us groceries which were much appreciated. She also brought us a celebratory chocolate cake (which we took a bite of first). Before we had left we spent a lot of time cleaning and rearranging our apartment to fit some newly acquired furniture. It was so nice to come home to a clean house and sit on our new couch.

So what’s next? We’re not sure. We need to be home and collect our thoughts for a few days before we truly decide the next phase. We’re not done yet. We are certainly going back west to see things like the Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde; and southeast to Key West. The order, time length, and dates are still TBD. Now that we know what we’re doing and what it’s like we’ll will have to truly evaluate where we’re going and what we want to do. (I have to figure in vacation time from work also). And of course we have some other things to take care of (like the saddle bags). Right now we really just want to spend some time with our family.

This trip has been amazing. We have been so blessed. It doesn’t feel like we’ve been gone for 34 days. We are so excited that so many people took an interest and followed us along the way. Keep checking back (or sign up for email notifications) for the next part. Thank you for your support throughout.

Today we traveled for 310.2 a total of 10,224.7 miles across America.