Jiggety Jog.

I'm home. With all that the term conveys -- home, home, home. Yay!

What a great trip. 8,800 miles. My head and my memories are spinning. It will take a while to decompress and really bring some of my time back into focus. For now, here is a list of some things I learned and felt and remember (in no particular order):

1. The Amazon Kindle is simply fantastic. A must have for travel. Someone somewhere said the great thing about it is the Kindle makes you want to read, read, read and they were right. I was resistant to it, but got one for Mother's Day (thank you Family) and LOVE IT!

2. Branson, MO sucks. Trust me on this.

3. It is possible to travel for 5 1/2 weeks and actually lose 1 pound. Amazing! Three meals out every day for 37 days and I end up losing one pound! Just goes to show you what walking and hiking will do for you!!

4. Every where I went over the 8,800 miles I met really nice people. What are the odds?

5. There is no 5.

6. Writing is even harder to do than normal if you don't make at least an hour of quiet time to unwind the images. No matter how gorgeous the scene, how hilarious the overheard conversation, how stimulating the idea -- sitting one's butt in a chair and being quiet is the single most important factor.

7. Kids grow up and are amazingly funny and wonderful. Even when they are adults and don't have to hang out with you.

8. This is a good country to live in, to travel in, and to be part of. I'm proud of our President and I felt pretty patriotic for some reason as I drove around. I was glad to see signs announcing that "This road project is funded by The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" -- Yes We Can!

9. Tipping someone $5.00 for a $10.00 lunch actually makes a waiter smile. Stimulus can be small and nice.

10. Driving does not cause jet lag. Duh. But I never felt any strange acclimation problem to the various time zones. I know there probably isn't enough fuel in the world for people to drive like we did, and maybe that is really terribly un-green, but I really loved it. FWIW, we did see wind farms in many of the midwestern states.

To anyone who read my travel-blogs - thanks! And this little piggy is so glad to be home!