June 26, 2010 – The Road Home

I was glad to finally see that Days Inn in Indianapolis in my rear-view mirror. This immediately brightened my day! Good thing, because we were heck-bent-for-leather on our way back home. This was our target return day and we could not be late. So we shoveled more coal into the fire and kept up the steam, flagrantly speeding down the track until we came to a bend and were going too fast...wait, that's a bluegrass train song I'm thinking about.

We were actually making good time through OH along I-70 and swept through there at an excellent pace. We wheeled through Wheeling, WV, the southwest corner of PA and back through another little stretch of WV (for Interstate, this is really pretty scenic) and then we were back in our home state of Maryland...The Free State...The Old Line State...Home of the Star Spangled Banner...Blue Crabs...yes, our home. We appreciated the beautiful green hills and valleys, carpeted with lush trees like we had not seen them in weeks…which was exactly the case because we had come west originally on this same route three weeks ago. We arrived back home at Fort Alexander at 8:47pm. We moved Lewis and Clark into their own back yard again around which they gleefully ran and baptized every vertical object. We were all glad to be home. I'll be writing more in a few days after I have a chance to review notes and ruminate on the entire expedition.

Thank you, Faithful Reader for keeping up with all this nonsense as our little party rambled across the continent and back again. It was good to know you were following our progress with the same "great anxiety" for our safe return that Thomas Jefferson held for the original Lewis and Clark. We are proud to have followed their trail in our small way (with infinitely more speed, conveniences and comforts) and by doing, gained both a greater respect for their accomplishments and an even greater sense of pride in our nation and the potential it holds for us all.

Here's the day's route:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=I-70+E&daddr=39.322878,-76.776581+to:randallstown,+md&hl=en&geocode=FcJUXwIdfvLf-g%3B%3BFaCyWAIdjDJs-ykbdWM4FBjIiTEtW4JPhS3spA&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=12&via=1&sll=39.326065,-76.820183&sspn=0.136241,0.308647&ie=UTF8&z=12