Day 42 Home at last, 6 weeks on the road

Dear Diary, 
 We have a hard landing in Cleveland at 5:50AM.  This flight must have had a west wind behind it because we reduced our arrival time by almost a half hour.  Our luggage is already waiting for us and off the belt.  So nice!  Continental Airmiles:  2021.  Seth picks us up.  Our area is in for a storm.  We are greeted by full summer foliage, low pink sunrise mists are clinging to the Valley trees.  It's muggy and in the 80's but it will cool into 70's by tomorrow for a while.  We have seen some beautiful things all along the way.  But we are still impressed with the quiet beauty of our own home area.  We take Seth to breakfast before he has to return to work.  Our home is in good shape.  Minimal has been done to the lawn, so planting and trimming to come soon.  Chuck goes to the post office for 6 weeks of mail and Pat goes to bed.  The time change is one thing but our own bed feels so good and sleep comes quick.  It's interesting to see home after so long and find how pleasant it is.
We're glad we kept the blog.  And it's been fun to think that friends have opted to check it out once in a while and share our experience.  We have seen and done so much in 6 weeks time that having the detailed blog will help us remember.  We met so many people along the way and visited with friends and our daughter.   So much storytelling and sharing, it adds to the whole rich experience.  In this time we stayed in Chicago Marriott, RV in many campgrounds, Anchorage Marriot, Brenna's apartment, Anchorage, Marshall's Cabin Girdwood, Alaska, Alaska Marine Ferry torture beds, Olympia, Washington with Al and Betty.  That's a lot of packing, unpacking, beds/living space.  This trip has been everything we hoped and more.  We thought we had come to an age where surprise and delight have become less.  But it's not true.  We have surprised ourselves with our flexibility and physical stamina.  Just when we think we're too old for this we did it without illness or injury.  Can't say there haven't been aches, pains and stiffness, but we overcame them pretty easily.  So guess there's still a bit more of the rowdy life left in us.  This trip is done, now we must transition back to our life.  We could never duplicate this exact trip.  There were many little miracles along the way that made it unique.  We are different people for having the experience.  We believe that is what travel does, it changes perspective and opens the mind to possibilities.  We celebrate the gifts of our Creator, the earth with all it's natural beauty, animals, friendships and relationships.  We are grateful for health and the ability to fully participate in all of life's greatness.  Adding road, sea and air miles = 10,000 miles more or less.  We are home.