This day, this moment, it was inevitable. We knew it was coming. We knew it was coming for 30 days, but I still was not prepared for it. Our month of absolute freedom, exploration, and utter blissfulness was coming to an end. We woke up in Pensacola Friday morning with a plethora of feelings: A little solemn that our month long journey was actually coming to an end but speechlessly grateful for all the adventure we were so lucky to experience along the way.
We said our goodbyes to Rocky and Stephanie and then began our drive home to Maryland. It was definitely a bittersweet feeling. As we drove through Alabama and Georgia we reminisced of all the fun we had and all the people we met along the way.
As nightfall was nearing, I pulled the map out one last time to find a place for us to stay for our last night. As fate would have it, South Carolina welcomed us with a cold, dreary, rainy, and foggy night (nothing we hadn't overcome before). We decided to make it an earlier night then usual and stayed in Spartanburg, SC.
We woke up Saturday morning still feeling a bit solemn but also feeling very excited to celebrate Easter and see all our family members. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast then packed up the truck for its final time before making our final drive home. The weather was still cold and rainy in South Carolina, but as we made our way through North Carolina and Virginia it began to clear up. The sun started to peak through the clouds and smile down on us. It turned into a beautiful Easter Weekend.
We could not imagine a more perfect way to end our journey then to spend it with family, celebrating Easter, and giving thanks for all that we were blessed to experience and see. We saw the most incredible landscape with indescribable beauty, experienced life at its fullest and life at its scariest. We became experts at camping in the rain, snow, and sun, and learned very well how to adapt to life when it doesn’t go as “planned.”
I once heard a man say “The best journey is one that answers questions that you did not even realize needed answering to begin with….”- this cross-country road trip was exactly that for us! This trip…. this adventure….this dream, is one that Josh and I will never forget.
