Last Post, Mile 56, 926

I love to make lists. I love data. And if you want to see the data you can find it here. 

In ten years, we visited 50 states, 23 National Parks, 5 Presidential Libraries plus 6 additional presidential landmarks, 10 National Monuments, and 129 Historic Landmarks. 

We spent 102 nights in a hotel/condo/lodge and the remaining nights in tents, wigwams, Tipis, Treehouses, Yurts, historic cottages, old schools made into enchanted castles, and who could forget, The World Famous Clown Motel! 

We've traversed this great nation in an old Toyota Sequoia, A new then old Yukon XL, planes, trains, sailboats, WWII DUKs, Kayaks, Canoes, RVs, Lobster Boats, covered wagons, on horseback, on dogsled,  Jammers, a 1965 55' Chris Craft named Tahoe, Ski Lifts, Gondolas, Trolleys, Ubers, Subways, Inclines, cable cars, Hot Air Balloons and Helicopters.  

We've slid down great dunes of sand, skied down snowy mountains, rafted the Snake and New Rivers, held 1 million dollars in our hands, floated in The Great Salt Lake, Zip-Lined through the Ozarks, Snorkeled in the Dry Tortugas, flew in a 1940's puddle jumper over the Alaskan Wilderness, rock climbed, took a sound bath, surfed, flown in a helicopter and seen a total of 5 dead bodies!  

We've ridden roller coasters at Cedar Point, Hershey Park, Mall of America, and in Las Vegas. We've eaten all the BBQ from St. Louis to Memphis to Austin to Kansas City. As well as competing pizzas in Chicago, New York, and St. Louis.

We've seen the homes of William Taft, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Elvis, The President, The Goonies, Warren Buffett, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Taylor Swift (we think), Ernest Hemingway, Andrew Jackson, The Vanderbilts (x2) and The Golden Girls. 

We've seen obscure wreaths of human hair,  bullets that killed presidents and the guns that fired them. 

We've worshiped at The National Cathedral, Thorncrown Chapel, Barratt's Chapel, Chapel of the Holy Cross, and First United Methodist Church in Honolulu. 

We've visited Fenway Park, Yankee Stadium, Cowboy Stadium, and Wrigley Field.

I have forced my children into over 60 museums! (contact me for a full list of ways to torture/educate your children)

Curious about our "World's Largests" List? We saw 51! Ranging from the obscure, World's Largest Stack of Filing Cabinets, to the amazing, World's Largest Man made Arch! (Again, contact me for detailed list. I know that particular data might not interest the masses, or anyone other than me and my friend Erika Nelson from Lucas, Kansas.

We've entertained ourselves at SummerFest (World's Largest Music Festival), Broadway Shows (Matilda and Hamilton), Route 66 Drive- Thrus, Timber Tina's Lumberjack Show, a Nascar Race, Rodeos, and a Wild West Shoot-Out.We've seen Blackberry Smoke and The Preservation Hall Jazz band in concert. We've visited an Urban Farm, a Mennonite Cheese making operation, The Ford factory, a working dairy, and a Reindeer Farm. And we've watched a cute little parade of ducks strut their way through a hotel lobby. We've eaten a Pork Tenderloin Sandwich in Iowa, Pat's and Geno's Philly Cheesesteaks, Pink's Hot Dogs in LA, Cincinnati Chili, Hawaiian Shave Ice and a Nebraskan Runza. 

We spent over 400 hours in the car, 71 hours in an airplane over 16 flights, and traveled 56, 926 miles.

And now we're done. 

But, more than the numbers, I am also consumed with our family heart. A mama's heart that wanted her children to experience our great nation in a way that she never had with a weird, fun, quirky spin.  A Daddy's heart that wanted to show our kids the outdoors and how to persevere and stretch themselves in harsh environments. 

John and I hatched this crazy plan after being inspired by our friends, Lea and David Fisher. We coined it "See the Nation by Graduation". We knew it would take extreme planning and extreme flexibility. I decided I would write about it for them, but my memory is so terrible, I guess is has become for me too.  We gave ourselves 10 years to reach our goal before our oldest graduated from high school. I think back to how difficult it was to travel with those three little people, the youngest barely potty trained to our final trip where they all packed themselves, carried their own luggage and scattered at the sight of us unless they were hungry. There are sweet memories of Mae's summer birthdays spent in random places and not at home with her friends. But birthdays so unique and special that you could never recreate them at Monkey Joe's or some other Jumpy place du jour. How we must've gone through every size of Chaco or Keen sandal in those ten years, each smelling worse than the pair before. We shared memories with old friends and new friends along the way, but most of all we grew our family. We learned our quirks, we teased and laughed at ourselves and each other. We fussed and made up. We shared beautiful moments and ugly ones. But, we did it together. And now we are on the precipice of division. All of these many years of cramming into hotel rooms and rental cars and restaurant booths are coming to an end.  In the coming years, the children will branch out. They will go their separate ways. And, we want that for them. That's the natural thing to do (and I don't want them living in my basement forever, because I don't have a basement) To college, to jobs, to marriage, and children. It's not the end, but a beautiful beginning. But, the change is so very raw. So tender. So delicate that I don't want to approach it or touch it. But, I know I must. I will purchase the cap and gown. I will have to pick out dorm bedding and endure weepy phone calls from far away campuses. I will have to be strong for the little sister who just lost her best friend and life-long roommate to higher education. But, I will be able to tap into the strength that I have learned from the All-American road trip. The road is curvy, the road is bumpy. Sometimes there are detours and closures, and potholes and wrong-turns. But, there are also kind strangers, unplanned surprises, unexplainable beauty, poignant moments, silly laughter at stupid inside jokes, incessant noise,  new friends and old friends you meet up with on the road, radical hospitality, and new chapters.  And you always make it back home. May their winding roads always find a way home. 

I hope they've learned how to be flexible, but stand up for what's right. To have perseverance, but also how to "drop the rope" in a power struggle. How to appreciate beauty and learn from the ugliness that you encounter in history and on the road. How to problem-solve and think independently. But, above all, I hope they know we love them and that they have an opportunity to be a reflection of what's good in this country. It's a good, good country, Y'all. And, that's all I'm going to say about that.