HOME!!

New Orleans, Louisiana

My road trip is complete and I'm now home with the Richters. I was greeted by kid hugs and a bigger and sassier baby Adelaide, who didn't quite remember me but appears to be my friend again now that I've been home a couple days.

As I reflect back on the trip, I am sooooo glad I did it. Who takes a 2-month road trip??! For all of you who I got to see along the way, THANK YOU for sharing your home/food/life with me. The conversations I had with old friends were truly the highlights of the trip. Oh, and I came up with a Top 5 moments of the trip, thanks to Shannon's suggestion (Dallas friend--holla). In no particular order:

1. Playing "Mow" with college friends in Chicago
2. Prayer with my sister, Liz, in Chicago
3. Sandhill Cranes with my grandma in NE
4. Being in the presence of God at the International House of Prayer
5. Snowball fight with Craig in CO

There were so many other fun, fun things I got to do and people I got to spend time with... my list could go on (but that was what the blog was for).

Thanks for following along on the journey.
Peace out to the readers!

Last Stop

Dallas, Texas

I've made it to my final destination before returning home. I'm visiting my super cool friends here in Texas, "The Dallas Girls". This afternoon we went to the Dallas Arboretum and enjoyed the beautiful spring weather. Now we're ordering in pizza and having a girls' night. :)

Route 66

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

The hitchhiker and I have arrived in his hometown of OKCity, OK. Here's his favorite place: Pop's! They sell every imaginable soda you could want. :)

Heading South

Albuquerque, New Mexico

A brand new state I've never been to! The hitchhiker I picked up back in Nebraska convinced me that NM was worth stopping in on my way back to New Orleans, so here I am. I got to stay at his aunt and uncle's beautiful home, which looked like a page out of Pottery Barn magazine. I also road the train with my hitchhiker friend up to Santa Fe and saw the sights. Tomorrow.... on to Oklahoma!

Playing

Denver, CO

First of all, my time in CO was AMAZING. My goal for my time there was to play, and play I did. I played games, snowboarded, had a snowball fight, and played with the dog in the snow. I saw Garden of the Gods, some old friends from college, and the Lundeens from New Orleans. The hitchhiker and I sat around discussing Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "Why We Can't Wait" up at the Beyer's cabin, then ran outside and picked icicles off the house and pretended they were swords and walrus teeth.

Photos: Garden of the Gods, Jenga, playing with Denali, the Beyers (my hosts!), walrus teeth

Rocky Fun

Denver, Colorado

My car has now put over 3,000 miles on it during this road trip! The drive out to CO was fairly exciting despite the incredibly monotonous landscape of western Nebraska. First of all, a piece of my car flew off in the high winds that I battled all the way from Lincoln to an hour outside Denver. And second of all I picked up a hitchhiker who helped me with the flat tire I got. Now I know what you're thinking: single girls traveling alone should not pick up hitchhikers. But this guy was pretty nice to help me get the lug nuts off, so I offered him a ride.

Anyway, this guy's a Christian and was heading to Denver. He kept the drive lively with his traveling stories and thoughts on life--it was nice to have some company. Now that we're in Denver we've even had a chance to hang out on the slopes. Here's some pics of me during my first time snowboarding!! What a blast.

Oh, and did I mention the wonderful hosts I'm staying with? :) They're great--more on them later...

Small Town Feel

Lincoln, Nebraska

Life here is slow and simple. For example, most nights, the headline on the nightly news is about the weather, or the other night it was about two teenage boys torturing a cat. My mom said that there were four homicides in Lincoln last year. New Orleans gets something like four a day! (And we would never hear about cat torture in the news.)

This quiet life is nice for a change and has allowed a good return to the friendliness of the Midwest. Last weekend my mom and I went to a quilt museum, and right now my mom, grandma, and I are working on a puzzle in my grandma's basement. To pass one afternoon my cousins and I played board games and they put on a magic show for me. Wholesome, simple fun. No surprises in life really, nothing spectacular. Just a small town feel.

Two days left in Nebraska, then on to... Colorado!