We flew into Dallas from Lima (via Miami) and were driven to Abilene by my sister Erin and my niece Kate (Kate didn't do much driving, as she is 4, but she provided the entertainment). It was so great to see them and have the 3 car-hours to catch up.
Kate in her Peruvian hoodie
Seeing my mom in Abilene was also fantastic, and shortly followed by an awesome BBQ-filled party! Mom wanted to throw us a post-wedding celebration since a lot of our family friends couldn't come to New York in April, so we thoroughly enjoyed the very Texas-flavored event.
The other important party waiting for us in Abilene was B'Easy, who I am thrilled to say remembered us clearly and repeatedly threw herself on the ground while whimpering and whining - those who know her know that equals happiness.
We were so excited to be reunited! My mom had taken excellent care of her, and she had apparently been a good girl for most of the 6 months. While in West Texas, we also made our way to Lubbock to see my dad and stepmom, who sadly couldn't join us at the party due to my dad's being in the hospital (I am pleased to report he is back home and doing much better!), and we really enjoyed the visit, as well as the very West Texan drive through cotton fields and windmills.
The elementary school where my mom teaches had been following our adventures around the world in combination with their geography studies (with the teachers leaving out our more wine-soaked and Bangkok-ian escapades, I presume!), so we visited to answer their questions. They were adorable! The third graders were obsessed with sharks, with which we had had no encounters but that wasn't enough to deter them, and the fifth graders were a little too cool to ask many questions. Fourth grade, we discovered, is the sweet spot, with the kids asking really thoughtful questions about our transportation methods and various climates. It was so much fun to see their enthusiasm for the world beyond the USA!
The last Abilene job was to pick up and pack the gigantic moving truck that would take us to New York. The Penske place ran out of 12-foot trucks, so we ended up with this 16-foot behemoth that I would have to navigate through the Manhattan streets! I was a bit intimidated but by the time we pulled away from my Mom's house I felt mostly comfortable behind the wheel. Good thing, because that's where I would end up for the next four days! Once we loaded in the furniture that would make the cross country trip, we were pleased to see the spacious interior would accommodate us as well, should we have trouble finding a place to live.
The drive went as smoothly as possible, which was extraordinarily lucky - no accidents! Yet! (We still have the truck - anything can happen.) Our first night we stayed in Dallas with Erin, Gary, and another great dose of Kate, who requested that I tuck her in. Amazingly, after traveling the world and only getting lost in jungles, we got completely turned around in the Dallas suburbs between buying a couch at Ikea and finding my sister's house! We did finally make it though, and enjoyed amazing steaks and a few glasses of wine, already making up for our drive.
The next two nights were spent in Nashville and D.C., with Casey and Alan, and Dom and Kristen, respectively. Both nights were fantastic opportunities to catch up, despite varying degrees of bad behavior from B'Easy - apparently excitable chihuahua mixes are great friends, blind pugs are not. The trip itself was absolutely gorgeous, with the trees just starting to turn all the way from Arkansas to Maryland, so when we weren't singing along with with REM or petting B'Easy, we were just taking in the views.
Staying up late with our friends/family combined with getting up early to get on the road resulted in a very tired me by the time we arrived in New York, but our first glimpse of the skyline from the gritty New Jersey turnpike was enough to perk up any weary traveller. We turned up "New York, New York" on the iPod and prepared to sail effortlessly through the Holland Tunnel...
...where we were turned away, directed to the Lincoln Tunnel, had our truck searched, and charged a $16 toll. Welcome home!
Our few days in New York have been no less eventful that the rest of our travels. As soon as we had parked in Manhattan and dropped off B'Easy with her Aunt Brooke, I headed to Joanne's bridal shower, and Ben met with our apartment broker! Unfortunately, that guy turned out to be a useless idiot, so we found ourselves at the Apple store using their free internet to scour craigslist for more leads, again cursing the thugs who took our laptop.
However, our hard work paid off! By the end of the next day, we had signed a lease, and as of tomorrow we will be happy residents of Williamsburg, Brooklyn! For those who don't know New York, Williamsburg is where all the cool hipster kids live, so the next time you see us we might be in hornrim glasses and ironic flannel.
The view from our new rooftop!
We had to celebrate finding our new home, so, it being a Sunday, we headed immediately to P.J. Clarke's, where our favorite bartenders were faithfully awaiting us! A pair of Hoegaardens has never tasted better. Furthering our luck, between pulling into NYC on Saturday and moving tomorrow, we have been able to use my friend Mike's house in Cold Spring about an hour north of the city as a home base, which is especially amazing as his land can accommodate both our enormous truck and our crazy dog - no easy feat in the New York area. It has been a godsend to have his house as a shelter these past few days.
So tomorrow is moving day, the last step in our wild honeymoon, which I guess is now officially over. We have had the trip of a lifetime and seen so many astounding, incredible things. However, in these past few days, the fall colors of eastern Tennessee, the wine enjoyed with friends, and the fantastic view that we, as of tomorrow, will enjoy from our balcony have reminded me that there are some wonderful moments to be had here in the USA.
It is good to be home.
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Epilogue - the trip by numbers:
* Miles travelled (not counting day trips, aimless wandering and runs) - 53,515
* Most confusing exchange rate (to $1) - 18,000 (Vietnamese Dong)
* Photos uploaded to flickr - you've checked them all, right? - 2,531
* Beds slept in (including two hostels in one night in Cusco) - 64
* Nights spent on planes, trains and automobiles - 21
* Flights taken - 20
* Books read - 37
* Countries visited - 15
* Continents visited - 6
* Police incidents - 2
* Delayed flights - 1!!!
* Cheapest beer - $0.08
