Epilogue: No Regrets...

It is early on the morning of Sunday, November 25th, 2007. I have just completed the final blog from this leg of our journey (sorry it took so long folks). I say "this leg" because we are just on a pitstop... the road is calling and there are many more places to be seen and photographed before we are done!

However, if God were to take me tonight, I would be a happy man with no regrets (please don't though!)

I don't know if two people could have more fun together... 70 days in a Mini Cooper S... Wow, what a trip! As I said once before, I rediscovered all the reasons I married this girl 33 years ago... a man could not have a better friend! It was so much fun to watch her discover photography, and the wonders of nature... and to see her get so excited as she discovered her ancestors... and mine too!

But most of all, it was great to see all of the relatives we found along the way... thanks to all of you for helping to make this trip possible and so enjoyable. (Kalli, We are so sorry that we did not get to see you! Congrats on your engagement and let us know when the big day is!)

It is also great to be back home with our family and best friends... you were all missed very much. A special thanks to those of you that helped to take care of our home so we could experience this adventure... not many people would jump into our pond... twice... out of the goodness of their heart... and what a big heart it is...

A special thanks to Heidi for encouraging me to keep this blog of our trip... it has already become a valuable resource for us... it is amazing how much you forget when you get older... it has been a lot of fun to share our thoughts and photos with all y'all... and the comments have been great!

I will continue to add to this blog from time to time because the adventure is not over... we are just resting for awhile... I hope that some of you will join us for the next leg of the journey!

Our love to all of you as we prepare for the Christmas Holiday... Deb has the tree up and the decorations hung around the home, and we are waiting anxiously for Katy, Joy, Tyler and Jessica to come visit... It will be a glorious Christmas... Remember, our home is always open and our friends are always welcome here... come by and share some time with us and swap a story or two!

Goodnight. Scotty.

Day 70: Final Pitstop For This Leg Of The Adventure!

Tuesday, November 6th...

Greetings from Happyrock, USA

Today, with very mixed emotions, our journey came to a pitstop, for now...

We left Chemult after a great breakfast and headed through Central Oregon... a very beautiful part of the world...

After passing through Bend and Redmond, we started seeing familiar landmarks that reminded us that our journey was almost complete... Monkey Face Rock at Smith Rock State Park...

Peter Skene Ogden State Park... There is a city in Utah named after this guy...

and the three high bridges, next to the park, that span the Crooked River Gorge...

The old bridge...

The new bridge...

and the railroad bridge...

The old bridge is closed and makes a great viewing vantage point for the new bridge...

Deb snapped this great photo of our most familiar landmark as we were about to head through Warm Springs and up the south flank of good old Mt Hood...

She took this one just before we got to Government Camp... and this was the last sunshine we saw... it got foggy and misty as we headed down through Zig Zag... the first precipitation that we have driven in since Portland, Maine... go figure... WE'RE HOME!

We had a great hamburger at Calamity Jane's in Sandy, Oregon and then drove home... we pulled into the driveway about an hour-and-a-half before we had to be at leadership meetings at church... after almost 12,000 miles and over 9,000 photographs, we are back to the real world!

Final thoughts next...