In one of the many RV parks where we stayed, I saw this sign in front of someone's trailer, "Home is where you park it." Well, while that may be true for some, I know we were all glad to get home and out of the trailer after being on the road for two months. As we were driving through our neighborhood seeing familiar sights and knowing our little yellow house was only minutes away, the kids started grinning with excitement as if we were on our way to Disneyworld. Home sweet home at last. We had just spent the last couple of nights at Nana and Grampies, starting the process of closing up camp and preparing for life back to normal. One question we were asked was, "What was it like living in the trailer?" I realize this blog has really been devoted to the people and places we visited along our journey, but not much time to the routine of life on the road. Of the sixty days traveling, thirty-six of those were driving from one campsite to another, so a lot of time spent in the car and in the trailer. So, my last photo album is dedicated to the pictures I took along the way of life in the trailer...everthing from cooking and eating, to playing cards and hairstyling, to the daily fun of cleaning the gray and black tanks (that's RV speak for poop duty!) Bessie and the Beast became part of our family. Bessie is our camper. She got the name from our friend Amy in Tennessee who named her as we were backing in to her driveway. The Beast is our Nissan Armada who had the strength to carry us and Bessie over the highest, steepest, windiest mountain passes the Rocky Mountains could throw at us. She also growled every morning as we started the engine and the V8 engine would rev up. Together we made it from Boston to San Francisco and back, sea to shining sea. We drove a total of 7,997 miles according to our trip planner app, but the odomoter clocked just over ten thousand miles. We got an oil change in Vegas and had a trailer brake fixed in Bend, but other than that, we had no issues with Bessie or the Beast. Each day as we arrived at a new RV park, we would check in at an office, get our site number, hope it was a pull-thru, but if not would have to back in, and then see if the site was level, and if not, get out the leveling blocks and unhitch the trailer from the car, which involved handcranking the hitch up and down to remove the sway control bars and removing the chains, electric cable and emergency brake release chord, and then connecting the 30 amp power chord, fresh water hose, and the septic tanks. We would get the airconditioning cranked, open up the vents for cooking and get ready for dinner. Each morning would be the same process in reverse, starting with breakfast and ending with cranking up the hitch post, checking to see everything was secured down in the trailer (and that nobody left tea in the microwave) and headed to our next destination. We played a lot of cards and dice games, watched some shows when we had wi-fi, and did some reading at night. It became our routine, and we got pretty quick at setting up and breaking down camp. Breakfasts were usually coffee, juice, cereal and toast, frozen waffles, and sometimes eggs. Dinners ranged from homemade chicken parmesan to hot pockets. While driving, we played car games like Score, Ghost, and 20 questions, listened to our Pandora playlist or XM radio or audio books. We not only listened to Divergent, the selection for CJ's upcoming book club, but also the next two novels in the series. We had a lot of time in the car. Anna plowed through a number of books she downloaded in the back seat as well as inventing a number of "car crafts" that kept her busy. Julie was in charge of snacks, keeping us fed with granola bars, apples, water, etc. And of course we had to stop pretty regularly for gas, as the Beast only averaged between 10 and 11mpg while pulling Bessie. As I would be on the lookout for a big Shell sign (we got the awards card to save us five cents a gallon) I was reminded of looking for the other yellow shells along the Camino de Santiago. What is it about yellow shells marking a journey? Anyway, that was our routine. It was a great way to see so many different places throughout the country that have been on my bucket list, and I would like to thank everyone who followed along with us by reading this blog and writing us comments and messages. I hope it was as much fun for you reading it as it was for me writing it. This is officially the last entry of the BaileysBigSummerRoadTrip blog. We made it home safe and sound. Bessie is parked in the back yard, so I guess the saying is true. Home is where you park it.