On the road: the final leg

The final leg of our road trip turned out to be logistically way more complicated than I had anticipated. As it turns out, a) there are not many couch surfing hosts in the rural west, and b) there are just as few cheap hotels in the rural west.

By this point in our trip, I was also feeling ready to get back to Spokane, despite the tantalizing opportunity to visit Yellowstone in the dead of winter. With funds running low, snowstorms on the horizon, and both of us fighting off nasty colds, we decided to fast-track it to Washington and visit Yellowstone and Utah another time.

Beautiful Pike's Peak

The weather was perfect as we left Colorado, but the further north we drove, the worse it got.

 

Wyoming was a desolate tundra for hours, with icy wind buffeting the little Subaru and snow swirling across the slick highway. I drove the first 5 hours before we stopped for dinner in a tiny little town, and then Peter took the last couple hours until we got to the town of Sheridan to stay in a cheap motel for the night.

It was tempting to try to drive through the rest of the way to Spokane, but after another full day of driving, we decided it was best to call it a night in Missoula, MT, where we rented an Airbnb attic room from a local college student.

Our attic Airbnb

Despite being absolutely freezing, the attic room was a fun stay just for its uniqueness. Once I crawled into bed to warm up, I didn't get up again for nearly 11 hours, so exhausted from driving and sick from my cold.

The next day was beautiful and sunny, boasting jaw-dropping views of the mountain pass as we crossed over the northern Rockies into the Pacific Northwest.

It took just over 4 hours, but finally we made it to Spokane, WA, our temporary home for the next few months until our seasonal work begins.  

Finally in Spokane!

It felt surreal for the first few days to not be on the move. After almost 3 months of constant travel, of careful budgeting, of staying with strangers, of seeing new sights every day, of wondering where we might sleep some nights, the tiny Spokane apartment felt like luxury. And after all the trials of our travels, our relationship had changed in many ways as well, having achieved new levels of trust, communications, and understandings of one another.

As with all great journeys, there are more questions now than answers, not the least of which is, where shall we go from here? As that remains to be answered, all we can do now is keep living life to its fullest.

This journey across America has shown me the vast scope of our country, the incredible people who inhabit our land, the bountiful kindness that lives in all of us, and the endless diversity of life across the grand spectrum of the human experience. I am truly moved by the generosity of so many of the people we met and the stories they shared with us. Traveling the way we did, I feel I was able to see each part of the country through the eyes of those who lived there.

Rather than quenching my thirst for travel, I think more than anything it has only whetted my appetite.

And so the question remains, where shall we go from here?