This is the end . . . of the driving

Well, many thousand miles later we're at the end of our driving for quite a while. We've settled finally in Austin, TX at Erica's mom's, where we'll be until we depart for Mexico (except for a short trip - by plane - back to Boston for a wedding).

It's been quite an amazing ride. Even without all the stops - which were incredible in their own right - the trip was worth it just to see the incredible variety of scenery along the way. From flat cornfields to the most stunning variety of mountains, grasslands, hills, and valleys. Erica discovered (or revealed) a deep love of trains, manifested in a number of pictures of trains taken from the car. If the frequency of mention is any indication, Rory similarly loves Dairy Queen and vultures, a label which he seems to think applies to any large flying bird in any even semi-arid region. It's easy to forget, living in New England, how incredibly large and varied this country is; easy to take for granted the raw beauty at our fingertips. It's also easy to forget, living in New England, that a lot of people are actually really friendly to strangers. Finally, it's easy to forget that even when you hit the Midwest, you are by no means halfway across the country. The West is enormous.

As a final treat we traveled this weekend from Austin to San Antonio to visit our friend Raudel. He fed us like royalty, as usual, then introduced us to several of his female friends (who seemed to pop up almost everywhere in the city we happened to go). We spent the night in his new home, and from there went on to Houston for the afternoon, where a former co-worker of Rory's treated us to another grilled feast and lots of cold beer. Rory is sure that he misses the raw heat of Houston, but it's hard to find anybody else who agrees. At the least, its a great excuse for a stop at Dairy Queen, which clearly occurred on the drive back to Mary's.

All told, it's been wonderful. And it's nice to look forward to just sitting still (and not in a car) for the next few days. Thanks again to everyone who put us up, put up with us, fed us, washed our clothes, gave us directions, or just got out of the left lane as we came up behind. Keep an eye out for more as we keep the trip rolling.