The End??

Wow! Like Molly North said in her and Eric's blog this trip has been to amazing an experience to sum up in a few words. It's been one week since we all arrived at La Jolla (I'm still saying La Holla, thanks for that Yvonne and Mo-P!) and the trip still hasn't fully sunk in.

I'm currently sitting in a coffee shop in Chicago where I'm spending the night with some friends on my way to my new home, Minneapolis, MN. I've come to the realization that while this trip is "over" it will never stop affecting my life. Just today when I got into chicago my friends were still working so I went on a quest to find wireless. The only difference is that I got here by car and I didn't have 4 leaders (or more likely Meredith) to ask where to go to find it. Sure enough I pulled out my phone and text messaged google to get some help. When that didn't help I asked a local... Ahh the life skills I've developed!

This trip constantly finds it's way in to every facet of my life. I feel like the people around me must be getting sick of the way that every conversation drifts back to some B&B moment. Discussing immigration with my parents last night I drift into ideas and stats from Kim's presentation, gentrification and I'm launching into Zach-Attacks thoughts on the subject. Heck just driving down the road in my car I see a pot-hole and try to stick my hand out the window to point it out - to bad the window was closed b/c the person behind me nailed it.

I was worried when I left that I'd lose touch with the people from Bike and Build but I'm figuring out that that is far from likely. The night I got off my flight home I sent a text to Eric discussing how much I enjoyed the first Harry Potter book and asking how San Fran was going. Almost everything as I walk the streets reminds me of my friends and our experiences crossing the country.

While I may not be with the my 29 companions every hour of everyday as I had been these past 2 months they are and will be with me in my thoughts, my perspective, and more often than not as the cause of my seemingly unprovoked smile. I am grateful for the time I've had crossing the country with such an intelligent, adventurous and interesting group of people and for the love and support from those following the trip across the country and back home.

I want to give a very special shout out to my parents who have been so amazing in supporting me this spring in all my adventures. They'll never know how awesome it was to call home and have people who knew better than I where I was that day, how much elevation I had climbed, where I was headed the next day, and what the weather was going to be like. They were, and continue to be, a constant supply of energy even at my lowest times and I consider myself lucky beyond belief to have such extraordinary people in my corner.


Thanks to everyone for supporting this amazing adventure, it truly has and will continue to shape my life.

Cheers,

-Vandy