Home

Well, I am home now.

We took a few days before leaving NZ to roadtrip to Nelson and Picton (the locations of our first roadtrip) where we did some last minute shopping and general relaxing.

We got back to the vineyard Monday. We spent Tuesday packing and returning books to the library in town. We had a farewell feast of lambchops, mashed potatoes and veggie stir fry.

Wednesday we packed our sleeping bags and crammed everything into our bags. We took down the tent where we'd been sleeping, tidied up Tadeu's room where we spent the last 2 nights because it was quite cold and windy and loud. We had some grilled cheese for lunch and then hit the road for the airport.

Our first flight was from Blenheim to Auckland. It was a little longer than an hour long. We flew over Picton and the Marlborough Sounds and along the west coast of the North Island. In Auckland we had a 3 hour layover which we spent in duty free and gift shops.

We left Auckland at 6pm and had an 11 hour flight to LA. There were heaps of movies on demand that we wanted to watch, we worried that we wouldn't be able to sleep! However, the movies didn't work for the first 3 hours of the flight so we only had time for one during dinner, before we fell asleep. We watched a Czech film called I Served the King of England. I slept really well for about 5 hours and woke up when my breakfast arrived.

Our layover in LA was a comfortable 3 hours. We had to do all the customs stuff and get our baggage and recheck it but we still had plenty of time before our fligth to St. Louis. On the flight we flew right into some thick dark clouds and it was a bit turbulent. But the flight was not too long and Brian's family was waiting for us at the end of it, which was definitely something to look forward to!

We spent a few days in St. Louis with Brian's family and going through all our stuff, dividing it up. Friday morning we left for Galesburg. The interstate was so straight and flat! It was so strange! We met Quinn at Green Oaks, he showed us around and then he came with us into Galesburg to get my car. Brian and I had lunch with Laura and then I had to start driving home in order to get there in time for dinner and Caitlin's play.

I had to pull over at the I-80 truckstop (the largest truckstop, maybe in the world) because the rain was coming down so hard that I couldn't see. I called my mom and found out that I was in the midst of a tornado warning. I stayed there for 40 minutes or so and then started for home again. I made it to the school 6 minutes after the overature started, with a few minutes to spare before the actual play began. I was surprised I made it... though I drove pretty fast.

Finally! I saw my mom, my dad and my grandparents. And then I surprised my sister, she didn't think I would make it for the show. So good to be home!

On Saturday I unpacked my bags and then went through all the clothes I left at home... there are so many! I think that today I will go through them and get rid of some while I am used to not having many choices.

It is always strange and difficult to end an extensive trip like this one has been. I can't really do much reflecting on it at this point, its too strange still.

Well, this is the end of this blog for now. Thanks for reading it.
Cheers!