Back to Virginia

Wednesday night we arrived in Auburn, AL to stay two nights with David. He is a grad student in English at Auburn University, and he had met us previously to join our weekend in Nashville. The drive didn't seem too bad, though it was about 12 hours. Driving through the Alabama countryside was the first time it hit me: there weren't anymore deserts or mountains or red cliffs. There was green grass, trees, and farms - this looked like home!

On Thursday, we organized and cleaned some, taking a day to catch up before a hectic weekend in Blacksburg. We also explored Auburn's campus. Here, the Southern influence was very strong: the campus had traditional brick architecture and centered around the massive football stadium, and the majority of the undergrad students were involved in a fraternity or sorority.

Friday was the critical day that we had been focused on for weeks: we drove back to Virginia. Looking back, arriving at Virginia Tech and arriving at home in Poquoson were great feelings, but they were not overwhelmingly emotional. What was overwhelmingly emotional was crossing into Virginia: this was the moment at which I finally felt home. We stopped at the welcome sign to take our last - our 48th - state picture. My eyes (slightly watery) felt glued to this huge white sign and everything that it meant: the trip was incredible, but it was hard, and this huge white sign meant that I was back, back to the people, places, and opportunities that awaited at the end of the journey.

Home!

We saw old friends and old faces in Blacksburg, and we went to the VT vs. North Carolina football game on Saturday with David. It felt good to be so close to home.

After the weekend, I drove home on Monday stopping to drop Jenna off along the way, ending our journey. We finished what we started out to do, and now we're home! I'll post more about that in one last blog post during the next few days - a summary of interesting facts and a look back on the trip.