Day 21: NV, CA, Home!

Home!

When does it feel to be home? If you are on a 6 mile trip to drop your daughter to school, making that last turn in the street your home is located could make you feel home. If you are on a 100 mile trip to a different city, entering the city limits of where you live might make you feel home. When you have driven nearly 10,000 miles, entering the state you belong to certainly made me feel home... even though I still had another 500 miles to go.

The drive through CA started with the arid Mojave desert. Ron Paul has serious support in one person for 2012 elections in the Mojave area. It is amazing how quickly the scenery changes in California. Very quickly, we climbed on top of Tehachapi pass, a town that claims to have all four seasons. We came down to the central valley where farming is the way of life. I noticed that the farmers were extremely angry with the Democratic congress (at least, before the switch in the balance of power). Like with any Republican propaganda, there was a concerted and relentless attack on why the Democratic congress has caused farming to suffer in CA. I know not if there is truth to that sentiment. I intend to check where does the truth lay here - we seem to live in a world where if the price of a commodity we use goes up, we just accept it and move on. Milk was around $2.50 a gallon not long ago. Today, it is around $3.50. Shouldn't we care about what transpired to cause this increase?

The last leg home took us over Pacheco pass and the beautiful San Juan reservoir. We reached home at 4:30 pm. Jaya and Kavya were waiting for us and it was a sight to see Apollo react to Jaya and Kavya. He literally went berserk with joy, running all over and jumping all over them. It took him a good part of an hour to calm down. And Jana came home from tennis and there he went again!

We drove the Colorado / Utah / Arizona mountains yesterday. In all my excitement about Zion National park, I forgot to mention that what was picture perfect when we drove yesterday will be home to the first serious storm today / tomorrow with snow. The temperatures are expected to plummet by 40 degrees or more. I saved the weather forecast from accuweather. Here goes some excerpts.

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
...UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES TO END EARLY THIS WEEK...

THE UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES ACROSS UTAH THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS WILL BE ENDING EARLY THIS WEEK. A SERIES OF PROGRESSIVELY COLDER WEATHER DISTURBANCES WILL DRAW MUCH COLDER AIR INTO THE GREAT BASIN...WITH THE COLDEST AIR REACHING THE AREA LATE TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY.

PEOPLE PLANNING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES EARLY THIS WEEK...ESPECIALLY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST UTAH SHOULD PREPARE FOR A DRAMATIC CHANGE EARLY THIS WEEK.

HUNTERS AND OTHER PEOPLE PURSUING OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES IN THE COMING WEEK SHOULD KEEP APPRISED OF THE LATEST WEATHER FORECAST. SNOWFALL AND FREEZING TEMPERATURES WILL CREATE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THE CURRENT PROLONGED WARM SPELL OVER UTAH AND COLORADO....

There is no point in wondering how it would have turned out if I had to go through that. I didn't! If I had to, I would've!

48 states. 21 days. 9510 miles. 2 cars. Freezing cold. Snow. Relentless rains. Wind. 2 traffic stops. 0 tickets. 1 car wreck. Perfect sunrises. Breathtaking scenes. Friendly fire fighters. Hawkish receptionist. 125 mph. A pair of pure white samoyed dogs. George Weed. 4 corners. Yellowstone. Niagara, Apollo and me. Crazy dogs in Cortez. Uplifting Mt. Rushmore. Resigned peace right after the accident. Enchanting New Mexico. Zion. Plans. Change of plans. Go with the flow. It was an adventure beyond my wildest dreams.

I am sucker for statistics. I will share some interesting stats in a day or so. Until then, I just want to say I am glad to be home. And enjoy the cake Jaya had ordered to celebrate my home coming after driving through all 48 contiguous states. The writing on the cake said, "Congrats. 48. You did it!" Jaya surely wants to recognize the drive through 48 states - not my age :)

Day 21 pics

p.s. do you have a car you want to donate?