Day 21 - Santee, CA - Part One

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until home comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow." - Lim Yutang

Day 21 - Casa Grande, AZ to Santee, CA - Daily Distance - 333 miles - The Bucket Trip Final Distance - 4063 miles.

Before I know it, it's over.

I thought we are going to have one more day on The Bucket Trip. Santee was over five hours away and that would be just about the most amount of driving that we've done in a day.

But my Mom wanted to get home. Be in her own bed.

We're going home.

And for the most part, we ride in silence.

Not a bad silence.

I don't know about my Mom and Jack but I disappointed that it was all over.

For three weeks, we had stopped time. Our real lives were on pause.

Now it felt like the fast forward was getting hit.

And there's no final resolution. There's no big learning moment.

We just pull up to their house and the trip is over.

We get my Mom into her bed and Jack and I sit in silence for almost an hour.

It is time for me to go.

I say goodbye to my Mom and we agree that I'll be back Tuesday morning to help again.

She thanks me for coming on the trip.

Jack has to move the Jeep so I can get out.

"I had a really good time," I say.

"Me too," Jack replies.

"We couldn't have done this without you."

I get in my car and start my drive back to Orange County.

As the sun sets on this day, I feel a new feeling begin to sweep over me.

I don't recognize what it is at first but then it comes to me.

It is joy.

A smile stretches across my face for nobody.

I am so happy right now and it just takes me a second to figure it out.

It is because there is only one way to describe what we did over the last three weeks.

It was fucking awesome.