Butte to Calgary!

Up and out fairly late today, I was tired and it was relatively quiet in the campground. I packed up my tent and all my stuff for the last time and hit the road. I stopped at Perkin's for a yummy breakfast. As I was sitting there eating and reading my book, I watched the waitress put together two tables, seat a man there and set out a bunch more menus. He waited for quite a while and eventually ordered. I was really hoping whoever he was waiting for would eventually show up, but they never did. On my way out I noticed that some of the menus on the table were kids menus. It broke my heart, I almost cried.

From there I drove. And drove. And drove. Montana is beautiful and it has super high speed limits. I finished listening to On the Road, it felt fitting to listen to the end of Jack Kerouac's adventures as mine was drawing to a close.

I hit the border mid-afternoon. It was pretty routine until he asked if I had any work done on the car while I was there. Oh shit! I hadn't even thought of that when I put the tires on. I am unable to lie, so I told him. He asked the value, I said ~$800. He said no problem, have a nice day. When I got home I remembered the new car rack I forgot to mention when declaring the value of goods I was returning with. Pretty sure it still wouldn't have been an issue.

It was pretty quick to Calgary from there. When I reached Okotoks I started to cry. I'm not sure what the problem was. I think I can attribute it to: facing my reality and my job again; missing Pete and not knowing when I'm going to see him again; the end of the greatest adventure and journey of my life.

The road rage returned as soon as I hit the Deerfoot and increased to the point of giving people the finger when I reached downtown. I reached my street, parked Rolly out front and walked up to the house. I observed that the rest of the people in my building had let the garden go to shit, but, no big whoop. I enter my condo, eagerly anticipating my new kitchen floor. First thing I see... My dishwasher sitting in my fucking livingroom! The dining room table shoved up against the wall. The closet doors not hung. The contents of the closet sitting in the bathroom. Chipped paint on the walls. Screws showing in the baseboards.

Then I sat down and really cried. I was really not wanting to be back in Calgary. I tried calling my parents, not home. I tried calling Tamara, no answer. I was feeling more lonely now that I was home than the whole time I was away on my own. It was like when I was traveling I didn't have anyone to fall back on so I felt really at peace with myself. Suddenly I was back where my support system was and I was alone. Weird. So, I inflicted my crying-self on Pete. He did a good job of making me laugh and I felt better.

I got some stuff cleaned up and unpacked a bit. I went and got some Vietnamese at Thai Tai and immediately remembered why I love my neighbourhood. I saw all the posters for the events coming up in the next few weeks and I remembered why I like Calgary. I'm feeling much better now with the initial shock of being home gone. All is well. Glad to be back.

Oh, and Jill, I have decided to name the trip Cruise America 2006. Named after the RV rental company, so many of which I saw on my trip.

Pulling up to customs

Back in Alberta