These are all photos that my mom took in the closing couple weeks of my trip. It was full of excitement, emotion, memories, and whatever else in those last weeks. It seems like LONG time ago already. So here we go...

1) Receiving my gift certificate to go to the top of the Mackinac Bridge. My parents knew a while in advance, but waited to give it to me in person at my brother's wedding. I WAS ECSTATIC! Right away I wanted to call and tell everyone and my legs were bouncing all around.


2) Here I am with my cousin Matthew. I spoke to his 4th grade class in Lake Leelanau a week ago. His class kept in touch throughout my trip and are some of the coolest 4th graders in the country!


3) Cleaning out the invasion mobile. In Madison at my brother's wedding I tried to send as much stuff possible back home with my parents before flying to Alaska and then coming back to Michigan. It was the least amount of stuff I had in the Compass the entire year.


4 & 5) Sorting through "Artifacts". At the beginning of the trip I started posting all the Artifacts of things I collected on the road. There became way way too much. It was a mess to sort through all of this, four dozen shirts, a couple hundred business cards, a few dozen newspaper articles, dozens of brochures and maps, hundreds of receipts, street addresses, phone numbers, and anything else you can imagine.




6) Barb From L'Anse (across the bay from Baraga as she always noted) was one of the most loyal fans of the trip. She deserves a big round of applause for all the comments she left and I enjoyed everyone of them. Those kind of things really kept me going. So I finally got back and was able to give her and Lowell a ride in the Invasion Mobile.


7) The Invasion Mobile (my beautiful 2007 Jeep Compass that was) leaves the driveway one final time in Baraga. Baraga was never to see the Invasion Mobile again. I'm glad my mom took this photo, represents what all my hosts saw as I left over 100 driveways.


8) This is Ernie, one of my best friends. Ernie 92 years old! I talked to him after church one day and he asked me "How was Alaska?" I replied saying it was incredible. "One of these days I'll make it to Alaska," Ernie said. So I promised him a print of my favorite photo from Alaska, it brought a tear to his eye and maybe one for me too.

There is no question about it, this is the ugliest and worst representation of I have ever seen of the Upper Peninsula, not to mention of Michigan. C'mon! (found it on google)

Here is a list of the 10 cities I would most likely move to from my trip (given it was all the same opportunity and people I knew there was taken out of the equation) base solely on the town.

1) Breckenridge, CO
2) Burlington, VT
3) Seattle, WA
4) Denver, CO
5) Boise, ID
6) Santa Cruz, CA
7) New York City, NY
8) San Luis Obispo, CA
9) Minneapolis, MN
10) Spokane, WA

And the top 10 states I'm most likely to move to...

1) Washington
2) Colorado
3) California
4) Vermont
5) Idaho
6) Utah
7) Montana
8) Minnesota
9) Alaska
10) New York

10,000 people or less
Breckenridge, CO
Nebraska City, NE
Clanton, AL

10,000 to 50,000 people
San Luis Obispo, CA
Marquette, MI
Burlington, VT

50,000 to 500,000 people
Boise, ID
Santa Fe, NM
Alexandria, VA

500,000 to 1,000,000 people
San Francisco, CA
Boston, MA
Minneapolis, MN

Metro Areas of 1,000,000+
Chicago, IL
New York City, NY
Seattle, WA

Favorite Cities in the South
Oxford, MS
Austin, TX
Savannah, GA

Other Favorite Cities Out East
Charleston, SC
New York City, NY
Pittsburgh, PA
Newburyport, MA
Key West, FL

Otehr Favorite Cities Out West
Santa Cruz, CA
Sedona, AZ
Spokane, WA
Coeur D'Alene, ID
Durango, CO

The old car: 2007 Jeep Compass Limited 4x4
This car was a dream come true for a year. I got attached, very attached to it. It was fun to drive, getting all kinds of comments, always a conversation piece. I loved the satellite radio, sunroof, leather seats, and it was sooo comfortable. This is now the car that was.



The new car: 1998 Ford Escort Wagon
This is my new car, ‘nuff said. It's a big down grade. But it'll keep me working hard to be able to have my own brand new car some day. Just keep your fingers crossed that I don't have to put too much maintenance into it.

320 individuals -- This is the total number of people that I slept under the same roof as in the last year. This could be family members, roommates, friends, or a big sleepover of close to 20 after an amazing turtleneck and sweater party. This comes to an average of 2.83 people/household. Also, 294 of these people I stayed with I had never met before in my life.

130 beds -- Between September 8th, 2006 and September 17th, 2007 I slept on 130 different beds! That's a different sleeping arrangement every 2.88 days for an entire year! I guess for me it's old news, but I know a lot of people who might not be able to handle that. This includes beds, sleeper sofas, couches, blow up mattresses, campers, hotels, camping, etc.

113 households -- You may be asking why are there 130 beds for 113 hosts. Well, the 113 official hosts does not include when I went camping, the number of times I stayed in a hotel for various reasons, and there were also a few hosts where I slept in different locations different nights due to them having other company and such.

104 towns -- I stayed in 104 different towns and cities across the United States during the Hometown Invasion Tour, it was as many as five in some states and only one in others. But there was a lot of variety, a lot of environments. It's incredible to spend a night in a new town every 3.61 days.

The Households -- 61 houses, 32 apartments, 4 townhouses, 4 campers, 3 dorms, 3 trailers, 2 condos, 2 B&Bs, 1 pool house, 1 record store (yes, I stayed in a record store in Stillwater, OK for one night).

21 couches -- This is way fewer couches than I expected. To my surprise many people had guest bedrooms for me to sleep in. Most of the couches were with younger people, which makes sense. The families were more likely to have a guest bedroom. Early in the trip I used my sleeping bag on the couch. But later on I started to just use blankets, it was easier and cooler during the summer.

11 air mattresses -- I brought my own small air mattress just incase and only used it a handful of times. The nicest air mattresses were in AZ and KS.

9 sleeper sofas -- There is no doubt that these were always the most uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. Often if people had a sleeper sofa I would prefer to just sleep on the couch, plus it's less work to do.

2 backward faucets -- There were two shower faucets of the entire trip where the hot and cold water were reversed, once in Oklahoma City, OK and once in Columbus, OH.

1 water bed -- Yup! Just one at the end of my trip when I was back in Lake Villa, IL.

1 kitchen floor -- This is when I used my air mattress once, it was also after the great turtleneck and sweater party in La Jolla and the apartment was filled with people who had flown and drove many miles and all needed a place to crash. I got the kitchen floor!

1 fridge with cereal -- Only once household of the many kept their cereal in the refrigerator. I shouldn't say ‘only' one seems like a lot in this instance, that's the one time in my entire life I've seen someone keep cereal in the fridge. It was in NV, and I guess it had to do something with the climate.

The moral of the story is, you won't have a sore back when you sleep on 130 different beds. It's great for the back! You sleep in a different position every few nights rather than sleeping in the same exact position every night. Who needs a Sleep Number Bed, just go on a road trip.

I finally feel that I'm getting my sanity back ...at least however much of it I have left. This last month of being back has really been a blur. I have only had little moments here and there where I have been able to look back on this trip and take it all in. Between coming home, returning the Jeep, giving several lectures, trying to find a place to live, being broke, and seeing friends it has been a big rush of everything. However, once again I am back home in Baraga.

Coming back to Baraga wasn't the most desirable of things to do right now, however it was the most practical. I have a little my space, a little more freedom, and I have to say there is a lot of relief being in a familiar place. There's just not much to do! I'm so used to being in new and unfamiliar places that that's what I long for. Hoping to move to a new place perhaps.

After being home for just a couple days I am much more relaxed than I was. And of course I can't go wrong when I get to live off of my mom's great cooking. So I'm slowly settling back in, "coming back down to earth" as I've been saying. Given a little more time I'll be ready to approach the next big. So that's where I stand now. Last time around at home I just wasn't relaxed, plus I was sick. So this feels great right now. I'll take the time to enjoy it. Besides, I have other travel ideas, and it might be another year before I'm back again.

Finally! After 400+ days of being a guest and living in other people's homes I finally have my own toothbrush holder. That means I am officially no longer a guest. Now that is a feeling of relief. I don't know many people who have been a guest for over 400 days. The small things are where it's at! A toothbrush holder! My own towel to hang up in the bathroom. My own bed. My own mess. I can burp and not worry about my appearance. I can eat whenever I want to eat and stay up late and sleep in later. Ahhh finally!

These things became hard to get used to. Personally, I don't know many people who would live out of a duffel bag for over 400 days. To be frank, a lot of people I know simply couldn't do it. And your clothes are always wrinkly! But that's the last of my worries. Honestly, I really did get quite used to my living environment. We are truly creatures of habit. I think we need to break the environments we know on a regular basis. Many people have told me they want to do this trip, but many have also said they couldn't, because of that part of always being a guest in a brand new place every week living out a duffel bag and car. Truth is, anyone can do it! People have to be willing to break outside the box, outside the norm. Heck, I even got used to the heat in Hawaii, and it didn't take that long.

It's been a long time of having to turn to my duffel bag and dig out my toothbrush every night. It's an interesting dynamic being a guest full time. Most people are guests on their vacations for no longer than a couple weeks. It's always an adventure having to find where the cereal is, finding a spoon, or figuring out how the hot water works.

The moral of this story is to get out of your box. No matter how many little things annoy you, it just really doesn't matter if you have a place to put your toothbrush. It's a big wide-open country with lots of environment, culture, diversity, and adventure. Don't shy away from unknown territory and try something new!