Full circle

Well tonight is my last night here in the US. It's strange to think that six months have already gone by. It doesn't feel like it at all. The time has whizzed by and I'm quite sad to be leaving tomorrow morning. I've repacked my suitcase and thrown some stuff away. I have to leave my food bag and esky here because I can't take it with me. Well I'm taking the bag but not the contents. I've been trying to turn my mind towards Canada and the adventures that await me there but right now I just feel too sad to think about it. I've booked my first 2 nights accommodation in Vancouver just so I have somewhere to go and acclimatise and work out what I'm going to do. My rough plan is to spend a week in Vancouver, take a train across Canada with a few stops in between then spend some time in Toronto before I fly home. I returned my rental car this morning and surprise surprise it went relatively smoothly. I've got a new car for the day from Thrifty (a shiny black Kia Forte) which is okay but it's gotta go back on my way to the airport. Strange to think I won't be driving again for a while and when I do it will be on the other side of the road. It's a good thing and a bad thing. So many mixed feelings.

I forgot to mention earlier that I stopped in Sweetwater, Texas on my way into Dallas but there wasn't any art in the hotel and in a way it was an emergency stop as there was severe thunder and tornado warnings going on in amongst the torrential rain. The next day driving into Dallas was pretty hairy and I'm actually in a different hotel than originally planned due to the weather as it was just getting too scary and dangerous on the interstate as I couldn't see much in front of me and people were being crazy. Watching the news since then it looks like the place I was originally going to stay (Arlington) has been declared a disaster area so I'm glad I didn't continue on. 

So here it is, the final map of my US travels. I did what I wanted to do, make a circle around the States. I got to see most of what I wanted to see and had the best time here and hope to come back soon.

click to enlarge

I'll leave you with this, a K-9 Comfort station at a Texas Rest Area. nice of them to provide a fire hydrant for the dogs :)