Here I sit at home, it’s Sunday night and it’s been 36 hours since we touched down in Brisbane. It’s been an amazing 6 weeks of travel, and while I’ve revisited some places I’ve already been, there is nothing quite like introducing new people to places you love.
We flew out of LA at 11.25pm on Thursday 10th January, with a flight time of a little over 13 hours. By the time we collected luggage and cleared customs, it was 8.05am on Saturday 12th January. Probably got about 5 hours of broken, fugue-state sleep on the plane, so my plan was to stay awake until bed time and then slip back into my normal sleep patterns to fight jet lag.
So how to keep busy to stay awake. Step 1 - unpack the suitcases and sort the clothes for laundering, sort gifts and souvenirs. Step 2 - do said laundry. How great is Queensland - it was so hot and windy that clothes dried in an hour, so with four loads to do, the better part of 4 hours was spent doing laundry! Step 3 - stay well-hydrated throughout the day. Step 4 - catch up on other housework, catch up with family, get into the bed time routine.
So far, this has worked - slept from 9pm til 5am - with only one restless hour at 3am. Snuck out of the house so I didn’t wake my sleeping beauty boys, and had a beautiful, warm ride for 90 minutes along the Esplanade out to Birkdale. I never really valued the beauty of a warm ride until I rode in Vegas in Winter. Here’s the comparison - today I rode in bib Knicks, bra and jersey - it was was 23 degrees Celsius. Last week I rode in bra, thermal top, jersey, thermal jacket, arm warmers, wind jacket, head buff, bib Knicks, thermal pants, woollen socks and thermal gloves - and I was still chilled to the bone - it was minus 3 degrees Celsius with a wind chill factor of minus 10 as we rode through the (ironically) Valley of Fire.
Spent today pruning the garden, mowing the back yard, watering the dust down to revive the grass, meal planning for the week, grocery shopping, decorating our back deck and making dinner for a catch up with our girl and her boy - who have just bought their first home together. Again, the plan seems to be working - it’s now almost 9pm and I’m just now feeling drowsy, with no nausea or other symptoms.
It already seems like a lifetime ago that we were on our adventure. I miss a lot of things about the US, but admit it is nice to be home. I missed Vegemite while away (sweet jam at breakfast grows old fast for me), so I have indulged in Vegemite toast on a number of occasions now.
While America is so similar to Australia, the differences are many and varied. An expat Aussie who has lived in LA for over a decade now explained to us “Aussies are more open. They are the easiest tourists to spot. Americans are reserved and wary, Aussies are just so open and friendly”. But more on that when I’ve had time to reflect on things more.
For now, I just know I want to see more. I want to explore all of the States - and get into some of the smaller towns - not just focusing on the big cities. I want to see what it’s like in the suburbs, in the towns along the interstates, the highways. I want to travel Route 66 and explore the stops along the way. My first 3 tastes have been amazing, but like my friend Phoebe, I want to tick off all 50 of the States and see what they have to offer.
And so the planning begins...
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