Home is where your heart is

Take me home, Country roads

To a place I belong

West Virginia, Mountain Momma

Take me home, Country roads

Eric didn't seem to mind that this was the only song I sang for three straight weeks on our road trip.  Well, that and humming O Canada.  There just didn't seem to be other songs that would be more fitting.  Besides, I love John Denver.  As Billy Joel would sing, too bad Only the Good Die Young...

I have never been to West Virginia or the Shenandoah River.  From what the song lyrics described it is "almost heaven."  Fittingly, that's where I have been for three weeks, places that are "almost heaven."  

We continued our way back to the States, traveling southbound.  Our travel took us to several more charming Canadian towns in British Columbia:  Kaslo, Balfour, Nelson, and finally Creston - the last town before we would cross the border at Porthill.

 Sternwheeler SS Moyie featured in Kaslo, BC
On Lake Kootenay

Downtown Kaslo

Welcome to Downtown Nelson

Cooling down with a tasty iced Americano at Grounded
Downtown Nelson, BC 

Crossing Lake Kootenay from Balfour 

The Osprey 2000 is here 

Beach front property with private beaches 

Onboard the Osprey 2000 and putting
binoculars to good use

Our turn to board the Osprey 2000

Onboard the Osprey 2000

Crossing the border at Porthill

Camping at Sandpoint, ID

Eric enjoying an afternoon swim
Lake Pend Oreille, ID

My occasional obsessive-compulsive tendency wanted to hang on to every detail: What town was it?  What did the town look like?  Where did we camp?  Were mosquitoes bad that night?  Did Eric swim in the lake?  Was there a lake?  Then I hit "replay" to make sure I remember it all... How exhausting!  I am beginning to recognize - and reconcile - that perhaps not all the details are important.  In fact, I know they are not all that important.  The importance was that I was present for the experience while I was there.


I felt like the Country Roads have taken me to places I belong.  

The border-crossing was uneventful; almost pleasant.  After a short visit with Eric's old friends Tom and Sherry in Post Falls, ID, we eventually arrived home on Tuesday evening, August 9.  

Epic experience.