​

We have made it home safely. I can now officially state that our biggest mishap was a single flat tire. I should probably write some kind of overview, but that can wait for another day.

We packed up (now that there was no need to know where things were, it was easy to just shove stuff in any available compartment) and got going at our traditional 10ish.

Our goal was to get past LA before returning holiday traffic heated up. We were largely successful, and made it to Sunland, north of Pasadena, before lunch.

After lunch, we hit some significant backups. A complicated single car accident caused Google Maps to suggest an alternate route. We took it, along with many of our best motorist friends. It took us past Six Flags Magic Mountain, then up Ridge Route Road in Castaic. We went up quite a bit above the Interstate, and got some delightful views of the valleys on either side of the ridge. It would have been an awesome road for biking on a day where a bunch of people weren’t bypassing the highway on it. And maybe less than 100°F, too. We wouldn’t have taken extra time on a day like today, but I’m glad we were able to enjoy it.

We rejoined I-5 and continued northward. Somehow it’s a lot easier to bike all day then drive or be driven. We stopped at a Carl’s Jr for a bathroom and milkshake. It was crazy busy for some reason. It took 15 minutes for the milkshake to get made, and it isn’t because they were slacking.

Anne the navigator decided we should loop around and take I-580 in. The sun was just finishing setting as we got through the wind farms in the Altamont Pass. We’ve had a lot of nice ocean sunsets on this trip, but hill sunsets are nice too.

That made it just after dark when we hit civilization. For the rest of the ride, the kids oohed and ahhed at the fireworks going for the Fourth of July, or as I prefer to think of it, our welcome home party.

We got home and saw that everything was intact. Ruth ran around the house, saying all the things she had missed or forgotten about. Max got reacquainted with all the toys.

It’s really over now. We have piles of laundry and grocery shopping to do, but life is about to return to normal.