Day - 180ish to 183 Tuxtla Gutierrez (The End)

December 22, 2014

Half a year on the road!

I've reached my final destination. It's not the destination I originally planned on, but then again I didn't plan to spend 3 whole months in Mexico and make a gigantic backwards S over the country mainland, or that I would and see so many amazing people and places that would slow me down. And that is not a complaint.

In Veracruz with a dwindling cash supply and a growing desire to get back to my teaching career (Those two factors are independent of each other, I swear!) I made the decision to buy a plane ticket for December 23, so that I could surprise my family on Christmas Eve. I never told my parents that I bought my airplane ticket. They don't know that I will be there for dinner with the family on Christmas Eve. I hope there are enough Sweedish meatballs. Lefse is going to taste funny after all the tortillas I've been eating! 

I feel very content, although the last few days have been weird as I begin to make the transition from whatever it is that I do now to sleeping in the same bed, working, wearing more than 2 different shirts in a week, wearing jeans, wearing clean socks, showering with regularity, and generally being a normal person.

I arrived in Tuxtla Gutierrez a day ahead of schedule. This was fortunate because it turned out I needed that time in order to put my things together! Or apart, as is the case with the old stead. 

Taking apart the bike. That's when things started to get weird. The moment I took out the mini tool and put the hex key in the bolt for the front rack the world started to get real soft and glowy, and sounds became soft and distant. I felt like I entered a dream and each bolt I took out pushed me deeper and deeper into it.

And then I got to the pedals, which are the most annoying things to remove. A high dosage of frustration brought the real world back into focus. But I've been drifting in and out of that surreal feeling ever since. I certainly felt it when "Hotel California" started playing from the speakers of the music store across from my hotel.

Boxed bike!

So the final total is 8,018 miles (12,904km) in 6 months. And what an amazing trip it's been. Although I know I will miss being on the road and part of me wishes I could do this forever, I'm ready to go home with a song in my head that's appropriate for the end of a long journey.