End of the Journey, Pt.2 (the real deal)

View from the road.

SO....why the sudden departure from our fantastic road trip, you may or may not be wondering? Well, here's a few things I learned the last few weeks - much more than I ever expected.

First off, turns out that I get pretty darn nauseous on long car trips, especially on curvy roads, of which there are a lot of along the coast.

Secondly, I learned that I didn't enjoy driving - not because I don't like driving, but Tim doesn't like me driving. Yes, I may be from New York and never owned a car so I'm the less experienced driver....but long road trips are my specialty and I've enjoyed them in the past - alone and with others. But, when I drive with Tim, he turns into my grandmother, reminding me to signal and step on the break and other not-so-helpful hints. He wants to be driving SO badly that he just can't relax, and therefore, I can't relax. To his credit, he got better at it, but I lost all will to fight for my time behind the wheel.

Tim and his current co-pilot, who, truth be told, is a bit of a backseat driver himself.

So, here's the third thing I learned which kinda falls under the "duh" category yet still managed to shock me: Taking a road trip with someone who has already been on a road trip for 10 months is pretty stupid. He's naturally totally sick of all that road trip stuff and has already established his routine of how he wants to do things!

AND, most importantly, I learned that taking a month-long road trip with your boyfriend after you haven't so much as been in the same time zone for many months is also very very stupid.

Taking a road trip is fun and exciting, yes. But it's also one of the most stressful things you can do! It's totally claustrophobic, monotonous and infuriating. It requires one decision after another, one compromise after another....and if your relationship isn't running like a well-oiled machine, you are going to argue. And if you haven't, let's say, been together for 10 months and are maybe holding onto some frustration, anger, and resentment, for example, well then you are really really going to argue. You might even wind up pulling over to the side of the road a few times and threatening to not get back in the car. That's just a hypothetical example, of course...

Look, good times! OUT of the car.

So we did the best we could under unbelievably ridiculous circumstances and we really did have an amazing adventure and saw unforgettable sights. BUT, a relationship that had been as tested as ours needs safe and nurturing circumstances to recover and restore itself. I really didn't want to fly home early and I didn't like the idea of Tim driving the rest of the way home himself but I also really didn't like the idea of staying in that car for another 2 weeks - it was surely going to be the end of us....

So please, wish us luck, and thanks for reading.... And DON'T plan road trips ill-advised. We did take some great pictures though....stay tuned.