Day 40 — The End

I was supposed to write this last blog post on the day of the trip to Omaha from the Badlands… but the drive was so exhausting and uneventful (though we did visit Minuteman National Historic Park—very well done and sobering) that I thought I’d give myself some time to drive back to Asheville and get situated before posting a final reflection.

Being in Asheville feels different after 9,000 miles, 21 national parks and monuments, and driving in nearly all the states west of the Mississippi. Things I have come to realize:

1. Our area is green—we have an insane variety of vegetation compared to most places in the west, including Oregon and California. Our mountains look like thick shag green carpets. Advantage: Asheville.
2. Despite being known for our blue “ridges,” Lots of other landscapes out west have layered mountain “ridges” as breathtaking as our own. Advantage: none.
3. It is HUMID here in the late summer: Advantage: West.
4. Our mosquitoes are manageable. I have heard from some that Asheville used to have no mosquitoes at all. Alas, this is not true anymore. BUT: Sequoia and Teton were just awful—which was a surprise considering both were sitting at a higher elevation. Advantage: Asheville.
5. For the cautious, our area is safer; for adventurers, the West is more dangerous. Rolling hills and Black Bears vs. Sheer cliffs and Grizzlies. Advantage: none.
6. We don’t have deserts or big canyons that reveal jaw-dropping geological features. Advantage: West.
7. We do have most the other things the Western parks have to offer, on a smaller scale: old growth forests, class 5 rapids, sliding rocks, waterfalls, national historic sites, Native American cultures, mountain lakes, caves, dramatic vistas, abundant camping, stunning sunsets, flora, fauna. AND we have all of these within an hour’s drive, AND we have an unbelievable concentration of good food and beer. Advantage: Asheville.

We’ve been keeping rated lists of all the National Parks, RV parks, activities and movies that we’ve encountered on the trip. Here’s the final breakdown—from best to worst!

Parks:

RV Parks, Lodges and Hotels:

Non-park activities:

Movies:

Concluding thought:

I didn’t miss partisan politics one bit while we were gone. I didn’t check Facebook or TV or other common sources of anxiety. What I became aware of, as soundbytes, sensation, deflection and accusation were replaced by real interactions, was a huge American “center” full of decency and goodwill. I saw the same American flag flying over parks in blue states and red states. I saw veterans park giant RVs next to Mystery-Machine hippiemobiles. I saw courtesy shown to and by foreign visitors. We did encounter some pretty unimpressive people (about 10%), but also some impressive ones (maybe another 10%) to balance those folks out. The rest fell in the middle—neither impressive nor unimpressive, but were made better, clearly, by a common investment in the parks experience. There is no doubt that the parks are utopian; they bring all walks of life together. Cynics might note that they are also a far cry from “real life.” My response is that we ought to move “real life” in the direction of encouraging more, not less, of these things, to build our senses of beauty and common cause.