I think I've done it

Well folks, after 9 months, 22,000+ miles, and 18 countries, I'm writing this post from Cape Town, South Africa. I think I've actually made it.

There were a lot of great things and a lot of difficult things about the trip. Probably the hardest was dragging mom back from the pub at 2 a.m. each night, but that's just what a good son has to do. (She's surprisingly strong after a few whiskeys.)

Seriously, this isn't a long, philosophical wrap up post. The trip has been too big, too intense, and too diverse for me to even begin trying to make sense of it. Rather, this is just a simple "I'm relaxing in Cape Town, and my mom made it safely to the airport" post. I also loaded my Land Cruiser into a shipping container today, so it will soon be on its way back to England. (It was actually quite a feat to load the Cruiser, as I had to take everything off the roof rack except the tent, and even then I had to deflate the tires to less than half their normal pressure to fit the thing inside a container.)

It's been a long road, so I'm going to head out to the little seaside town of Hermanus for a bit of quiet time with the whales.

My best to everyone back home.