Rare is the homecoming that meets expectations, and mine, a few hours ago, was no exception. The gray and heavy air, typical of a Philadelphia Summer, started while still some three hundred (!) miles away, just east of Pittsburgh. (By the last fifty miles, the local weather report was predicting heavy thunderstorms. They were accurate.) Life sometimes being in the timing, I also approached the last portion, the infamous Schuykill Expressway, at rush hour, and the combination added an extra hour of driving, despite my preemptive detour to sit out the worse of it at the Apple Computer store in the (also infamous) King of Prussia Mall.

It's a strange feeling being back. After 8,969 miles and 33 nights spent in 25 different beds, I will be sleeping in my own in a few minutes, as I am tired and have much to do to establish a new routine. While the familiar is a safe-harbor and a welcome sight, the voices greeting me as I opened the door were: "Read me! Pay me!" (mail), "Dust me! Wipe me!" (shelves, surfaces), "Wash me!" ( a little muffled, being the clothes in my bags), and "Vacuum me!" (floors, rugs). Not quite the same as toddler-Julia shouting "Daddy!!" and running toward me with open arms and a wide smile…twenty years ago.

The rest of the photos and narrative – I’ve been "processing" the trip these last 1600+ miles from Deadwood, SD to Philadelphia -- will be posted when I get through the voices, so check again. It is good to have Home around me after having to carry it inside. I am looking forward to the many new beginnings.