moreburritos.com

Team America has returned triumphant and victorious from our Journey into the Heart of America.

For the last several months beginning in August we took a trip to the other side of the world, that is, the East Coast, the South, and the great interior of America (also called the Midwest) and everywhere else that people consider as America. We returned to our homes in Southern California on this last Saturday night to enjoy the comforts of our own beds after many nights on the road. This trip of lifetime took us to 41 states (including California), we had to stop for gas 55 times which cost us a grand total of $3,645.40 which was divided 4 ways between all of us (AJ, thanks again for totaling up the gas log stats!). The overall total number of miles covered on the trip was 18,685.8 miles of beautiful American highways, and streets through cities, corn and wheat fields and national parks.

We also walked in the steps of the great American hero's big and small and observed the historical places that make America so distinct. From Seattle's Pike Place Market to snorkeling in the Florida Keys to the buffalo roaming wilderness of Yellowstone and to great American metropolises and the monumentalness of Washington DC we cris-crossed this great and diverse country of ours observing the people and interjecting ourselves into whatever culture would accept us while we were in their town.

From every random small (or big) church that we would go to on Sunday's to every random diner serving up something special, every culture had something for us which never ceased to captivate our curiosity.

Graciousness was also our guide as a countless number of individuals opened their homes, and their generous hearts to us throughout this grand adventure teaching a whole lifetime of lessons on generosity. Who without which the Journey into the Heart of America road trip would not have been possible or as cool as it was.

I have a lifetime of stories to tell about the places we went and the people we visited with. Perhaps I will in the coming days write individual snap shot stories (as they come to mind) about some of the things that have happened in these last couple months while on the road. Although, no amount of typing I will do will be able to support the fullness of the memories we have made together on the road but I will strain to put forth a number poignant stories I hope that might capture some of the essence of our great American journey.

As for now you can always check out our photo section of our trip blog which is probably the most comprehensive documentation of our trip (thanks mostly to the awesome photography skills of my girlfriend Courtney Patino).

In conclusion, we titled our trip a Journey into the Heart of America because we wanted to find the spiritual and geographical heart of America on our 4 month journey. As we drove from our last stop on our trip to our final destination of our homes in Southern California, we ate some awesome Greek food at the Mad Greek in Baker, CA and then after a good meal we discussed with one another if we had found either of those things (the spiritual or geographical heart of America) while on the drive home. And our synthesized conclusion came out to be something to the effect of that the geographical and spiritual heart of America is both found in the amazing and diverse people who make up this republic and also in the amazing places which are also so diverse from other parts of the country (and for that matter other parts of the world) and finally the American form of government (which has the goal to give all the people a say in the role of government).

And or, another conclusion that I think we came up with is that only in America could a country be so divided in different ways of life (religion, work, politics) on one hand and be so united to one another on the other hand in love for their country (by rallying around concepts like: independence, freedom, liberty, justice). The always eloquent AJ Harbison perfectly described America as "a comfortable juxtaposition of disparate elements".* So the divided-togetherness of America is one of the things which continues to make America great. Americans are a rare breed of people who are exceptional enough to be united in their ability to live lives different from one another as they each pursue life, liberty and pursuit of happiness in each their own way.

I'm glad to be home,

-Mike

This post can also be found at our Road Trip site AJourneyIntotheHeartofAmerica.com where you can find a collection many of our other stories about our journey into the heart of America.