For those of you who are wondering, the economy is doing just fine. This little family trek across the country has opened our eyes to more than a few things - one of them being the fact that there are a bunch of Americans spending a ton of money on everything from Styrofoam cowboy hats and paddle ball sets to big gulps and gallons of diesel fuel. We have been trying to live on a tight budget for the past few years, watching what we spend and trying to live a simpler lifestyle. I guess we had lost touch with what is really going on financially in this country of ours.

The highways of this great nation are filled with expensive motorhomes, fast cars, motorcycles, and gas guzzling SUVs. Gas is $3.00 a gallon and people are waiting in line to pay for it. The National Parks are filled with gawking tourists who eagerly pay the $25 entrance fee and then spend hundreds of dollars on coffee mugs, stuffed animals, and t-shirts at the over-priced gift shops. The SUVs pulling trailers with expensive boats, four-wheelers, and motorcycles will cut you off in a heartbeat while flooring it to beat you to the top of the mountain just to wait in line to pay the fee to see some man-made "nature" exhibit. Hotels are booked to the rafters and charging $200 a night for a small room with no amenities. I think this whole "bad economy" thing is a plot to guilt people into paying the exorbitant fees for anything from getting sun-burned at the local water park to panning for fake gold in an indoor stream after seeing a grizzly bear in a 10' x 10' cage.

Prices are unbelievable, yet Joe Patriot is still willing to lay down the credit card and pay whatever it takes. Trust us, folks. The economy is healthy and booming. Money (or credit) is being pumped into it every day. So, don't go occupying your homemade bomb shelter stocked with a year's worth of supplies just yet. Get out and enjoy the exhibits that this great commercialized nation has to offer.

Don't get us wrong. I guess we are just as guilty as the next. We have enjoyed the national parks, spent a little money in the gift shops, stopped for gas every 200 miles, taken the nerdy pictures, walked through Wall Drug (ok we admit it), and done the other things that make this the best nation on the planet. We are free to do whatever we want and spend our hard earned credit on anything that tickles our fancy. What a country!