Are you ready for some football!?

Just once this Olympics, I wanted a game to start with Hank Williams Jr. belting out those words over the loudspeaker. But I guess the sound of 80,000 screaming fans at Wembley Stadium (an Olympic and UK record for a women’s soccer match!) was a suitable replacement.

And once again, what a wild, wacky, wonderful exciting match. It was so neat to be along for the ride, and watch this team win a gold medal. What an experience.

You can read my story on Carli Lloyd’s legendary performance HERE.

And you can read the piece I wrote on team co-captain Abby Wambach’s desire to keep playing through 2016 HERE. (This one, of course, I wrote on a red double-decker bus on my way from the stadium to downtown and turned in via the wireless in my friend Grant’s hotel lobby. Then I took the world’s most expensive cab ride back to my flat.)

The past two and a half weeks has been as exhausting as it’s been exhilarating, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything. I saw some of the most exciting women’s soccer matches ever played and made a ton of new friends along the journey. When the night ended, I felt like I was leaving summer camp.

“I’ll miss you all! See you soon! World Cup 2015?! Count me in!”

I’m finally laying my head on the pillow and it’s just before 4:00. Despite my sleep depravation, I have a smile on my face–mostly due to the fact that I am three days from home.