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July 25, 2005
Road Trip 2005: The summary stuff
Inspired, in part, by Leah's post on trip stats, I thought it would be kind of fun to summarize my trip in (sort-of) statistics.
Total miles driven: 7,719
Number of days: 22, including the start day and the end day.
Number of states crossed or visited: 20, plus one Canadian province
Longest I stayed in any one place: 4 nights in Philomath, Oregon
Longest single day drive: It's close, but it's either Columbia, Missouri to Denver, Colorado; OR Boulder, to El Cerrito, California; or possibly Cut Bank, Montana to Minot, North Dakota. It could be Duluth to Detroit.
Shortest single day drive: Bandon, Oregon to Florence, Oregon, even if you count the side trip to Eugene.
Number of Great Lakes viewed: 5, plus the Great Salt Lake.
Total gallons of gasoline: 304
Best price found for gasoline: $1.999
Highest price paid for gasoline: $2.659
Average for trip: $2.26
Total number of cities slept in that have university campuses: 9
Number of campuses visited without staying: 3
Most interesting drive: Going-to-the-sun Road in Glacier National Park
Most routine (I hate to say boring) drive: Lawrence, KS to Denver, CO.
Most disappointing portion of the drive: The Shoreline Highway (Route 1) in California. "Pacific Mist" shrouded the ocean most of the way.
Best day to see trains: Sunday. Going west, I saw many trains along the route through the mountains, but the last Sunday (July 10, I passed 12, not counting the Amrak, on the line the parallels Highway 2, and most of those 12 had 100 cars or more. Even the shortest one was 63 cars. That's a lot of freight in a day!)
Number of used book stores visited: 7
Number of used books purchased: 25
Best book find: Writer's Guide and Index to English, 5th Ed. by Porter G. Perrin, edited by Wilma Ebbitt. Found at Turn Around Books in McMinnville, Oregon.
Most scenic part of the trip: Glacier National Park. No contest.
Most poignant part of the trip: Nez Perce National Historical Park/Bear Paw Battlefield (about which I will have considerably more to say in another post.)
Award for best freeway median decoration: California, for the miles of multi colored flowering shrubs along I-80 as you descend the mountain.
Penalty for drivers most frequently failing to yield the passing lane when not passing: Washington.
Best latte I have ever had: The Daily Record in Pt. Arena, California. Their food rocks, too.
Most interesting beer found along the way: Moose Drool. (no, I'm not kidding).
Places I definitely want to go back to: Boulder, Colorado; The top of the Rockies above Denver, including Aspen, Vail, Leadville, Rocky Mountain National Park, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park; Glacier National Park (and the surrounding area in northwestern Montana); Ann Arbor, Michigan; Macinaw City and Macinac Island, Michigan; the Oregon Coast (always).
Things I didn't do that I wish I had: not many, except the bookstore in San Francisco, and Powell's in Portland. And more walking on the beach in Oregon.
Things I did I wish I hadn't: the Drive Thru tree at Leggett, California. This is not "the" drive through tree from the Redwood Firest - but a tourist trap of the first order; planned to drive from Cut Bank, Montana to Minot, North Dakota all in one day with so much to see in between; driven the UP (that's Upper Peninsula) in Michigan without time to stop along the way.
And finally, and most important, the people to whom I offer extended thanks, gratitude, and appreciation for putting me up, feeding me, and giving me points of anticipation along the way: Paul Bender; Marcia Hansen; my brother, Tim, and his family; Elmer and Dottie Taylor; Elana Bryan (who gave me a pointed look about calling Syracuse "home" in an earlier post, reminding me again how valuable best friendships are) and hubby Mark; my dad and his wife, Don and Tana Steward, who for the first time in years have a guest room in their home; Ann Tandy-Treiber; Keith and Linde Tandy; my dear friend Rich; and of course, my mom and her husband, Gail and Eddie, who helped with expenses and gave me the reason (justification?) for making the trip. Thanks to all of you.
Stay tuned for more posts on interesting places and themes of the trip, along with pictures (assuming, of course, that any of them came out!).
Posted by cageyer at July 25, 2005 06:26 PM
Comments
wow, a new blog reader :-) thanks for the trackback. You were completely in my stomping grounds! I live on the Oregon coast, and I'm sure you went straight through my town.
Sounds like a fun vacation, and I am quite jealous. Someday, I'll get to take a round the states tour too.
Posted by: Leah at July 25, 2005 07:33 PM
Woot woot! You took a Porter Perrin vacation!
Posted by: senioritis at July 26, 2005 10:59 PM
What a fun way to structure a travelogue and what a fabulous trip!
It was great to see you. Come back again sometime!
Posted by: Marcia at July 27, 2005 09:49 AM
Thanks for your inquisitive nature and your propensity to share. Delightful!
Posted by: Tana` at August 1, 2005 11:37 PM