Round the West: Epilogue

[deralte]

Total Elapsed Time: 41 days, 40 nights
Number of States visited: 20
Number of Countries visited: 2
Mileage: 10, 690 miles
Cheapest Gas encountered: $2.29 /gallon (I40, New Mexico)
Most Expensive Gas encountered: $4.99 /gallon (Hollywood, CA)
Worst Meal: the ceasar salad in the cafe at Crater Lake
Best Meal: country fried steak and strawberry rhubarb pie in the diner, Mollie's Cafe, off the last exit in Utah on I84
Amount of oil we went through: 2 quarts and an oil change in California
Number of National Parks visited: 13
Money saved by Dad's senior park pass: $116
Best Museum: It's a tie between San Diego's Maritime Museum and Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.
Most recommended hotel: Any Best Western in Idaho (be warned, they vary in quality outside of this state), Hampton Inn (if you have the money)
Worst Hotel: Days Inn, Jackson Hole, WY
Best Advice for booking a hotel: Only look at reviews from the past year, always stay somewhere with 3 1/2 review stars or above, and never stay anywhere where all the recent reviews are in German/French/Russian etc.
Favourite Highway: I40 through Arizona
Most Boring Highway: I55 to Chicago
Most Decorated Highway: I40 in New Mexico
Cities I would visit again: San Diego, CA, Chicago, IL, Vancouver, BC, and Trinidad, CA
Cities I never want to see again: Jackson's Hole, WY, and Williams, AZ
Number of Maps we carried: 16 (we gathered more as we travelled, of course)
Best Electronic Device bought for the trip: Escort X50, Passport 8500 radar detector
Amount of Tread lost from tires on trip: 2/32nds of an inch
Highest Speed Driven: 108 mph
Number of pins/badges bought: 34
Worst state for hitting bugs with the car: South Dakota
Best Cup of coffee: Love's, I65, Kentucky, north of Cave City
Best Cup of hot chocolate: gas station on the outskirts of the city, Jackson Hole, WY
Best Cup of tea: Holiday Inn Express, Riverside, CA
Number of Amish buggies encountered and almost run over: 1
New Animals Eaten: Elk
Number of Stuffed animals bought: 4
Number of Books bought: 26
Amount of pictures taken: 20GB worth
Hours of video camera film taken: 8 hours

Comments

[ashfae.livejournal.com]

So, so awesome. =) I envy you this trip. Even the bad bits.

[deralte.livejournal.com]

There were fewer bad bits than I expected to tell the truth.

Did you notice my freudian slip of 'badgers' instead of 'badges' up there? *grin*

[havenward.livejournal.com]

Nice stats <3

[oktober-ghost.livejournal.com]

Interesting stats. Thanks for sharing.

I really am sorry you had to stay at the Days Inn in Jackson. I stayed at the same hotel back in August, and it really did suck.

I have to ask: how long did you maintain the 108 mph speed?

[deralte.livejournal.com]

No prob.

Well, it was partially our fault since we didn't book things in advance (having no idea where we'd end up by nightfall), but still, one would expect a bit more from a hotel that packed. *sigh*

Uhm, about 30 seconds to a minute, I'd guess. I wasn't paying much attention since Dad gets these urges to go fast occasionally. Why?

[oktober-ghost.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It (along with a number of hotels) were completely booked in August. The surrounding area is beautiful, but Jackson is just a tourist trap.

Oh, I was just curious! Last time I was cruising over 100 mph was in a friend's car during my HS years, so I'm living vicariously. And good for your dad for flooring it occasionally.