Trip Summary

It has taken me until tonight to sit down and try to summarize our adventure. Getting ready for Jen's wedding has consumed a great deal of our time since arriving home and we are still in the planning mode with 32 days to go.

In spite of a great deal of rain in the Rocky Mountain states we were able to spent much of our time on the road touring and hiking. It was really nice to be able to hike or walk almost every day. If we were on the road we usually walked when we got to the next campsite. Spending the time walking and being outdoors just makes you feel better all around.

Not to many people are reading the blog now so I will just cover some of the statistics of our travels. We drove a total of 7653 miles in the RV and 3311 in our jeep tow car (toad) that is a total of 10,964 miles. It does sound like a lot of miles but it went by like it was overnight.

Our travels took us through 22 states, some of them more than once, and one Canadian Provence (Alberta). We were able to visit twelve National Parks, Two beautiful state parks (Palo Duro Canyon, Tx. and Custer SP in SD). We also saw one National monument, The Little Big Horn Battlefield in Montana, and a very popular National Memorial, Mount Rushmore. Two other popular attractions were the Four Corners Navajo Monument and Crazy Horse private memorial near Mt. Rushmore. Every one of these attractions offered something different to see and although we did get a little weary of the touring it was fabulous. The scenery and diversity of this country, especially the western states is fantastic.

In addition to the monuments we also were able to visit Elvis, learn the beginnings of Country music in Nashville and visit friends and family throughout our trip. We very much enjoyed our visits with cousins Steve and Susan in Memphis, Our new friends in Sow Low, AZ. Nephew Ben in Jackson Wy. and Mike Kant in Salt Lake.

We met a number of interesting people on the road and began a new friendship with Chip and Barbara Massa along the way.

Our nights were spent at 30 different campgrounds in the 22 states and Canada. Most of the campgrounds were very adequate, a few were unfriendly or just plain lousy accommodations. For the most part we did very well. The Good Sam campgrounds are still my preference; however a large percentage of the campgrounds out west are KOA's. Some were very nice but most of the KOA's are very tight for our rig and a few were very difficult to level and hook up.

The cost of our fuel was escalating nationwide as we were traveling and we paid from a low of $3.999 per gallon to a high of $5.00/gal. in Canada. The highest fuel price in the US was in Pennsylvania at $4.70/gal. Our gas mileage is improving, it's now up to 7.2 mph so our cost for the trip was just about $.60/mile. It may sound like alot but I carry my house with me and I never stay in a hotel.

I must comment on the highways. Many of us from NJ or PA tend to complain about I80 and some of the other Interstates. After driving through Arkansas and Oklahoma I will never again complain about PA. I40 was our route west and in these two states we almost had our teeth shaken out. There were other rough spots but these two states were by far the worst.

It is nice to be home but I am already getting the desire to hit the road again. The wedding is our priorty however so this year is pretty much over. It is a beautiful, interesting country and we are trying to see it all.

Life is Great! Enjoy it Every day in Every way you can!!

Bill and Eileen