9,702: miles traveled during the trip. the first few miles in montana went the fastest, because i had gradually increased the speed to 100 before i saw a 75 mph speed limit sign. who knew montana had reinstituted a speed limit. the fastest farm roads were in texas, where you could go 70, so long as you kept an eye out for farm machinery.
$1,647.96: amount spent on gas. the price varied around the nation, with a number of places in the $3.85-$3.99 per-gallon range and others over $4. washington state is among those with the highest prices.
$3,648.76: amount spent on lodging. this varied as well, from $80 per night in some places to, well, considerably more in key west and d.c. i found that location determined price as much or more than the quality of the room. for example, the uninhabitable room at the howard johnson's in pensacola was $120, while the nice room just a few blocks away was $90.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
road rage
of all the states i traveled through -- washington, oregon, idaho, utah, arizona, new mexico, colorado, wyoming, texas, arkansas, tennessee, alabama, florida, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, virginia, west virginia, pennsylvania, ohio, missouri, kansas, nebraska and montana, as well as the d. of c., washington state by far has the poorest highway system, particularly from the standpoint of maintenance. it also has, by far, the worst drivers. in other states, i'd see the occasional driver who forced everyone else to adjust to him or her, but in washington they're everywhere. and there seem to be more now than when i left a month ago...
a wow moment
while olivia and i were at the fairly new museum of the american indian in washington, d.c., and looking at the displays, she spotted what looked remarkably like a sculpture i have at home. after looking at it for a while, we were both certain it was the same. i wrote down the artist's name, amos wallace, and took a look at mine when i got home. same artist. same sculpture. now the question is, does the museum have the original or do i? either way, it was pretty cool to see something displayed that prominently in the museum that i also have at home...
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
day 29
the potholes in eastern washington to home in woodinville, washington; 209 miles.
i guess that's it. end of the road. home again.
the last leg was nice, crossing the columbia river at vantage, seeing mount rainier come into view -- big and snowy -- as i reached the ryegrass summit west of vantage. as i approached the cascades, the cloud bank spilling across the mountains was thick and swollen with moisture. looked ominous. looked good. looked like i was back home.
when i left just about a month ago, it was cloudy; fittingly, it was again when i returned home. i'm told there was sun while i was gone.
now it's time to be normal for a while.
in the next few days, i'll probably put together some observations and post them.
thanks to everyone who joined me on the road, either from their homes or in person at various points. it was a good ride. we'll have to do it again some time. good night, everyone...
tomorrow:
i guess that's it. end of the road. home again.
the last leg was nice, crossing the columbia river at vantage, seeing mount rainier come into view -- big and snowy -- as i reached the ryegrass summit west of vantage. as i approached the cascades, the cloud bank spilling across the mountains was thick and swollen with moisture. looked ominous. looked good. looked like i was back home.
when i left just about a month ago, it was cloudy; fittingly, it was again when i returned home. i'm told there was sun while i was gone.
now it's time to be normal for a while.
in the next few days, i'll probably put together some observations and post them.
thanks to everyone who joined me on the road, either from their homes or in person at various points. it was a good ride. we'll have to do it again some time. good night, everyone...
tomorrow:
Monday, July 21, 2008
day 28
billings, montana, to the potholes in eastern washington via idaho; 672 miles.
yes, i'll drive this far for mom's home cooking. and her washer and dryer. feels good to be back in washington, though the stretch between spokane and moses lake isn't much to write about. crossed the continental divide just east of butte, montana, at 6,393 feet. that's almost three times as the eastern continental divide back in maryland or west virginia. also saw my first skull tree today somewhere in montana. someone had taken bleached skulls of critters and nailed them to a tree in their front yard. i wonder why more people around the country don't do that. didn't stray far from the interstate today, once to find decent coffee in livingston, montana, which led me to a park with a really nice statue of sacajawea and her kid on a horse. also drove through anaconda, montana, to see all of its dead trees. decades of mining and smelting had killed most of the trees in the area. there are still some dead ones visible, but i think they maybe cut down and burned most of the bad ones. the key to the day was arriving at mom's, where i had spent the first night of the trip, so now i've closed the loop. good night, mom; good night, linda and george; good night, olivia.
tomorrow: the potholes to woodinville to wrap up this trip and start planning the next one.
yes, i'll drive this far for mom's home cooking. and her washer and dryer. feels good to be back in washington, though the stretch between spokane and moses lake isn't much to write about. crossed the continental divide just east of butte, montana, at 6,393 feet. that's almost three times as the eastern continental divide back in maryland or west virginia. also saw my first skull tree today somewhere in montana. someone had taken bleached skulls of critters and nailed them to a tree in their front yard. i wonder why more people around the country don't do that. didn't stray far from the interstate today, once to find decent coffee in livingston, montana, which led me to a park with a really nice statue of sacajawea and her kid on a horse. also drove through anaconda, montana, to see all of its dead trees. decades of mining and smelting had killed most of the trees in the area. there are still some dead ones visible, but i think they maybe cut down and burned most of the bad ones. the key to the day was arriving at mom's, where i had spent the first night of the trip, so now i've closed the loop. good night, mom; good night, linda and george; good night, olivia.
tomorrow: the potholes to woodinville to wrap up this trip and start planning the next one.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
day 27
north platte, nebraska, to billings, montana; 657 miles.
today was humbling. first by the weather, which to this point had been perfect, so long as you like hot and humid. today dawned cloudy, down-to-the-ground cloudy that didn't seem to want to let the sun in. i had decided earlier that chimney rock in western nebraska would be a key marker on the trip, that everything west of it would be the west, and everything east the rest. i had visited the rock with judy blake a few decades ago and wanted to see if it impressed me as much this time. it did. and the clouds lifted just in time for me to see it off in the distance. the second humbling was courtesy of don from tulsa. we had arrived at the chimney rock visitors center a little before it opened, so we started talking. he was on his way home to conclude a road trip on his bike. don had gone to the northeast corner of maine to start his trip, then motorcycled across the country to lapush, washington. gulp. but i figured my trip from cape flattery to key west was at least the equal of his, so i was feeling pretty good. but then he mentioned casually that a few years ago he went from key west to prudhoe bay, alaska. and before that, he and some friends had biked down to argentina. i was more than humbled by his trips; i think my jaw scraped the pavement. we were both humbled, though, by the fact that we were driving comfortably around the country while the first folks who had crossed through here to get to oregon or california or utah -- all wagon train routes to the west passed chimney rock -- had endured hardships we couldn't imagine. there's a cemetery near chimney rock where some of them are buried. after chimney rock, i decided to go due north to the agate fossil beds national monument. there i met arthur short bull, a member of the lakota nation who was painting some watercolor scenes. you can see his work at www.dawnhawk.org. had a nice talk with him, about cultures and perspectives and other things. he's planning a series of paintings related to big tourist spots like chimney rock that will view the scene from the native american perspective and what it was like for them watching the white migration to the west. after talking with him, it was time to find an interstate and pile up some miles. there also were a couple of significant things that happened today: 1) i saw mountains, real mountains, with snow, and 2) i merged onto interstate 90. i could just stay on i-90 all the way home. we'll see. good night, don; have a safe trip home. good night, arthur, and thanks for the drawing you did of me as i sat down to talk with you (the drawing is of me as a wind horse, which fits with driving the mustang and flying down the roads). good night, jean, i'll see you soon...
tomorrow: billings maybe all the way to the potholes in eastern washington to see mom on the return trip home.
today was humbling. first by the weather, which to this point had been perfect, so long as you like hot and humid. today dawned cloudy, down-to-the-ground cloudy that didn't seem to want to let the sun in. i had decided earlier that chimney rock in western nebraska would be a key marker on the trip, that everything west of it would be the west, and everything east the rest. i had visited the rock with judy blake a few decades ago and wanted to see if it impressed me as much this time. it did. and the clouds lifted just in time for me to see it off in the distance. the second humbling was courtesy of don from tulsa. we had arrived at the chimney rock visitors center a little before it opened, so we started talking. he was on his way home to conclude a road trip on his bike. don had gone to the northeast corner of maine to start his trip, then motorcycled across the country to lapush, washington. gulp. but i figured my trip from cape flattery to key west was at least the equal of his, so i was feeling pretty good. but then he mentioned casually that a few years ago he went from key west to prudhoe bay, alaska. and before that, he and some friends had biked down to argentina. i was more than humbled by his trips; i think my jaw scraped the pavement. we were both humbled, though, by the fact that we were driving comfortably around the country while the first folks who had crossed through here to get to oregon or california or utah -- all wagon train routes to the west passed chimney rock -- had endured hardships we couldn't imagine. there's a cemetery near chimney rock where some of them are buried. after chimney rock, i decided to go due north to the agate fossil beds national monument. there i met arthur short bull, a member of the lakota nation who was painting some watercolor scenes. you can see his work at www.dawnhawk.org. had a nice talk with him, about cultures and perspectives and other things. he's planning a series of paintings related to big tourist spots like chimney rock that will view the scene from the native american perspective and what it was like for them watching the white migration to the west. after talking with him, it was time to find an interstate and pile up some miles. there also were a couple of significant things that happened today: 1) i saw mountains, real mountains, with snow, and 2) i merged onto interstate 90. i could just stay on i-90 all the way home. we'll see. good night, don; have a safe trip home. good night, arthur, and thanks for the drawing you did of me as i sat down to talk with you (the drawing is of me as a wind horse, which fits with driving the mustang and flying down the roads). good night, jean, i'll see you soon...
tomorrow: billings maybe all the way to the potholes in eastern washington to see mom on the return trip home.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
day 26
shawnee, kansas, to north platte, nebraska, 478 miles.
we're not in kansas any more, gang. today was another good example of the difference between the interstates and everything else. the interstates are great for getting to a destination; the other roads are great if you want the journey to be as interesting as the destination. i started the day on interstate 70 headed west from the kansas city area. but then i saw a sign for the wizard of oz museum in wamego, kansas. passed on the museum, but there was also an oz winery in wamego, and i picked up a nice bottle of yellow brick road merlot. they say they make the wine right there in oz world, but i wonder where they get the grapes. eastern washington? didn't see any grapes growing anywhere around wamego. just corn and cows. oz world naturally led north to the pony express home station museum, which led to the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states. who knew? apparently they had a bunch of surveyors and assorted engineers and brain surgeons figure out that the geographic center of the u.s. is just outside lebanon, kansas. and it turned out that for the 10 or so minutes i was there, i was the lone person at the center of the universe, er, country. any significance to that? i should hope so. the back roads through northwestern kansas and north into nebraska were just very nice. and fast. i'll also go on record and say that, so far, the folks in kansas have been by far the friendliest. they strike up conversations for any reason: the weather, the car, the washington license plate or just the fact you're headed into a store and they're headed out. small towns in kansas and nebraska, like other midwest states, still have streets made out of brick in their downtown cores. nice to look at; not so nice to drive on. drove on my first toll road today, and saw my first coal train of the trip. the mount hope area of kansas was the flip side to the happy day. i had passed a few dilapidated, run down, worn down, falling down, ramshackle houses and wondered what happened to the folks who once lived there, then saw the cemetery with "mount hope" across the gate. at one time, the folks living there had some hope, but no more. don't know whether it was the depression or dust bowl or what, but folks obviously just packed up and left a long, long time ago. switching topics now with this smooth transition, many thanks to jean for the CDs she mailed to me in omaha. fortunately, the omamaniacs were in kansas city, so i was able to get the package. excellent road music. if anyone needs a "theme" CD put together, jean's the person. lastly, don't ask me why, but for some reason i spent a lot of thinking time on the road today thinking about the next road trip. hmmm. good night, jean; good night, ray; good night, olivia, who called me today to say i had 58 voice messages on the phone at home...
tomorrow: north platte to hopefully sheridan, wyoming; a long day.
we're not in kansas any more, gang. today was another good example of the difference between the interstates and everything else. the interstates are great for getting to a destination; the other roads are great if you want the journey to be as interesting as the destination. i started the day on interstate 70 headed west from the kansas city area. but then i saw a sign for the wizard of oz museum in wamego, kansas. passed on the museum, but there was also an oz winery in wamego, and i picked up a nice bottle of yellow brick road merlot. they say they make the wine right there in oz world, but i wonder where they get the grapes. eastern washington? didn't see any grapes growing anywhere around wamego. just corn and cows. oz world naturally led north to the pony express home station museum, which led to the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states. who knew? apparently they had a bunch of surveyors and assorted engineers and brain surgeons figure out that the geographic center of the u.s. is just outside lebanon, kansas. and it turned out that for the 10 or so minutes i was there, i was the lone person at the center of the universe, er, country. any significance to that? i should hope so. the back roads through northwestern kansas and north into nebraska were just very nice. and fast. i'll also go on record and say that, so far, the folks in kansas have been by far the friendliest. they strike up conversations for any reason: the weather, the car, the washington license plate or just the fact you're headed into a store and they're headed out. small towns in kansas and nebraska, like other midwest states, still have streets made out of brick in their downtown cores. nice to look at; not so nice to drive on. drove on my first toll road today, and saw my first coal train of the trip. the mount hope area of kansas was the flip side to the happy day. i had passed a few dilapidated, run down, worn down, falling down, ramshackle houses and wondered what happened to the folks who once lived there, then saw the cemetery with "mount hope" across the gate. at one time, the folks living there had some hope, but no more. don't know whether it was the depression or dust bowl or what, but folks obviously just packed up and left a long, long time ago. switching topics now with this smooth transition, many thanks to jean for the CDs she mailed to me in omaha. fortunately, the omamaniacs were in kansas city, so i was able to get the package. excellent road music. if anyone needs a "theme" CD put together, jean's the person. lastly, don't ask me why, but for some reason i spent a lot of thinking time on the road today thinking about the next road trip. hmmm. good night, jean; good night, ray; good night, olivia, who called me today to say i had 58 voice messages on the phone at home...
tomorrow: north platte to hopefully sheridan, wyoming; a long day.
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