Trip statistics...

Trip duration: 33 days (not including time on Martha's Vineyard and Maine)

Trip dates: Sunday 7/8/2007 - Thursday 8/9/2007

# of countries traveled through: 2 (Canada!!!)

# of states traveled through: 16 (ME, NH, MA, NY, OH, IN, IL, WI, MN, SD, WY, CO, UT, AZ, NV, CA)

Miles traveled: > 5,894 (this was the approximate number of miles that I logged en route going from night "A" destination to night "B" destination, etc. I would invariably drive around each destination once I got there. For example, I spent 3 nights in Fort Collins CO and my days were spent driving out to hikes and bike trails. There was also a lot of driving around for food, etc. If you throw in an additional conservative 10% or so, the whole shebang was a good 6,500).

Accommodations breakdown (click to enlarge):


Speeding tickets/pull-overs, etc: 0 (come on...this shouldn't be too much of a surprise...I don't know if the Honda these days could bomb around even if he tried!!)

Road kills: 0 (plenty of bugs and stuff, but fortunately no animals - the closest I came to hitting anything was on a dark night while driving out to a campground in Fruita CO - 5 different rabbits sprinted right out in front of the car in the span of about 5 mins!)

Oil changes: 2 (Madison WI and Grand Junction CO)

Longest distance in a day: 591 (and unfortunately, this was "day 1" going from Maine to Ottawa...what a way to start!! This was also the day my GPS died and I lost all cell phone signal upon crossing the border). Coincidentally, the 2nd longest driving day (clocking in at 455 mi) was the last day of the trip going from Death Valley north through Mammoth/Yosemite and then home.

Car washes: 2 (one in Casper WY was to support "troubled teens"...I wouldn't exactly call it a thorough wash, but I felt good about supporting the cause! The second one was "for real" - I was feeling way beaten down after all night thunderstorms in Fruita CO and then having to wake up pre-dawn anyways to drive Habs to the Grand Junction airport...I really needed some good Chi and this hit the spot (and I even got one of the above oil changes right next door at the same time, in addition to a sweet IHOP stack of cakes ;)

# sodas: 0!!!! (yes folks, the days of dr. peppers and mountain dews are over.....at least for now ;)

# frosties: Didn't really keep track, but not too many. Sometimes I'd hook myself up with a couple of Coors Lights while working on the blog at night or if I went out to eat.

# beef jerkies eaten: A lot (for some reason I started getting into the jerky along the way...I suppose it was so prevalent in all of the gas station food marts and it always seemed to tie me over for a while. Well, that and I really got into those "messing with Sasquatch adds")

Pounds lost: ~ 9 - 11 (difficult to say exactly due to typical fluctuations in water weight at any given time, but the difference is certainly noticeable and it feels great to have blown away most of that desk jockey spare tire)

# of national parks visited: 11 (Arches, Badlands, Bryce Canyon, Colorado National Monument, Death Valley, Devils Tower, Minuteman Missile, Mount Rushmore, Rocky Mountain, Yosemite, Zion)

# disc courses played: 10.25*
Martha's Vineyard - Riverhead Park
Columbus, OH - Griggs Reservoir Park
Deforest, WI - Vallarta-Ast DGC
Stewartville, MN - Bear Cave Park
Adrian, MN - Adrian Disc Golf Course
Spearfish, SD - Black Hills State University
Casper, WY - Casper Disc Golf Course
Fort Collins, CO - Edora Park
Aspen, CO - Aspen Mountain
Palisade, CO - Riverbend Park
*Moab, UT - Camelot Adventure Lodge (a valiant effort to get there, but had to bag it after the 1st hour going 9 mph on rugged dirt roads)

# bike flats: Several, but only 1 really bad one where I didn't have the tools to change it out and I had to hoof it with the bike for a couple of hours (Hewlitt Gulch in Ft. Collins CO)

Best bathroom/shower: I think the KOA in Mitchell SD was the cleanest - No probs with the showers or anything in there. I suppose a close second would be the hostel in Crested Butte. Overall I have to say it was easier to find showers and bathroom facilities than I anticipated. Once I got away from the east coast, there were bathrooms in probably 99% of gas stations and rest stops. Also, even in campgrounds that didn't have showers or running water, typically there'd be some sort of facility in town where you could pay a nominal fee for a shower (e.g. $5 at the Poison Spider bike shop in Moab UT).

Worst bathroom/shower: From a standalone bathroom perspective, I couldn't get within 15 feet of the Badwater Basin one in Death Valley (the searing heat was definitely contributing to a certain ripeness in the air!). Ironically, I think one of the toughest showers I took was at the Deforest WI campsite (very 1st night in the tent!) - lots of spiders and bugs in there...I was definitely shampooing with one eye open).

# of laundry times: 6 (Columbus OH, Badlands SD, Casper WY, Crested Butte CO, Fruita CO, Kanab UT). Two comments on laundry: 1) I definitely didn't anticipate the ease and opportunity to do laundry on the road. Many campgrounds (established ones like KOA's) have laundry, and similar to the shower situation there are laundry facilities in towns where campgrounds are more rustic. 2) I'd say I used only about 10% of the clothes I had packed. This was definitely a product of the warm temps and sun-filled days. I would go through about 4-5 pairs of shorts/t-shirts/socks/underwear and then end up finding a place to do laundry at night and the cycle would start again (i.e. if you scan through those pics you'll never see too much variety from a clothing standpoint...come to think of it, maybe I was like that at Pfizer/J&J too!!!!!)

Best camping: The night in Death Valley (wildrose campground) was tops - it was totally sweet to be the only one out there in a rocky canyon with perfect temps, breezes, crystal clear skies, no moon, and several shooting stars. This seclusion was different than other camping experiences where I was the only one out there (e.g. Honeycomb Rocks in UT) in that it was in a national park (as opposed to off in the middle of nowhere) and it was much less "foresty" (being able to see what's around you in a wide open space seems to help!). Another good night in the tent was in the KOA outside Badlands NP in SD - an established campground well away from any major roads with plenty of amenities (e.g. Indian tacos and pancakes!!), few people there mid-week so nice and quiet, and awesome night temperatures with breezes.

Toughest camping: The night at the Deer Creek Speedway campground in MN was pretty rough - I think it would have been a much different experience if it wasn't Saturday night with races going on. People were up blasting the tunes and drinking and stuff until about 4am!! Another challenging time that broke me down a bit was the final night in Fruita CO. This was the night of Habs and my all day canyoneering trip down in Moab UT followed by the 100 mile drive back up to the campground (so we could get her to the Grand Junction CO airport for an early a.m. flight). We were wiped out, but ended up having to hang out in the car for most of the night while thunder/lightning storm after storm rolled in...everything was completely soaked. Definitely had to dig deep to find that "bring it on, challenge and adversity rocks" attitude then!!!!

Percentage of sun (vs. some form of inclement weather): ~ 98.46% (I figure it rained/stormed for about 12 hours of an approximately 778 hour trip. The only extended rains/storms were in and around the Rockies - Crested Butte, Aspen, and Grand Junction)

Gas $: ~$500 - $600

Dining/Grocery/General food $: ~$600 - $675 (This includes several multi-person meals - e.g. when Habs met up with me for a few days in CO/UT, when I stayed with friends/family I would try to take them out for dinner or whatever, etc.)

Camping $: ~$265 (for 18 nights = ~$15/night)

Hotel/Motel $: ~$370 (for 5 nights = ~$74/night)

Other $: Yes, there were definitely misc/entertainment expenses that would be entirely dependent on what kind of stuff you'd want to do on your own trip!!!

# hours spent working on the blog: I'd say at least 80 - 100. I got into quite a little routine each night off-loading pics from the camera and fixing them up for the web, writing the commentary, uploading the pics, etc. If I fell behind, it was killer to catch up again. Also, I took my time with the stats and learnings captures! It was a lot of work, but I look at the finished product and to me it was so worth it. I definitely feel a big sense of accomplishment, and I think it will be cool to revisit in the future.

# days missing Habs: Who? What? Oh, of course I meant every day ;)