Day Thirty - From Bethlehem to Home Sweet Home

When Mary Frances's phone alarm went off this morning (for the third time) we struggled to rise, looked around us, and at first wondered, as we have for weeks, which Marriott property we were waking up in this time.

But this felt different.  Today would be the final leg of our adventure, culminating in our arrival at home, after an 8520-mile journey, across the country and back.

This was the Google map, but we decided we'd been diagonally across
Connecticut as many times as we ever wish to, and opted to take the NY
Thruway north to the New England connector, and the Massachusetts
Turnpike.  According to to Michelle, our GPS voice who has recently earned
my ire on several occasions, the alternate route only cost us an extra twelve
minutes.  And we avoided the Tappan Zee bridge, some gawdawful traffic, and
several alternatives which all pass through my unfavorite place--Danbury, CT.

Crossing the Hudson River on the newly-painted bridge next to the rusty railroad bridge.

 Here are some signs we've seen on this adventure:

We've seen this sign in both directions.  Some folks think New York is one
big city; in fact, it has some of the most beautiful countryside as well.

In some places a really lovely state, but Rick Santorum screws that up.

We've got kids and grandkids here, so Ohio is an important state to us.

There's lots that's beautiful in central Kentucky, and lots that's ugly on the ends.

The home of Nashville, probably the easiest place to find things going on.

Truck weigh stations, Jesus Saves signs, and adult superstores, what
else could anyone ask for?  Oh yeah, the big arch.

What's not to like about Nebraska?  It's got Omaha, Warren Buffett, the
Sand Hills, and miles and miles and miles and...

True, but it doesn't happen until you're 150 miles into the state.  Before that, it's
just an extension of Nebraska, but with poorer roads.  Our second son lives here.

As we said again and again on our 2010 blog, this is a beautiful state.  But
the northern part is nothing like the beautiful bottom part.  Mary Frances
enjoyed the Bonneville Salt Flats, though, and has a salt-ball to prove it.

You come here for the gambling (if you can afford it) and the cat houses (if
you're up to it and can afford it) but not for the scenery.

California should probably be a country unto itself.  It's the sixth largest
economy in the world.  But there are three things wonderful about the
state:  the redwoods & sequoias, napa & sonoma valleys, and the Pacific Coast
Highway.  Aside from those, cut it loose.  Met up with some great family here.

We've seen the Grand Canyon, so no mention here.  Southwest: hot.
North Central: beautiful.  Northeast:  Hot, Navajos, institutional poverty.

Western third to Albuquerque:  Magnificent.  East central two-thirds:  Ugly.

Friends and family in Texas.  Good thing; otherwise I wouldn't spend
another minute here.  Never seen so many two-lane, two-way roads at 75 mph.

Turned out to be a very pretty state, but for us just a lot of miles between
Fort Worth and Memphis.

Wait a minute--haven't we seen this before?  Yep,  twenty-one days ago.

This started out curvy and beautiful, sort of like my bride.  A lovely state.

From North Carolina northward is some beautiful driving if you avoid
Interstate 95.  Through the fattest part of Virginia it's many hours to I-81.

The place where Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland intersect is
weird, but I'm sure there's some interesting history behind it, and if I
weren't so tired after more than 8,000 miles on the road, I'd look it up.

For about seventeen miles.  But old home week for Mary Frances, who's
spent lots of time in this area for FEMA.

Yeah, we've done this.  It was three weeks ago...

...as was this one.

But this was the sign we were looking for today.  Fact is, there aren't many
places more beautiful, or places where we could be understood at first try.

All right, touring the country by car and staying in hotels the entire way (except for time with relatives and friends--my cousin Genie and our friends Ronnee and Steve Bienstock) could be very expensive, if it weren't for our using rewards points gained over years of FEMA deployments.

Anyway, we spent $1041.29 on gas, which for 8520 miles works out to 12 cents a mile, somewhat better than 30 miles per gallon.  Not bad for averaging 80 mph across most of the country.  (Come get me, coppers!)

We spent $135.30 at McDonald's highway stops, nearly all of which was for caramel iced coffees.  As guilty as we might feel about supporting that evil empire taking advantage of minimum wage employees, those iced coffees may have saved our lives, keeping us refreshed and awake.  I wish Burger King had better coffee, but...yuck.

The biggie was food.  OK, we're not into starvation, or even being sensible when we're on the road.  So we spent $2315.68, most just on us, for restaurants in the evening, which sounds like $77.19 per day, which homeless folks might consider excessive, and OK, probably was a bit excessive.  But, remember, I'm considered a big tipper, so it wasn't quite that bad.

We didn't spend much on hotels:  $445.89.  That's because of the points gathered for Hilton and Marriott points mentioned earlier.  If we're going to do this again in a couple of years, we're going to have to deploy for FEMA a lot in the interim.  Bummer.

For attractions we handed over $729.78. That got us into three presidential libraries, three Triple-A ballgames, the Biltmore Estate, a bus tour of San Francisco, the St. Louis Arch, the Ohio Railroad Museum, and a bunch of other stuff we've forgotten, but we can always refresh our memories in this blog.

We spent $302.51 on gifts, and lost about $150 gambling--not too bad considering we stopped at four different casinos.

Altogether, just a tad under $5000 for a month of touring the United States.  Lots cheaper than a cruise.  My wife is still speaking to me.  I'd do it again in a minute.

Well, maybe in a year.

Thanks to all of you who have followed us on this adventure.  We plan more of them in the future.