The Big Trip - Epilogue

One thing about taking a month off is you have to catch up at home and go back to work. What a withdrawal. The first week back was pretty weird.

It has been hard to find the time to catch up on the four days I still needed to post to the blog and now on August 24th I’m finally getting to the Epilogue.

Actually it was good that it took me a while to catch up on the blog posts. I think I was able to recall the experience with more clarity and appreciate the entire experience much better.

Some of the thoughts that have come to mind…

• 7780 miles with no mishaps – no crashes or silly tip-overs 
• No break downs (except for the battery) 
• Only used one quart of oil 
• On the road for 28 days – of that 21 days were travel days 
• Visited 23 states – some of them twice 
• Amazingly almost no rain – a few sprinkles on a couple of days and 30 minutes of real rain one day 
• Not sure how many national and state parks and forests were visited 
• Stayed at eight Holiday Inn Express’, seven Marriott Courtyards and eight other assorted places, plus Russ and Debbi’s and Ryan’s. 
• Who knows how many McDonald’s I ate at or how much coffee I drank.

The trip was way better than I had hoped and anticipated. I saw some pretty amazing sights.  Before leaving I was a little wigged out about traveling alone for 28 days, but it turns out being alone was no problem. I constantly ran into people to talk to. Besides, even if you travel with someone you can’t talk while you ride. Moreover, stopping, going back to see some thing you just passed by and changing schedule was done whenever or however I wanted, with no worries that I’d aggravate someone.

By in large everyone I ran into was friendly, interesting and hospitable - the exception of Mr Macho (who, someone pointed out to me, was probably afraid I’d ask if I could tag along with him and his buddy).

Would do it again? In a heart beat! But I do some things different. I would travel fewer miles per day and allow more time to spend at National Parks and sights. There is so much to see in the U.S. that it is a shame to have to pass it by because you know you need to make a certain number of miles.

A few minor regrets – I didn’t have time to go to; Oatman, AZ, the Grand Canyon, Yosemite Valley Floor or Bear Tooth Pass in Montana.

I hope you enjoyed reading about the Big Trip and seeing some pictures of what I saw along the way.  It was fun sharing.

Time to start thinking about the next Big Trip