November 2nd -- Some final thoughts

And a PS on that last paragraph -- I'm uploading this to the website from a hotel in Chicago where I am stuck for the night due to bad weather in NY and the whole eastern seaboard. I'm so glad to be back at work :-)

Anyway, some thoughts on the trip. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't do it much differently. The motorhome worked out fabulously well. I chose that one over some other candidates because of the engine (the Cummins C8.3), despite the fact that it was really bigger than what I was originally looking for. In retrospect, I definitely didn't need anything that big, but it sure was comfortable. Never felt even remotely confining, and especially after replacing the fuel pump last week, it was pretty darned quick for a 28,000 pound (with the trailer) behemoth.

I put nearly 13,000 miles on the motorhome, another 1,500 or so on the BMW. I visited 41 states, leaving only three that I've never seen at all (Hawaii, Alaska, and Idaho). The other 6 that I didn't hit on this trip, but have spent time in before, are Oregon, Washington, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Maine, and Rhode Island. I passed very close to the last three of those, but chose to blow them off, and I'll blame Mark for making me miss Nebraska :-)

It wasn't until the last two or three days of the trip, when I gave up sightseeing for the most part and just decided to bee-line it for home, that my butt got a bit sore. I'll be sitting all day today too, travelling to NY, but at least it's a differently-shaped seat!

The fact that I had to get myself off to Nationals in Kansas so quickly after leaving home is the one regret. I skipped so much of the Rocky Mountain states. I'll bet I could do this sort of trip for a whole month and never leave the state of Colorado. But I didn't get to do any of those things.

There's definitely a big difference between the eastern and western half of the country. Out west, it's sprawling and sparse. Interstate highways are few and far between. The sights to see are mostly natural, like Devil's Tower or the Grand Canyon.

Towards the east, it's super-dense. Sure, there were long stretches of nothingness in the midwest, but the interstates are a huge tangled web, you're never more than a couple of hours from one. The attractions are usually more historical in nature. There's lots of US history to be seen there.

In a lot of ways, despite the fact that I've been in California for over 10 years, I think I'm an easterner at heart. Sure, the east doesn't have the huge mountains, but ... I hate the desert, and most of the west is desert, even California. I like trees, forests, lakes ... I may have gotten things colored a little bit in the east's favor though, since I did do this during the prettiest time of year.

I got pretty lucky with weather. I was out for almost 60 days, but I think it rained fewer than 10 of them. I only had two nights below freezing, and I never had daytime temperatures lower than the mid-50s. It's too bad that it wasn't more beach weather at the beaches. Speaking of beaches, I managed to hit beaches in lots of different areas: the Great Lakes, the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, and the Gulf of Mexico.

In the pleasant-surprise category, I'd have to pick the Black Hills of South Dakota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (despite the constant rain), Springfield, IL, Monticello, the Kennedy Space Center, and the Pensacola area beaches. In the didn't-live-up-to-expectations category, put the lakes of Minnesota, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the Grand Canyon. But I think I didn't necessary do those things "right" and I should give them another chance. I'm sure I'd get a different impression of the Grand Canyon from a raft on the river. And I'm sure if there was actually a race going on at Indy, that would be something else altogether.

Would I do it all again? You bet! Next time, though, with a partner ...