RECAP

Miles Traveled: 9735.  Gallons of gas used: 314.5.  Average MPG: 30.9

Days on the road: 41. Average miles/day traveled: 335
Nights in campgrounds: 8. Nights with friends/family: 16. Nights in Motel: 16
Highest price paid for gas: 3.84 (Lake Elsinore, CA).  Highest gas price seen: 4.29 (No. of Winnemucca)
Lowest price paid for gas: 3.22 (Yukon, OK). Lowest gas price seen: 3.09 (Las Cruces, NM)
Last seen Idaho License plate before Nevada was in North Dakota @ Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Parks Visited: Theodore Roosevelt, Apostle Islands, Adirondack State Park, Gettysburg, Shenandoah, Smokey Mtn., Hot Springs, Mt. Magazine, Big Bend, Yosemite
Best freeways: Oklahoma
Most scenic drive: Blue Ridge Parkway
Most unexpected beautiful place: Big Bend National Park
Place I want to return to and explore: Apostle Islands National Seashore
Best Fall Colors: Upper Peninsula in Michigan
Best roadside rests: Alabama
Most sobering attraction:  Gettysburg
Most unexpectedly interesting museum: National Portrait Gallery
Highest Point: Tioga Pass, CA @ 9945 feet.  Lowest Point: minus 20 feet below sea level near El Centro
Only License plate NOT seen: Hawaii
Best park Lodge: Mt. Magazine, AR

Some Differences between east and west

Rapid Transit in the east: crowded subways.  Rapid transit in the west: crowded freeways
Church’s fried chicken in the east.  KFC in the west
“Old” in the east is 300 years.  “Old” in the west is 100 years
Meandering 50 mile/hour roads in the east.  Straight line 75 mile/hour roads in the west

Everywhere people were helpful and friendly and home still looks mighty fine!

Ah San Diego

Phoenix to San Diego on I-8 is a snoozer.  With the exception of the odious dairy out in the middle of the desert and a swarm of cops and border patrol people near Yuma, not much was happening on this stretch of the trip.  But San Diego brought back fond memories : our kids were born here, living in shorts and t-shirts, delicious air with the hint of orange blossom, desert flowers in spring and a dusting of snow on the mountains in winter, and of course, the Pacific Ocean.  Our friends, the Hostetlers live in Del Mar, just a mile and a half from Torrey Pines State Park.  Walkers and hikers in that reserve enjoy forest, ocean scrub, bluffs and beach all in a 3 – 4 mile circuit and we made good use of this wonderful resource while visiting.  We also enjoyed a morning at the wild animal park where the white (or is it the black?) rhinoceros is being kept from extinction. Despite the advantage of many things to do and see in the area, a person’s home needs to be a refuge from all the hustle and bustle of urban life. Our hosts created such a refuge with the most beautiful and interesting patio garden I’ve ever seen, an island of calm and beauty between the freeways.  We skirted LA east of the mountains and headed north into the very dusty San Joaquin Valley.  Our destination is one more look at Yosemite.  After a night in Oakhurst we entered the park at Wawona in the south and headed for the valley.  The last time Ruth and I were there was when Nate was a baby. It’s as lovely as ever and this time of the year including some fall colors, and not the least bit crowded.  If the visit with the Hostetlers was the punctuation on the relational part of this trip, the visit to Yosemite punctuated the scenic part of the trip.  Fortunately Tioga Pass was still open so we exited through Tuolumne Meadows to Lee Vining, and on up through Nevada to spend our last night on the road in Winnemucca.  We awoke this morning to snow and were in snow for the next two hundred miles.  By the time we reached Boise it was rain.  But again, by the time we reached Cascade, you guessed it – snow!  Time find those skis…..

PICTURES: Evie's Patio Garden, 2-5 in the Valley, Tualomie Meadows, Near Tualomie Meadows, Tioga Pass looking into Nevada