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This is reportedly the first Phillips 66 gas station in Texas, located in McClean. (click to enlarge)
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I’m home! Twenty-six days, 20 states and 7204 miles later, I’ve survived the Great American Road Trip! For the third time! (yes, this is my third trip of this sort) I had a wonderful time. I photographed in 50 different places, shot over 1600 images (which isn’t much for me, but the trip was not primarily a photography trip) laughed more than I have in 10 years and saw and experienced some amazing things. Everyone, to the person, my two lifelong friends and I met was wonderful, helpful, kind, friendly and generous with their time. I made memories I’ll take to my grave. After all of that, however, it’s a bit bittersweet but it's great to be home.
Everyone needs a place to call home, a place which provides safety, security, familiarity and a feeling of belonging—a place that is all yours. Yep, home is ultimately the place I want to be! It’s nice to be away, nice to be with two others who have been friends since any of us has any memories, but even nicer to be back home with family.
To continue with where I left off in my last post...
After leaving the “Field of Dreams” and Dyersville, Iowa, we spent the night in Dubuque. After dinner, the three of us sat around that evening, as we usually did, and discussed the day’s experiences as well as what we would do the next day. I think the general feeling was we saw everything we wanted to see, couldn't think of any place else between Dubuque and Michigan we wanted to visit and we would head back to my friend’s home, our starting point, in the morning. That is what we did.
The next morning, we had a hearty breakfast at a local restaurant (with one exception, we three, all in our early 70s, we’re the youngest people in the restaurant) fueled the Subaru and drove east.
We crossed the Mississippi River as we did almost a month before, but this time, in northernmost Iowa/Illinois. The Big Muddy was only about one fourth as wide. We drove through the hills and dales of northern Illinois and then made the sweeping right turn into the suburbs, traffic, congestion and stress of ‘Chicagoland.’ What a mess. I’ve driven through the Chicago area before and if I never have to in the future, that would still be too soon.
We were stalled in traffic a couple of times due to too many vehicles in too few lanes and we also encountered a huge backup due to an accident. We were using the Waze mapping app and it took us off the interstate highway, into the neighborhoods, then back onto the I-80 east past the accident. We relied on Waze the entire trip and it didn’t disappoint. I've second guessed Waze in the past and regretted it. I don't any longer.
Finally, after getting through the Chicago area as well as northern Indiana, we entered Michigan on I-94. Of all twenty states I visited, Michigan had the absolute worst road conditions when it comes to potholes, degraded road surfaces and poor driving conditions. I don’t understand why the Michiganders put up with such poor maintenance from their government.
We arrived at my friend’s home around 6 p.m. and both my traveling companions were greeted by their wives. My wife was in Virginia and I would have to wait another day to get home and see her.
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| Part of a "Wall of Money" inside the Hackberry General Store, Hackberry, AZ. (click to enlarge) |
Early the next morning I awoke, felt energized that I would be going home soon and quietly left at 6 a.m. while everyone was still asleep. Since my drive home would be 745 miles and about 12.5 hours, I had planned to stay in a hotel in West Virginia for the night, then complete my drive the following day. However, after about 450 miles, I felt very good and decided to drive the rest of the way home. After 12 hours and 12 minutes, I pulled into my driveway, breathed a sigh of relief and walked into my house to be greeted by my wife who (by her own words) missed me as I was gone far too long.
I could have driven through Ohio and used the Pennsylvania Turnpike but I chose to avoid that road as I have had extensive experience with its summertime construction, narrow curvy lanes, a million trucks, etc. Additionally, that puts me on I-95 and I avoid that road at all costs, no matter the time of year or day of week. It's horrible. Instead, I chose to go straight south through Ohio, SE to West Virginia and into Virginia that route.
For me, the key to the best way to travel is to have no particular agenda, no particular route, no particular time line, stay off the multi-lane highways as much as possible and take the smaller roads through small towns while meeting wonderful people across this great land.
With this kind of travel, there is generally no stress, no feeling that you have to drive a certain number of miles or hours to ‘get someplace at a certain time’ or be somewhere ‘now.’ No-stress travel is different from ‘going somewhere.’ Going somewhere is about getting someplace expediently and directly. Travel is about moseying along at a leisurely pace, seeing the world at your own speed and not worrying where you are or where you think you need to be. Highly recommended.
Friday I’ll have a post about photography and how well my Nikon gear served me, what worked, what didn’t and what the differences were between using the Nikon gear for this trip after exclusively using Fujifilm gear exclusively for the last 12 months.
What were the best things about this trip? I can name three things. First, my friends and I made memories we'll talk about for the rest of our lives. We've been friends since were about two or three years old. We've kept in touch our whole lives and regularly got together with our wives or significant others to enjoy each others' company. We virtually know everything about each other. This trip added to those lifelong experiences we've shared. I'm just sorry our fourth friend couldn't make it due to Covid-19 symptoms of migraines, lethargy, dizziness, extreme fatigue, etc. returning after he had recovered from the initial infection. We did call him regularly and keep him up to date as to what we were doing and where we were.
Second, as I mentioned above, unlike what you see and read in the press, everyone we met was kind, generous, helpful, courteous and friendly. There was none of the hate, animosity or vitriol that the press portrays the people of the United States or you see on the Internet. In my opinion, everyone we met just wants to be safe, raise their families according to their values and no one seemed to care about one another's politics. That was refreshing.
Third, this trip pulled me out of what I call the 'pandemic mentality.' Before my road trip, I was stuck in the same mental state as I had been for the past two years. I stayed mostly at home, lost my zeal for life and outside experiences as well as felt as though my senses had been dulled. There has been very little true laughter and joy during the past couple of years and now that malaise has been lifted. Thankfully.
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| A small part of the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona. (click to enlarge) |
Finally, here is a short summary of some statistics of my trip and briefly, how we divided costs and duties.
Since there were three of us, we decided that each of us would drive for one entire day. This way we each drove one day and then could just site back and enjoy the next two days. We had driver, navigator and a researcher duties. The researcher was responsible for finding and booking a hotel room for the night as well as finding other information about things we may being going to visit.
Since we agreed to split fuel and lodging equally, we each took turns paying for the two hotel rooms we booked in the area in which we decided to stay for the night. The rooms generally had two queen beds. It worked out that the day you were responsible for the room was not a day you were responsible to drive. That allowed the research and booking to be done while someone else was driving. We also split the cost of fuel for the Subaru. Since gasoline varied in price in different states, we tried to keep our individual expense close to one another’s. Finally, at the end of the trip, we added all fuel and lodging expenses, divided by three, then figured who may have owed the others a small amount as well as who was owed a small amount. This method worked well.
The trip was:
-26 days
-20 states
-5732 miles in the Subaru (+ 1472 miles in my Toyota; my total since I drove to and from Michigan in my own vehicle)
-originally four of us were traveling and if the four of us went, we would have taken my larger vehicle but because only three of us traveled, we took my friend's 2012 Subaru Outback, which, even with a small 4-cylinder engine and occupied by the three of us along with a few hundred pounds of luggage, performed admirably. Thank you Subaru!
For those of you who may be contemplating a road trip such as this, here is a rough estimate of my expenses. Each of us had about the same expenses so multiply these numbers by three for total expenses.
The Route 66 and Return portion of my trip:
Food $650
Fuel $270
Lodging $1900
Other expenses such as gifts, souvenirs, entertainment, car washes, etc, about $300
The journey to my friend's home in Michigan and back to my home:
Room ( I stopped and spent the night in my hometown in Western Pennsylvania to visit my sister on the way to Michigan) $175
Meals to & from Ann Arbor $45
Tolls $40
All in all, well worth the expense. I have enough 'things' in my life, I now value experiences much more. Highly recommended!
That about wraps up things for the road trip. If you have any questions about the trip, costs, any of the places we visited or any other questions about my coast-to-coast road trip, just leave your question in the comments below.
Thanks for looking. Enjoy!
Dennis A. Mook
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