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Final Data Breakdown

Total Miles Driven: 7,991 (Shelly would not let me drive around the block 10 times...)

Total Hours in the Car: 127 hours (feels like 130 at least)

Average Speed (just since Tuesday due to a GPS malfunction): 62.4

Highest / Lowest Price for gasoline:

• $3.59 per gallon in Grand Canyon, Arizona (aka "the only game in town")


• $2.47 per gallon in Jackson, Tennessee

Lost Hubcap(s): still only one (thanks for asking)

Seeding tickets (some thought this category's omission last time was an admission): 0

Best Meal of the trip:

• Me - (tie) the crab and tomato sandwich at Nick's in Pacifica, California / Enchilada Pollo con Mole at El Chorlito, San Simeon, California


• Shelly - (tie) BBQ Chicken sandwich at Wawona Hotel in Yosemite Valley, California / Spinach and cheese ravioli at Kathleen's in Pasadena, California


• Jacob - still fish and chips at Nick's in Pacifica, California


• Malcolm - still the chocolate chip pancakes at Denny's in Santa Nella, California


• Emma - Macaroni and Cheese at Casa Grande in Glenn Allen, Virginia

Number of Traffic Accidents witnessed (only the aftermaths) - 2 (last one looked pretty scary - http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/254717)

Total $$$ in tolls: $63.65 (no bill from Chicago as of yet... fingers crossed)

Number of Times Completed the License Plate Game - 2* (not technically true due to the omission of Hawaii from each game) / I think people from Delaware hide all the time in their basements since they are so hard to find on the roads...

Number of Pictures Taken: 3,784 (not including the kid's cameras - ugh!)

Number of pictures taken since Tuesday afternoon when we left Monument Valley: 85

Number of States Travelled Through (a highly requested category): 25 (though we came ridiculously close to Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, and West Virginia) and we were supposed to travel through Alabama and Mississippi before a change in plans to arrive home sooner

Favorite Hotel Room (by family vote): Platinum Hotel, Las Vegas

Coolness Ratios:

• Seeing the NYS sign - 7 out of 10
• Getting stuck in traffic on the NJ Turnpike with 3 hours to go: 2 out of 10
• Allowing the kids to watch Avatar again: 3 out of 10 (for us), 10 out of 10 for Emma
• Dinner last night at Casa Grande in Virginia: very cheap and yummy 7 out of 10
• Seeing the house for the first time in 22 days: 10 out of 10
• Seeing the pool for the first time in 22 days 5 out of 10
• Seeing water in the basement under the hot water tank: 1 out of 10

No worries (hopefully), we now have hot water and no discernible leak continuing...

home.

Glen Allen, Virginia

Much thanks to Aunt Tonya and Donna for the relaxation and stretching out time...

Next stop... home!

Back in the East...

Here is the damage since Tuesday morning:

• Arizona to Utah to Colorado to Arizona (briefly) to New Mexico to Texas to Oklahoma to Arkansas to Tennessee to Virginia
• 2,356 miles
• 3 time zones
• 34 hours and 25 minutes in the van
• Lots of "fast" food
• Many hours of "TV" for the urchins

These was the primary view that I had...



Or this... I-40 through Oklahoma, Arkansas and most of Tennessee is a favorite of the trucks... especially Walmart trucks. Grrrr...

And Another Thing...

The kids all still think it is 6:30 right now. Snoozing away the day. That was two days and 1,000 miles ago.

Today's journey takes us through Oklahoma!, through Arkansas and to Memphis, Tennessee. Scheduled for just over 7 hours of driving time. If we ever get on the road!

The Race Home...

The race home begins with yesterday's 9 hour dash. It is hard to drive without seeing mountains. I look up expecting to see something magnificent in the background and what I get is the Texas Panhandle. Not so special after what we have seen.



It was a odd moment entering Texas. I had informally banned myself from the state ever since watching the Errol Morris documentary The Thin Blue Line. We survived our brief journey across with no injuries or arrests.



Is this New Mexico? Texas? Oklahoma? I forget...



Did stop here "briefly". (Michelle I could not find the gift certificate in the mess we call our "mobile home" I am sure it will turn up as we unpack). They screwed up half of the order and the wait ticked past 30 minutes. Never stopping there again...



Resorted to taking surprise photos of Shelly reading. This is the only one she didn't delete (shouldn't have shown her how to do that) and only after my pleading for the sake of the blog.



Funny, she didn't delete any of the retaliation pictures she took of me.



Biggest cross in the Western Hemisphere. Not as impressive as the Wind Turbines we saw about 10 miles later. They are probably planning something bigger soon.



Yeah! Oklahoma. Loved that movie... "Oh what a beautiful morning" (until the children arise...)

Monument Valley

Our trip included a number of unscheduled stops including today's at Monument Valley. It was still tough to drag the kids away from their electronic stimuli but it was worth it for Shelly and I.

This is called the Mexican Hat (located about 10 miles north of Monument Valley).

In the background is the Valley of the Gods (not enough time... sorry Vishnu).

Might be my favorite picture location of the entire trip.

Shelly's job was to drag my carcass off the road if I was hit from behind (she volunteered for the position).

grrrr...

While we didn't get "the picture" we did make it into all four states within about 14 minutes...

Last Looks...

Grand Canyon Shuttle Bus Adventure

A large part of the Grand Canyon is only accessible via a shuttle bus system. It works pretty efficiently and we never felt that the park was packed with people. It did take a few buses to get us on initially but we were successful with little waiting after that.





Waiting for the first shuttle...



Trapped on the bus.

A happy picture for those who think we are all gloom and doom...

Best view in the park... Maricopa Point.

Grand Canyon Death March

Our first order of the day was a "walk" down the Bright Angel Trail. We hiked to the 1.5 mile rest house and then turned back. Temperatures on the rim were in the upper 70's while the temperature at the "bottom" (as defined by us) was near 100 degrees. Quite a walk.



This was near the start.

Mule trains make the trail a little tricky more so after they have gone through (if you know what I mean).

The second tunnel (aka the half way point).



View from below the rim.



There is our destination! We were almost out of water (much poured on Emma's head). The only problem?



We have to go back up. Total round trip was 3 miles in about 3 hours. Emma did the whole thing all by herself!