In Summary & In Conclusion

After we were discharged from the good services of the Virginia Hospital Center of Arlington, Virginia at around 2:00 in the afternoon, we high-tailed it out of there and made our way home, regardless of what time we would pull in. And during our journey home through familiar territory we had time to reminisce, contemplate and ponder that which our course had taken us through.

In summary:

America; there is alot of it.

A lot of it is flat. A lot of it is bumpy and pointy.

By and large, most Americans are not attractive. Even in California.

"Creature Features" which we hope to see on our trips to Maine, be it a deer or a porcupine or even moose, have now been trumped by anything we've seen in the wild and won't be as impressive. Unless we see a porcupine riding a moose.

Nice people are nice. And alot of Americans are nice. We like nice Americans.

New England does have the worst drivers, followed closely by Arkansas and Tennessee.

In-N-Out is really what a hamburger is all about. White Castle isn't.

Red Sox Nation may be touted as the most obnoxious fans in major league sports in other places, but they make for exciting baseball.

KOA is the place to stay and hit the hay.

Life begs simplicity. You don't really need that much.

All you need is love. Love is all you need.

It's not worth trying to diet on a trip like that. Save it for home.


BY THE NUMBERS

0 - The number of times we ate at McDonald's
1 - Number of Massachusetts license plates we saw between New York state and Arlington, VA
7 - Number of Major Leage Baseball games we took in
9 - Number of different Major Leage ballclubs we saw play (Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals)
27 - Number of different states we traveled through (New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnessota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, (D.C.), Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, & Connecticut).
$2.59 - The cheapest price of gas per gallon we paid on our trip (Front Royal, VA & Jessup, MD)
$3.99 - The highest price of gas per gallon we paid on our trip (Westport, CA)
258.37 - Total number of gallons of gasoline purchased
$749.69 - Total spent on gasoline
9,764 - Total miles traveling

Please click here to see a detailed log of our cross country gasoline intake!


SOUNDTRACK FOR A ROAD TRIP

Many of you may have wondered "What are Matt and Kate listening to on their trip?" Well, we took care of that on a daily basis by nominating a song of the day for each major leg of our trip. Most of these can be found on iTunes if you're at all curious. For your consideration:

Maynard, Massachusetts > Brockport, New York
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Brockport, New York > Cleveland, OH
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Cleveland, OH > Middleton, OH
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Middletown, OH > Chicago, Illinois
"Conservative Christian Right Wing Republican Straight White American Male", Todd Snider

Chicago, Illinois > Sioux Falls, SD
"My Kind of Town", Frank Sinatra

Sioiux Fallls, SD > Rapid City, SD
Theme from "Dances with Wolves", John Barry

Rapid City, SD > Cody, WY
"Rocky Raccoon", The Beatles

Cody, WY > West Yellowstone, MT
"Hoedown", Aaron Copland, as recorded by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

West Yellowstone, MT > Spokane, WA
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Spokane, WA > Seattle, WA
"Talking Seattle Grunge Blues", Todd Snider
"The Day I Tried to Live", Soundgarden
"Even Flow", Pearl Jam
"Come As You Are", Nirvana
"Up From the Skies", Jimi Hendrix

Seattle, WA > Astoria, OR
"18 Wheels on a Big Rig", Trout Fishing in America

Astoria, OR > Central Point, OR
"Seaside Rendezvous", Queen

Central Point, OR > Manchester, CA
"Going to California", Led Zeppelin

Manchester, CA > Petaluma, CA
"Lumberjack Song". Monty Python

Petaluma, CA > Riverside, CA
"Surfbound", Wave Invasion

Riverside day trip to Hollywood, CA
"Celluloid Heroes", The Kinks

Riverside, CA > Las Vegas, NV
"Viva Las Vegas", Elvis Presley

Las Vegas, NV> Williams, AZ
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

Williams, AZ > Albuquerque, NM
"Take It Easy", The Eagles

Albuquerque, NM > Oklahoma City, OK
"I'm So Tired", The Beatles

Oklahoma City, OK > Nashville, TN
"Nashville", Todd Snider

Nashville, TN > Arlington, VA
"Truckin'", Grateful Dead

Arlington, VA > Maynard, MA
"Big Bottom", Spinal Tap
"Home At Last", Soundtrack from the motion picture "Labyrinth"
"Home At Last", Steely Dan
"Enjoy Yourself (It's Later Than You Think)", as recorded by Todd Snider

In conclusion:

As I type this we have been home for a week. I have been busy at marching band camp and Kate has been busy recouperating. Every now and then we'll mention to each other "hey remember __________" and our minds will start reeling as to the myriad of things we've seen over the past five weeks. It was truly the trip of a lifetime.

We certainly hope if you ever take a trip across this great nation of ours that you perhaps use this blog as a guide, inspiration or even a warning of things to come along your travels. But there is alot out there and it could easily change your life.


...and that's the view from Maynard, Massachusetts.