.
- Miles driven: 5,456. Within a whisker of our initial estimate of 2,500 to 3,000 miles…
- States visited: 17. Although yes, we’re including a few drive-by states in that
- Fortifying ice creams consumed to energize the driver (and passenger…passenging is hard work I’ll have you know): about 25. Basically at least one a day if we were in transit
- Pigs slaughtered in the fulfillment of James’ search for the perfect ribs: I’d say about 4 medium size oinkers. (For the curious, the perfect ribs were actually some we had about a year ago in Chef Leon’s little shack up in Vermont….unfortunately now closed down due to cleanliness violations…)
- Hours spent hiking in incredible spectacular scenery in a hopeless attempt to un-wreak the damage caused by above-mentioned ribs: 25. Half a pig??
- National parks visited: 5. Yeah, we achieved value for money on our annual America the Beautiful pass!
- Maximum speed: James says 90mph, which was when I was driving (hadn’t quite got the hang of motorway speed control on the first day out of NYC). I however think this is a vicious lie, I’m pretty sure he went faster than this overtaking that Ferrari that time…
- Occasions we took a minor and slightly unintended detour: about 30. Occasions we swore at the satnav: also about 30
- Beasties slain in our relentless race across the land: 7,002. 7,000 winged insect type beasties which met their ends on the windscreen, 1 chipmunk (James) and one kangaroo rat (Lucy. James says this is endangered but I’m pretty sure that’s not true….)
- Meals in chain restaurants: one McDonalds salad in the Air and Space Museum in Washington (we had no choice on this one); one Arby’s and one Denny’s – these are both a little like eating at a Little Chef, i.e., you wrinkle your nose at them until you happen to be looking for dinner in deepest darkest nowhere at 10pm, at which point one becomes rather appreciative of their all round culinary excellence. And the fact that they’re open. And the MILKSHAKES!
- Nights camping: 4. This is way less than we’d hoped, but the campsites in national parks get booked up about a month in advance in summer which kind of threw a spanner in our camping plans. Which brings us onto….
- Nights in plush hotels: 6. Oops. Of which Miami effortlessly wins the award for most bling by virtue of the crystal chandelier in our shower
- Top temperature: 110 degrees (Fahrenheit – crossing the Mojave desert). Fortunately, we were in our lovely air conditioned car, so neither of us actually died
- Inches of rain: about 10, evenly shared between two rather spectacular rainstorms, one whilst camping in the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the other whilst I had the wheel, coming out of New Orleans
- Pounds of excess luggage shed at various points: about 40, including the cooler, the coffee machine and the “so light they almost don’t count” marshmallows
- Times we missed the office? Zero.
Following all with keen interest. Looking forward to the iguanas. Love, pandm