Well, after checking into the Sleep Inn in Cambridge, Ohio, last night, I start weighing my options for today. None of them particularly appealed to me so I have decided to bring this adventure to an end.
I am about 300-mile from home and from here in Cambridge it
is an easy drive straight down Interstate 77.
Once again, I decided to forgo breakfast at the Hotel walk next door to
the Cracker Barrel and start the day of with a good country breakfast.
After breakfast, it was back to the hotel. I checked out
just a little before 9:15 a.m. and made my way to Interstate 77 and began my journey
home. It was smooth sailing down 77. I made a quick stop at the Southbound Rest
Area at the 167 Mile Marker.
Back on the Road I continued south until I came
to the Love’s Travel Plaza at Ripley, West Virginia. Time for coffee and my
last tank of gas for this adventure. I
had last filled up in Crawfordsville, Indiana which translate to a little over
40 miles per gallon for this leg of the trip.
After get gas and coffee, it was back to I-77 and
after a long push with only a couple of quick rest area stops, I finally left
Interstate 77 at Princeton, West Virginia. After a quick stop at the West
Virginia Welcome Center in Princeton, it was time to make the final leg home.
Finally, an hour and 15 minutes later I pulled
into my garage.
After 21-days, and a total of 6,149 miles, this
adventure has come to an end.
THE CONCLUSION & A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS
Well, I have been home a few days now and have had time to look back on this grand adventure and what can I say? It was an amazing 21-days filled with excitement, and a few disappointments. I had
planned on spending more time in Montana and then dropping down into Utah, but wildfires,
road closures, and extraordinarily high hotel rates I had to cut that part from
my travel plans. But that’s ok, hopefully I can go back some day. When I started this adventure, I really didn’t
know what to expect. COVID had changed many things in the last year and a half.
COVID Restrictions were not only different from state to state but from town to
town.
It was sad to see what the restaurant industry was coping
with in Illinois. I talked to the owner
of what was once a thriving family-owned restaurant in Springfield who told me
that he was just a couple of weeks away from going out of business. He could not survive on takeout orders and
could not find people willing to work. It was just him, his wife and 16-year-old
son working the night I visited, several times on this trip I thought back to
that family and wondered if they were still in business. (Note: a few weeks after returning home I did
a google search and found that the restaurant had “permanently closed)
As restrictive as Illinois was, I found that other states
were open and pretty much operating normally. North and South Dakota, and
Montana had very few restrictions. The only restrictions in those states were
confined to the Indian Reservations.
Some hotels were only renting half of their rooms,
particularly in Indiana, Ohio and Illinois, either because of COVID Precautions
or they could not find enough workers to clean and prepare the rooms. Very few
hotel anywhere were offering any type of buffet breakfast. Most places were offering
a bag carry out breakfast that you had to take with you or take back to your room.
A few did off offer limited seating in a breakfast room with waffles and
pastries, juice, and coffee.
I fear that the travel industry will never be the same and
that many small businesses will not survive.
People have no desire to work if they are getting handouts from the
Government. One thing that I did do on this trip was to go out of my way to
Thank those people who chose to work. I did tip them well above 20%.
With all of that aside, this was an amazing adventure. I loved
Visiting the Field of Dreams in Iowa and Hiking in the Theodore Roosevelt
National Park. Mount Rushmore and the Badlands exceeded my expectations while
the Crazy Horse Memorial as just a tad disappointing.
I have a new appreciation of what went on at the Little Big
Horn and learned about the Fetterman Massacre and Fort Phil Kearny. Hiking
around the Base of Devils Tower was awesome as was the drive through Custer
State Park and Iron Mountain Road.
And I had to go al the way to Hill City South Dakota to
catch up with My dear Friends Gus and Kandice Necessary who live just 30-miles
from me here in Virginia.
So, with all that being said here are some final numbers.
Total Number of Day: 21
Total Miles: 6,149
Miles Per Gallon 38.89
Total Fuel Costs: $469.03
Total Gallon of Fuel: 158.10
Food Cost: $484.40
Lodging Costs: $1,802.40
Misc. Expenses: $681.95
Total Expenses: $3437.79
And with that – This Adventure is over and it's time to start preparing for the next one.
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