An epilogue and some stats

An epilogue and some stats

October 25, 2011

Few days have passed since I returned home. I didn’t get a whole lot of time to reflect. I was tired – truly tired. I spent the first few days doing nothing useful, yet did my best to be of help at home. After all, Jaya had faced the last 3 weeks of chores all by herself.

  • My beloved Saab did 4040 miles on this trip, using 141 gallons of premium gas, costing me $0.13 to drive a mile (alternatively, $100 would’ve driven me 762 miles).
  • The rental Nissan Altima did 5355 miles using 164 gallons of regular gas, costing me $0.11 to drive a mile (alternatively, $100 would’ve driven me 948 miles).
  • The total fuel cost was just shy of $1100.
  • The 19 days of driving was done over 187 hours, an average of 9 hrs 48 mts on the road each day. Not necessarily driving all the time, mind you.
  • We did 9510 miles in the trip, covering an average of 500 miles each day.
  • The longest days were towards the end (day 19 and 20) when we were on the road for 11 hrs 45 minutes.
  • Oregon, Ohio, New York were the states that enforced driving laws very strictly, followed by South Dakota, Kansas, Massachusetts, Georgia.
  • Montana and Wyoming were at the other extreme, even though I was stopped in WY.
  • The states that impressed me with some character that was unique to it were Oregon, Montana, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah.
  • We barely peeked into a handful of states – Wisconsin, Michigan, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, West Virginia and Kansas.
  • Arizona had the reputation of being a very strict enforcer of traffic laws and speeding. While I didn’t encounter many AZ troopers, I did find most people driving at the speed limit in that state. Who would want to mess with Arizona, a state that comes across as one with little tolerance towards immigrants as well as their own (Gifford shooting).
  • The Texas Department of Transportation was very explicit with their viewpoint – Don’t mess with Texas – signs were all over the place.

With that, I would like to sign off. For those who kept following the blogs regularly and commenting, both online and offline, thanks!