Homeward Bound!
Friday, August 8: My 36th day on the road and a five-hour drive HOME! Knowing that I didn’t have too far to go, I didn’t bother to set my alarm in El Paso. I simply got up when I woke up and left the motel about 11 AM (MDT). I got my third and final “lost hour” back when I crossed the Arizona state line, and (as I posted on Facebook) arrived home about 3:15 PM yesterday afternoon.
Some statistics:
I drove 8,354 miles on 518.86 gallons, for an average MPG of 16.1. My best tank (along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with lots of 55-mph rural roads) got me 18.1 MPG. My worst tank (through the New Mexico hills on the way to El Paso) got me only 13.8 MPG. The truck performed flawlessly, with no problems whatsoever.
I also rode about 600 miles on the Honda. I can’t be more specific than that, because I thought I had filled the bike’s tank just before I left Tucson when in reality that fillup had been back in June. But it was no fewer than 492 and no more than 667. I had no problems with the bike that I didn’t cause.
The trailer took a beating: I dragged the life out of the spare; when the Honda fell over, it took out the right taillight assembly; and the flat on the left side broke the taillight wire. I also lost the permanent license plate for the trailer somewhere in Illinois. (I have some repairs to do…) But it worked beautifully.
Including Arizona on my way home, I entered the following states: New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, [Missouri #2], [Illinois #2], Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, [Ohio #2], [Indiana #2], [Ohio #3], Kentucky, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, [North Carolina #2], South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, [New Mexico #2], [Texas #2], [New Mexico #3], Arizona. Half the states isn’t bad for a five-week trip!
I caught up with a lot of great folks, all of whom I’m proud to call friends. I also planned things well enough that I left each visit at least 10 minutes before my hosts could think about hinting I should leave, and I received numerous invitations to come back. To everyone whom I visited, THANK YOU! I had a great time and would like you to come visit me in Tucson! To those I missed, or wasn’t able to schedule a visit with, my apologies. I would have liked to stop by but things just didn’t work out.
Two final pictures, too. The first is a Union Pacific train I was pacing for a while in New Mexico; the second is pretty much self-explanatory:
Stay tuned – new adventures await!
The Peripatetic Traveler 
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