All good things must come to an end. I aborted the trip a couple days early because of the snow in Colorado & the Midwest. I can take decent photos in the rain but snow makes for ridiculous white blobs that ruin the image. Just as well, lots of stuff to deal with back at work before I return to my Real Job (nothing to do with this roadside stuff).

Reflecting on the math of this six-week trip: we covered 16,304 miles and it cost about $5,000 — the bulk of that was gas (~ $3700) plus some “hidden fees”:

one speeding in school zone ticket in NM ($63)
one speeding ticket in Houston, TX ($200)
one seatbelt ticket in L.A. ($93)
one parking ticket in downtown L.A. ($70)
one parking ticket in Pasadena, CA ($37)
[these expenses were cheap and so worth it considering the number of stop signs I rolled through, the illegal U-turns I made, the speed limits I ignored, the stop & shoot double parking/hydant parking violations, etc.]

And considering the amount of photos (about 6,000), the memories, good times had by me and the dogs = priceless!

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Now to catch up on a few photos that I took on the way home. The weather was brutal and I was exhausted from the stress of driving in the snow and quite eager to get home. I understand it’s still snowing in Denver and raining in the Midwest. So I’m thrilled to be home in the sun and relative warmth. The dogs were positively gleeful to be back running in their familiar park this morning.

Going back in time… to the April 9th when my flash drive bit the dust (thanks Nik). Here’s a place in Duchesne, UT that was known as the Bottle Hollow Resort. Some interesting and sad ruins of a mid-century motel and gas station.

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Here’s proof of the awfulness that befell me during the last couple days of the trip:

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Sparkle was anything but sparkling. Some interesting hubcab formations:

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A dip in a hot spring (there were lots of them around) sure seemed like a good idea:

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My last sustaining bit of road junk food from a Safeway. There were fewer marshmallows than the label implied. It was pretty much all cream (can’t complain) with mostly bits of coconut & pineapple. I’m not sure about the pistachios — but the product was this lovely shade of green. Hey, it’s the small pleasures in life that get us through the hard stuff. Happy to be home & I hope you’ll join the dogs & I again this Summer when we will head off on another marathon trip to the Pacific Northwest.