The End

3 countries, 25 states, 14,048 miles, 49 days, 15? mountain passes (open and closed) , one deer, 3 vehicles, 10 hot springs, 46 bright sunny days, 7 million sunflower seeds, too much canned soup, 4 pair of cheap sunglasses, 6 nights of believing I would be frozen and dead by morning, 2 books finished, 10 Laundromats, a presidential election, 4 million apples, and approximately 13,500 miles of staying off of major highways and this is all I have to report.

Next – Follow the Crow

Here is what I think…..not right, not wrong, just one man’s opinion:


• It is truly possible to control travel costs, other than gas. I bought most of my food in grocery stores, which I do at home anyway. And I think it is important, now and again, to have really good meals. I had 4 on this trip. One with family Omar and Linda in San Diego. One with friend Gil in Vail. One with family Tom and Haley in Hammond. One with Rick and Cindy in Channahon. And if I had breakfast other than stuff in the car/bike/van I found small diners in small towns that had inevitably, I believe, awesome food. And I think there is a place for fast food in the world, but not anywhere near the place indicated by the infinite number of fast food places all over America. Great places to stop when you need to or want to, but wow, there are more joints than stars in the sky.

• I slept in the van, or the car, or in a tent whenever I could, but I do think it is good to find cheap hotels when possible. I don’t think hotels that rent by the hour are not such a good choice, but there are lot’s of other choices and they are great places to regroup, stay warm, and shower hot.

• I found the travel suggestions by friends invaluable. Mike Mo. Mike Ma. Chris G. and Steve F. consistently fed me ideas and they did it, in my opinion, the right way. No “you have to see this” suggestions, but rather “take a look at this place if you can and tell me what you think” That is how to make a suggestion!

• I am convinced there are really good people all over and there are really bad people everywhere. No place is unique, in my opinion, in this respect….and everywhere the good and nice people are more dominant and will persevere, everywhere, every time. The problems (social, racial, gender, political, economic) are very similar everywhere I visited. Good people will work at it.

• I don’t think it is good drag children who are too young to places we want them to see, when what they really want are the basics, swimming pools, beaches, places to run around. And I did expose my kids to as much as the world as I thought they could handle when they were young, but I believed then, as I do now, that kids are really smart (not schooled or experienced, but smart) and they know what they want and what they want are good and simple things like food and room to play and swim and a nice story read to them, etc…. I saw, for my taste, too many young children who were cold, or tired, or hungry, or crabby, being dragged to too many places that the folks wanted them to see on this trip.

• I don’t think it is wise rely on one navigation instrument (e.g. gps/garmin) only. I think there are technologies that make life better: cell phone, laptop, gps, etc….but I found it best to reference against a good old atlas before, or in my case after, turning onto a road that could lead to tundra altitude passes on steep, scary, rocky roads. I think its best to use all of the references, mark up the atlas with notes, check on yahoo, google, mapquest when possible, ask somebody when it is an option.

• I think post offices, chambers of commerce (small towns), visitors centers (small towns), park rangers and people in restaurants are great sources for directions and local stuff to look at or do. The big stuff is all marked and plotted, the rest of the 90% of the stuff local people told me about, and they seemed very interested in helping.

• I think rest areas are a great resource, and many of them now have wireless access. And I did find out that you can sleep in Walmart parking lots in your vehicle, which is good and bad….good because it is a great place to stop when it is dark and late and they are everywhere, bad because they really, really are everywhere and that is a little scary.

• My preference for travel, if it is an option, is to not plan more than one or two days ahead. I believe that if one sets a destination 3 days out, that the destination becomes the goal and getting miles logged becomes the labor. I liked to lay the maps out at night and plan where to head the next day. Sometimes I made it, many times a great detour option became available and I took it. And I believe it is critical to turn around and go the other direction if you drive by something that looks kind of interesting....and I did this many times, even 100 mile turn arounds. It worked for me.

• Unless one is an experienced, extremely fit, and seasoned hiker (and I am none of the three) don’t trust internet sites or local guides who call a 12 mile round trip hike up and down a few thousand feet, on rocky narrow terrain….don’t trust them when they call this a moderate/relatively easy hike. A great hike, yes, but only to the hiking elite is it easy, or so they claim.

• I will never again underestimate (though I am not sure I ever did) the value of great friends, great neighbors, great family who made it clear to me of my relative place in their lives by checking in often….and even more touching, they would leave me fairly hilarious and often irate messages if I did not return calls or emails for more than 3-4 days. And I also learned that cell and internet are an east coast luxury that I like. There were days, stretches of days, when there was no connection, and it was blissfully peaceful and I loved it, but I also loved that people, people who I love, were angry when I did not check in. I have never taken it for granted that caring about people (friends, neighbors, family) was important, and I ever more realize that it is equally important to let people care.. Several great friends actually left messages that stated “Are you dead…if you are dead, please let us know” I love it.

• I am only a moderately big birthday person. Actually, I am big on other peoples birthdays, not so much my own, but I won’t lie in my own journal. On my birthday this year one friend went public on me and told too many people and those people bugged my cell message service and email all day, though I had no connection, with touching, and the best kinds of, insults. On that same day I was sung to by a glorious 2 year old neighbor and called by an equally glorious 2 year old nephew. I liked that day.

• It really is possible, as I knew it would be, to follow a comet and look for peace. It is not easy and it is not an answer to any question, but it is possible.

• About a year ago I started writing a book, I am now willing to say in writing, that I call: 49.50 I love to write. I don’t think I am particularly any good at it, but I like it. The book is my unofficial, entirely non-authoritative, hopefully humorous, version of what life is like in America for a person who is 49 or 50 years old in the 21rst century: good, bad, happy, sad, peaks, valleys. I have no idea what I am going to do with this thing, or how far I will go in finishing it, but on this comet journey I found a lot of life to think about, and laugh about. I do know that if I keep working on it, there will now be pictures of animals. I like, I found out, photos of animals, and, as I have mentioned many times, if I knew how to work a camera they would be good pictures of animals, but I don’t….and I still think it has something to do with a pissed off eagle back in Canada.

• I remember how much I like solitude and silence. I could not live in either, but both are great allies, great companions and great company.

THE END