Sept. 26th, 2008 Home

We arrived back in Solon about 8pm and were greeted by a figure in the dark. We recognized the swagger and he spotted two figures carrying helments, dressed in chaps...... could it be them a day early...... could it be our nephew Jeremy???

We all were right! What a great welcome to come home to. Jeremy house sat for us during our trip! Thanks Jeremy! For everything and a picture of the two of us home at the end of our trip. We did well taking pictures of the two of us at an arms length, this was nice to have a full one of us and our traveling machine! Thank you for all your prayers, encouragement and interest in our trip. We hope you'll leave a comment so we know you checked out our blog. Check back from time to time. We hope to continue to add to our blog throughout the year!

Some fun facts from our adventure!

3,722 miles

14 days gone / four full days and two partial days in Austin

on the road /5 states in 5 days the way down (incl. 1 day lost Hurricane Ike 63-75 mph gusts)
Ohio KY Tenn AR Texas

7 states in 5 days on the way back (we stopped in all but IL )
Texas AR MO IL IN KY OH

$ 157.54 in gas got us thru the day we left Austin / 9-22-08 (gas prices $3.83 to $ 4.29 per gal)
on the way down about 38 mpg

I have to figure the way back yet. I'll fill in when I do.

It rained the day we left, the day Ike hit.
We had sunshine the other 13 days. We were truly blessed and watched over.

During our drive between Memphis, TN and Little Rock AR Margie counted semi trucks heading in the other direction. The semi trucks populated traffic heading in both directions out numbering the cars at least ten to one. In five minutes 87 semi trucks passed by. That is 1044 in one hour.

We didn't have any close calls in traffic on the way down or on the way back. We were driving in Austin, TX traffic less than 24 hours and had two close calls of cars just not seeing us. Norm is a great defensive driver. Having the intercom communication between us came in quite handy and gave us four eyes watching too!

During our full circle trip we saw damage to trees, large and small in every state we drove through. Each city had it's own tales of the damage, flooding and power outages that occured and some were still experiencing power outages well over a week later.

During our full circle trip it brought tears to my eyes as we saw over and over again caravans of utility trucks going to help restore power. One truck proudly took tape and formed the letters Michigan on his cab door. Our prayers are with one utility worker and his family, we heard of that he lost his life restoring power.

New Jersey utility workers restored power in East Liverpool Ohio.

Elyria Ohio utility workers restored power in Hot Springs AR.

Both AR and OH had a lot of their trucks helping out in other states. Don't quite agree with the logistics of it / Just thought it was interesting......