End of Journey

Yesterday we arrived in Hanahan,SC at about 1430. There was a welcome sign on the door courtesy of the McCants'. The shot of the bus was taken before unhooking and maneuvering it into the driveway for unloading. It was only a 230 mile day, but it seemed longer. With major help from Cindy, we proceeded to unpack. Only the initiated will properly appreciate the task of unloading after five months. Imagine the days when you moved from one apartment to another. We ordered pizza and quit early.
We'll be too busy for a few days catching up on various appointments (to include jury duty) to fully absorb the scope of the trip. I'll have to find out how to turn this blog into a hard copy remembrance. I'm sure that process will refresh a lot of memories. We hit thirty states plus Quebec and Ontario. We went from 11,000 feet on the Bear Tooth Highway to minus two feet in the French Quarter. We covered 10,670.3 miles on the bus plus another 3,000 or so in Jeep. We spent $4,887.41 for diesel fuel or 45.8 cents per mile. Trip mileage was 8.676 mpg. Camping fees were $4,573.41 or $33.63 per day. We didn't stay in any Walmart parking lots. Eating out was $2,307.26 or $19.88 per day and groceries were $1,890.30 at $13.90 per day. The trip cost us a grand total of $130 per day. Considering the extent of what we did, saw and ate, I think that's a totally acceptable number.
We made a lot of new friends (Belle made even more) and, more importantly, we visited with many, many old dear friends from as far back as sixty years ago. Those visits are irreplaceable. We couldn't have had finer weather. We can count the rainy days on one hand. The pictures showed nothing but blue skies. The bus performed admirably, climbing the steepest grades with little effort. We had a safety recall to replace the steering gearbox, and we had to replace a rocker switch in the toilet. I once failed to adequately tighten a radiator cap and I got a low coolant light, but otherwise the summer was completely trouble-free. I didn't even have to add air to the tires, ever.
Would we do it all again? Not tomorrow! We are already looking forward to being seasonal campers next summer at the Moorings RV Resort in Belfast Maine. Nonetheless, it was a wonderful adventure and worth every mile, every dollar, and every sunset watched from lawn chairs, martinis in hand. We're glad to have had you along for the trip.
Frank and Durelle