We wrapped up Westward Ho! with visits to friends and family.
Day 112, Monday, September 21
We started with an early morning warbler walk with the Morning Flight folks at the Cape May Bird Observatory. This goes on every morning for about three weeks in late September. They arrive at a dike near the ferry terminal and count migrating warblers for about 4 hours. It is amazing to watch them identify species with only a one or two second glimpse of a small bird at a good distance. After hooking up the trailer we headed to the Edward B. Forsyth National Wildlife Refuge. This 10 mile loop out on the dikes in Barnegat Bay is one of our favorites and we were not disappointed. Although it was windy, we did seem both American Golden and Black Bellied Plovers.
We arrived at Jan and Sue’s house in Kendall Park, NJ about 5. 147 miles today.
A Snowy Egret in the foreground and a Tri-Colored Heron in the background.
Day 114, Wednesday, September 23
We left Kendall Park in good time and trekked through suburbia to my brother Cal’s house in Highland Mills, NY. 89 miles today. We had a lovely two day visit with Cal gardening, cutting down some firewood, visiting, and eating barbecue.
Day 116, Friday, September 25
We had a great day to drive from Cal’s north to Dorothy’s in Essex Junction, VT. 255 miles today. Felix and Winnie both were very glad to see us, as were Dottie and Carter when they got home from their respective jobs. Saturday and Sunday was Dottie and Carter’s anniversary weekend and we all remembered what a great weekend we had a year ago in Southport. We had a delightful lunch on Saturday with our friends, Andy and Sarah, who took care of Felix and Winnie when Dot and Carter went to a wedding in California early this summer. Sunday afternoon we went for a quick spin on Andy’s boat in Lake Champlain and then rafted up with our friend Tom’s sailboat for a couple of his special Painkillers.
Day 119, Monday, September 28
The last day! We avoided the interstates one last time and had a beautiful drive through the Green and White Mountains.
We camped in 28 states and four provinces. We traveled through (or at least put a foot in) another six states (New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Mexico, Arizona, and Delaware).
We drove 17,749 miles. Our longest day was Day 106, 461 miles from Davenport, Iowa across Illinois and Indiana to Dayton Ohio. Only three days were more than 400 miles. We crossed our route three times, Brigham City, Utah; Leroy, Illinois; and Albany, NY. I will post again when I have updated the final route map.
We took over 4500 pictures. Luci is going to be busy this winter.
We spent over $4400 on gasoline. The lowest price was $1.87 in New Jersey. The highest was $4.19 in Yosemite National Park in California.
The lowest temperature was 35 degrees at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming . The highest was 106 degrees at Zion National Park in Utah. Except for the rainy days at the beginning of the trip and in the Canadian Rockies, we wore shorts for the entire trip.
We stayed at a lot of great places and some not so great. My favorite was Flagg Ranch in the John D. Rockefeller Memorial Parkway between Grand Teton and Yellowstone in Wyoming. Luci’s were Lathrop State Park in Colorado and Tunnel Mountain Campground in Banff, Alberta.
We arrived home at 3pm. 17 weeks and 2 hours from when we left. We were tired and happy to be home but we both knew it had been a trip of a lifetime. I suspect we will start planning the next adventure soon! J
Home from the road
Rory and Luci
Westward Ho! 