Statistics:
63: Number of days we were on the road
62: Number of nights we were on the road
35: Number of nights we stayed with friends
20: Number of nights we camped
18: Number of those nights the temperature went below freezing
2: Number of those nights we woke up in a puddle
7: Number of nights we stayed in hotels
2: Number of hotel stays unplanned because of car trouble, and therefore paid by our Volkswagen warranty
2: Number of hotel stays unplanned because state parks listed ‘open’ on their websites were closed in actuality
72: Number of friends we were so lucky to spend time with
22: Number of pounds of apples eaten
1: Number of meals eaten at fast food restaurants (It was In ’N Out Burger, which came highly recommended by friends in California. Pretty delicious)
17: Number of times we ate pancakes for breakfast
14: Number of times those pancakes were made outside over our camp stove
18: Number of kilometres we hiked at Arches National Park
8: Number of monstrous arches we saw
25: Number of kilometres we hiked one afternoon in Brooklyn
3: Number of monstrous bridges we saw from there
4,600: Number of feet in elevation (1,400 metres) we hiked down to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon
35: Number of pounds Rhoda carried in and out
45: Number of pounds Johan carried in and out
15: Number of pounds of the above that was extra water carried along just in case
1.7 billion: Average age in years of rocks at the bottom of the canyon
4: Number of close calls with ENORMOUS elk on the road
3: Number of coyotes that walked fewer than 10 metres away from us
1: Number of bears we saw lumbering at the side of the road
2: Number of tarantulas we saw hesitating at the side of the road
Countless: Number of bison, deer, elk, big horn sheep, and antelope we saw frolicking at the side of the road
2: Number of large geese that ran at us when we tried to get into our tent at Palmetto State Park in Texas
2: Number of large geese that Johan frightened off by hissing and running at them with two branches
4: Number of days a mouse lived in our car
1: Number of suitcases said mouse chewed through
16: Number of large nuts said mouse hid in Johan’s left hiking boot
4: Number of mousetraps we set in the car to catch that dang mouse
1: Number of nights it took for the mousetraps to work
9: Number of weeks we were on the road
9: Number of times we tried to answer the Will Shortz ‘Sunday Puzzle’
9: Number of times we played along with ‘Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me’
9: Number of times we listened to Diane Rehm’s ‘Friday News Roundup’
9: Number of times we listened to ‘This American Life’
9: Well… you get the picture. (We like NPR a lot, and are therefore proud members.)
5: Number of people we saw in cities dressed up as tin men.
2: Number of people we saw in cities dressed up as superheroes.
56: Number of times we saw a reference to the Twilight series in Forks, Washington, home of the Twilight series.
0: Number of vampires we saw in Forks, Washington
3: Number of hours we spent soaking up the hot springs on the Rio Grande
8: Number of metres away from Mexico we were the whole time
0: Number of minutes we spent at Immigration while entering Mexico
28: Number of minutes we spent at Immigration while returning to the United States
2: Number of minutes we spent getting back into Canada
1: Number of times our Canadian border guard said the word ‘hammered’
14: Number of IPA beer varieties we tried on the trip
1: Our numerical ranking of Grand Rapids, Michigan’s good ol’ Founders Centennial IPA, even after trying all the others
29: Number of states we passed through
2: Number of oceans we saw
2: Number of times we crossed the Mississippi River
16: Number of national parks we stayed at
11: Number of major American cities we visited
3: Number of countries we visited
55: Number of miles per gallon we got in Geronimo, our 2005 Jetta Wagon TDI
19,315: Number of kilometres we traveled
