This chapter is a log of our travels for the benefit of our family and friends, some of whom have politely expressed an interest.

While I do not record the odometer, total trip was about 5700 miles (based on my mapping software), not including various side trips such as riding about each town.

For most of the trip we booked hotel reservations in advance, and it was only the last two nights that we arranged for accommodations "on the fly."  Overall, this was an advantage, I feel, as it meant that we had a place to stay even when we arrived late, and we could easily do comparison shopping.  On the other hand, it did inhibit our flexibility.  And I don't think that there would have been much problem in finding a place to stay in most of the places we stopped.  Some of the stops, especially in the smaller western locations, appeared also to have good looking "mom-and-pop" motels which were likely to have been even more economical.  But we limited our choices to national "economy" chains -- Super 8, Econolodge, Days Inns, Motel 6 -- and made the final decisions (where there was a choice) based on cost.  Surprisingly, we found a wide variation in quality among these chains, even within the same brand and cost, which I comment on in the log notes.

Overview Map

Westbound - more northerly route.  Eastbound, more southerly route
Click on the map to see enlarged views of trip segments