*whew*

[kickaha]

We're back. No time for a decent write-up right now, but here are some quick stats to tide you over:

Days: 23
Miles: 8110.1
Longest single day (miles): 1054
Longest single day (hours): 18.25
Gallons of gas: (fill in later)
National/state parks visited: 9
Open pit mines visited: 1
States traversed: 17
Oceans visited: 2
Highest altitude (Jeep): 11,992ft
Highest altitude (foot): 12,020 ft
Time taken to recover breath after running those last 28ft: don't ask
Lowest altitude: sea level (twice)
Brakes set on fire: 2
Wildfires seen: 5
Campers burned to frame seen on side of interstate: 1
Bugs killed on front of Jeep: innumerable
Rainstorms: 4
Rainstorms hard enough to bring traffic to a near-halt on the interstate: 4
Mudslides blocking interstate: 1
Sunburns: 0
Farmer tans: 2
Times "Jane Says" played on the radio: too damned much for comfort
Meals eaten at *any* major fast food chain: **0**
Geysers seen: more than 20
Geysers seen erupting: 4
Dead rodents in very very hot springs: 2
Dead rodents on road: 2
Dead bunnies on road: 1
Dead cows on road: 1 (extra points for extreme state of bloating, in my opinion)
Photos taken: 580
Photos taken of dead things: 5
Passes driven over: 12
Worth mentioning: 7
"What pass?": 5

And finally....

Times gingko thought she was reenacting a Kafka text: 1

Comments

[rubricity.livejournal.com]

Meals eaten at *any* major fast food chain: **0**

That's impressive and excellent.

[ymasen.livejournal.com]

damn... that IS impressive, almost as impressive as the 2 brakes set aflame!

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

I was just going to say, Whoa! Did you think you could sneak past us those 2 brakes set on fire? What happened there?!

Heh. :)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Guardsman's Pass, UT, between Big Cottonwood Canyon (Brighton, Solitude) and Park City. About a 2kft drop in just a couple of miles. I downshifted, pumped the brakes appropriately...

"Do you smell something burning?"

"Oh crap..."

Stopped the car and the front wheels were emitting this wonderfully toxic smelling white smoke. Went on for a few minutes before they cooled.

Neat, huh? :D

Yeah, it's in the shop now getting new rotors put on... *sigh*

Twas a quest...

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Of course we defined 'major' as 'we can get it pretty much anywhere in the US'. Regional chains were okay. (Taco John's, Ivar's, White Castle, etc)

Still, we ate way too many mini-mart hot dogs in desperation when there was literally that or McD's... :/

Re: Twas a quest...

[gilthalas.livejournal.com]

Oh OK that makes a lot more sense. I was wondering how in the hell you got away with no fast food on a trip that long. What kind of geek are you?

[songhawk.livejournal.com]

Which kafka text?

Metamorphosis

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

I'll put up pics later. Home LAN got lightning toasted while we were gone.

Re: Metamorphosis

[gilthalas.livejournal.com]

I was wondering why this entry wasn't in there:

LANs fried by lightning strikes: 1

Cool!

[flinx.livejournal.com]

Of course, the real fun is where you let the rest of us try and figure out just which states you drove through, to and fro. Heh.

Re: Cool!

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

*laugh* What, there isn't enough info there to figure out most of them? :D

Re: Cool!

[flinx.livejournal.com]

Well, since the last bloody time I talked to you we were BOTH in Seattle, I'm having to rely on my own extensive knowledge of the backstreets and byways of the Vast American Midlands... ;-)

Your trip sounds a lot like the one I made when I moved from Boston to Chicago... and went to pick up my car from my folks in Seattle. Took me three weeks to get back to Chi-town... via most of the Southwest. It was a hella fun trip.