Chapter Forty-Nine
Epilogue
Trip Statistics: Here’s the final map of our adventure:
So, you see, we actually followed the original plan pretty closely.
Here are some statistics:
Total Days Gone: 34
Total Miles Driven: 6,630 (Average 195 miles per day)
Home to St. Louis: 3,316 miles
St. Louis to Home: 3,314 miles
Bicycle Miles Ridden: 280 miles
Average Gas Mileage: 36.45 MPG
Here are the costs. Remember that the dollar amounts are in 2009 dollars. Google “Inflation Calculator” to convert these to current day dollars.
Total Trip Cost: $2,083
Four nights in hotels: $255
Twenty nights camping: $308 (Average campsite cost: $15.40)
Eating at Restaurants: $399
Groceries: $200 (After subtracting a normal month’s grocery expenditure)
Gasoline: $398
Other Expenses: $523
Total Weight Gain Lena: -2 pounds
Total Weight Gain Al: -4 pounds
That's right, we both lost a small amount of weight. Possible reasons: (1) Even with the driving, camping life is less sedentary than normal life. There's a lot of walking around, setting up camp, packing, getting water, getting firewood, etc. (2) We lost muscle, since we did less vigorous exercise than on our normal home schedule, (3) I’m lying and we actually gained 40 pounds. Each.