Made it

Arrived back in Toronto on Friday night just before 8, having spent roughly 18 days, 11 hours and 44 minutes on the road. It was good to be back and not have to worry about the possibility of rain or finding another cheap motel with wi-fi. Ginny had also prepared a great welcome home dinner which beat all the meals on the road, even the ones I cooked, hands down.

The drive from Chicago to Toronto was unremarkable other than for the amount of roadwork underway. It seems a lot of that infrastructure spending we hear about is being used to refurbish the highways of America. No doubt a good thing in the long run, but frustrating for summer drivers. We crossed the border at Port Huron/Sarnia which was surprisingly free of lineups. It was then just a matter of navigating the holiday weekend traffic along Highways 403 and 401, while avoiding those OPP officers with their radar.

So there it is. Would I do it again? Absolutely. It was a good way to see many parts of Canada and the US that I wanted to see, but hadn't yet had the opportunity. Admittedly it would be preferable to travel at a more leisurely pace with time to stay longer at interesting places. However, it is surprising how much you can appreciate while driving through the country. I found this to be especially true in Oregon and Wyoming, where the landscapes were stunning and changed frequently enough to keep the drive interesting.

For those of you who asked about photos, I have been posting them to a Picassa web album that you can see here: http://picasaweb.google.com/rogmoss/GrahamAndMe#

Finally, a big thank you to the friends and family that put up with us on our journey:

Tim and Jane in Goulais Bay

Claire and Helen in Vancouver

Karen, Rachel and Nathalie in Snohomish

Trip Facts

Driven Today: 896 km

Driven in Total: 12,040 km

Run Today: 0 km

Run Total: 136 km

Number of TH Stops: 17

Number of Speeding Tickets: 1

Ipod Progress: 1104 songs Last: "Don't call me red" Ry Cooder

Song of the Day: "Don't stop me now" Queen