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“Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home.” (John Howard Payne)

As they say, all good things must come to an end. And so it is that our four-week road trip is now over. For the first time during the trip, we were actually delayed by traffic yesterday, as the drive from the Outer Banks north to Ellicott City took more than seven hours (including stops for lunch and gas). For a good part of the trip through Virginia, there was stop-and-go traffic, with no apparent reason other than the sheer volume of vehicles on the road.

Although we had a terrific time on our vacation, it is nice to finally be home again. This was by far the longest vacation we’ve ever taken, and after sleeping in a dozen different beds, it was great to get a good night’s sleep in our own bed. Not surprisingly, the various hotel beds left something to be desired, with the sole exception of the Best Western in Marinette, Wisconsin, where we were able to upgrade to a room with a Tempur-Pedic mattress.

Looking back at the weather over the four-week span, I could have easily used Martha and the Vandellas’ “Heat Wave” as the title for any of my blog posts over the second half of the trip. However, I’m happy to say that at no time during the entire trip would “Stormy Weather” or “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” have been appropriate. So, although the rain never interfered with any of our plans, we did on several occasions refrain from some outdoor activities due to the uncomfortable heat and humidity.

Our Prius did well, more than meeting our expectations for gas mileage over the course of the road trip. Here are the final fuel statistics:

Total gallons purchased…. 99.927
Total cost…………………….. $412.61
Average cost per gallon….  $4.129
Total distance traveled…..   4,656 miles
Average miles per gallon..   46.6 mpg

I don’t think we had a favorite stop along the way. We enjoyed all of the sites that we visited. However, I would say that the Thousand Islands was the most scenic area, while Mackinac Island was the most relaxing and probably the place to which we would most likely return on vacation again some day.

I’ve enjoyed posting my blogs each night, keeping everyone up-to-date on our trip and leaving behind a recorded journal of our vacation. Presumably you’ve noticed that all of my blog titles represented the name of a song (some more well known than others), but just in case you missed that, here’s a recap, along with the artists who sang the tunes (note that many of these songs have been recorded by other artists as well).

• A Little Traveling Music Please – Barry Manilow
• The Long and Winding Road – The Beatles
• Bright Side of the Road – Van Morrison
• Islands In The Stream – Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers
• Yesterday – The Beatles
• On The Road Again – Willie Nelson
• Skating Away (On The Thin Ice of a New Day) – Jethro Tull
• I’m Sittin’ On Top Of The World – Al Jolson
• Drive My Car – The Beatles
• Roll Out The Barrel (The Beer Barrel Polka) – traditional German song
• Living In The Past – Jethro Tull
• Peaceful Easy Feeling – The Eagles
• Travelin’ Thru – Dolly Parton
• Old MacDonald Had a Farm – traditional children’s song
• Shop Around – Smokey Robinson & The Miracles
• It’s A Beautiful Day – Queen
• The Lion Sleeps Tonight – The Tokens
• The Farmer In The Dell – traditional children’s song
• Summer In The City – The Lovin’ Spoonful
• Sweet Soul Music – Arthur Conley
• Song of the King – from “The King And I”
• Listen To The Music – The Doobie Brothers
• Old Nashville Cowboys – Hank Williams Jr.
• Grand Ole Opry – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• On Top Of Old Smoky – The Weavers
• Up On The Roof – The Drifters
• Downtown – Petula Clark
• Take The Highway – The Marshall Tucker Band
• Fly Me To The Moon – Frank Sinatra
• Home – Michael Bublé

I hope you’ve enjoyed traveling along with us over the past four weeks. It looks like my blogging career will come to an end now (at least for a while… who knows what the future holds?)

As Porky Pig always said… “Th-th-th-that’s all folks!”

Stu