“Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.”

 Albert Einstein

So, here are the counts, none-the-less, for the “counters” among us.

Number of states traveled through: 26 

Total Miles: 9,888

Longest mileage day:  593 miles on Friday, 4 August

Shortest mileage day:  106 miles on Sunday, 13 August

Total days:  33

Cost of gas (premium – 91 – 93 octane):

            Lowest at  $3.19 in Gillette, South Dakota with the highest in $3.79 in San Jose, CA

Number of gallons of gas: 519

Quarts of oil: 5 plus one oil change with 5 quarts of 5W – 50 Castrol

Pints of Tranny fluid: 1

Repairs & parts:  Brake cylinders (2) and drum set (1)

Number of times putting the fan belt back on: 11 (only one "hot" throw on the highway)

Fan belts used (in addition to the one on at start); 2 – I got fed up with the fan belt that was stored “coiled-up” and swapped it out for the “flat-stored” fan belt.  Think that Bill, Bob Helt, and others are right about this.

Whale-washings: 2 -  Carthage, MO and Renton, WA - Vince

Pictures taken:  over 1,000

Loads of laundry:  2 – at Joplin, MO; 5 at Pleasanton, CA;  1 at Vinnys; 4 at Wauconda, IL

Jars of peanut butter: only 1 medium-sized

Granola bars for M:  at least 2 dozen

Bags of peanut M&Ms:  1 extra large and 2 medium

Bottles of water: lost count

Overnights at hotels:  8 

(On two nights M stayed at hotel while K stayed with brother, John)

            Some hotel nights were planned, others unplanned.

Overnights at campgrounds:  16 

            (Spent 5 nights at Air Force Bases and 1 at  Navy base at Port Hueneme)

Overnights with family/friends: 7

Bed & Breakfast: 2

Highest altitude: 9,033 at Granite Pass, WY

Lowest altitude: 0 sea level at California beach

States with the most dead bugs on the windscreen: Missouri and Minnesota

Most useless item:  Plug-in “cooler”

Most valuable items:  large screwdriver for fan belt fix and the plain-old cooler with ice

Tolls:  Total of $13.90

[$3.00  - CA Bay Area for a bridge;  30cents – OK (ask Katherine); $4.00 roundtrip to Larry Claypool’s in Frankfort, IL;  $3.20 getting out of IL;   $3.70 – NY]

Unused items:

Two fold-up chairs; half of the food locker;  VW melamine dishware (not microwavable); portable potty and six rolls of TP (Katherine was happy about this); VW tow bar (thank goodness); reserve gas (5 gallons on top of the Whale); fix-a-flat (3 cans); octane boost (never got below 91 octane); emergency roadside kit; numerous ‘vair and VW car parts and pieces including 3 extra fan belts!

And the “Master Card-like”  perspective:

 The trip:

33 days

9,888 miles

519 gallons of gas

$13.90 in tolls

The journey:

Priceless