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The loop is now closed, having returned home on Friday, November 18– this is one day past week 22. I have to say that doing these weekly updates were a blast and saved me the trouble of writing actual blog posts.
- Number of days on the road: 148
- Miles Driven: 15,035 — That is an average of 101 per day,
- Longest driving Day: the last one 620 miles from Amarillo, TX to Strawberry, AZ.
- Most Recent 1000 mile marker: 15,000 miles, south of Winslow AZ
- Number of States/Provinces driven in: 29:
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delawre, New Jersey, Washington DC, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico
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- Number of times Red Dog broke down: 0
- Number of US/Canadian Border Crossings: 6
- Number of minutes spent while customs offices inspect items in my truck crossing into Canada: 24
- Worst Drivers in the Universe: South Florida where the rules are go as slow as you want in all lanes.
- Most scenic foliage drive: Blue Ridge Parkway, North Carolina. Second was highway 58 in southwest Virginia
- Best alternative to Interstate- US 19, the Georgia-Florida Parkway.
- Number of ferry rides: 7
- Number of minutes spent while customs offices inspect items in my truck crossing into USA: 0
- Money spent on gas: $4020.80
- Cheapest gas price: $3.05/gallon (Refinery, NM).
- Highest gas price: $5.64/gallon (CA$1.39/liter) (Wawa, ON).
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- Scariest things seen ceramic and stuffed: clowns.
- Number of iPhones dropped into canyons: 1
- Photos posted: 3026 (that is an average of 20.4 per day)
- Number of 106 photos taken on trip: 40
- Number of 106 milepost photos: 7
- Number of nights in hotels/B&B: 18
- Best B&B: Eagle Eyrie in Camilla Georgia
- Number of nights spent in sailboats: 3
- Number of nights camping: 20
- Best Campground and Experience (likely never to be knocked off this list): Canoeing to Wallace Island, BC with Scott Leslie; close second Holly Bay Campground, Daniel Boone National Forest and Hermits Hollow, Colorado
- Wettest night camping: that big storm in Colorado with @pumpkiny wh thankfully had tequila
- Coldest camping night: Glacier National Park, Alberta, Canada
- Most Number of consecutive nights camping: 6
- Most Number of consecutive days without a shower: 6 (see previous)
- Number of Islands Slept On: 3 (Whidbey Island, WA, Wallace Island, BC, and I have to count Vancouver Island, BC)
- Comfort of the “West Wing”: delightful
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- Best Town Names: Niceville Florida and Fracking, Pennsylvania
- Best place to be in that no one believes me: Welland, ON
- Best Out of the Way Museums: EBR-1 Breeder Reactor Idaho National Laboratory; Old Idaho Penitentiary, Boise ID; Gopher Hole Museum, Torrington AB; Little Congress Bicycle Museum, Cumberland Gap, TN
- Best Factory Tour: Snyder’s Pretzels, Hanover, PA
- Weirdest Large Roadside Objects: 2 (Dog Bark Park, Cottonwood ID; Pysanka Egg, Vegreville AB)
- Number of new forms of transportation: 4 (paddleboard, Jet Ski, 4 wheel Quad, tractor)
- Best Beach Walk: Batchawana Bay Provincial Park
- Joy of getting to hang out with my sisters: large
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- Number of former PhD advisors met: 1 (hi Sue!)
- NUmber of hitchhikers picked up and gotten stories recorded for StoryBox: 1
- Number of books read: 13 (Most recent: Jack Kerouac On the Road
- Best Song About Dogs Sung in Loud Bar in Guelph: “Littlest Hobo” by Kyle Mackie
- Number of boxes of Snyders Pretzels consumed behind the wheel: 7
- Best storytelling stranger: That ranger in Mount Rainier National Park.
- Lost dogs tended to: 2 (thought @injenuity later dod the work to d=find their owners)
- Number of times spent helping a friend of a friend move: 1 (thats what happens when you drive a truck)
- Most Gracious Hospitality by someone who is waayyyyyy busy and asked on last minute notice: Vicki Davis
- Friend/Relatives Homes Visited/Mooched Upon: 33
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- NUmber of times getting screeched: 1 (thanks Kim!)
- Number of friends known online met for first time: 27 (most recently added Marie – @colemama, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, Alana King, Lisa Neal)
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- Number of un,non,anti conference family reunions attended: 2 Bavastock (Fredericksburg, VA) and #HurleyLounge (Milton, Ontario)
- Most unexpected activities: Riding a tractor on the Durnin Farm, Helping a friend of a friend move in Nashville, my abduction from a trip to Hawaii and answering a call to go to Brock University (seeking the center of the internet), visiting a gator farm, seeing a high school performance of Little Mermaid; spending Halloween in a LaQuinta Motel with my sister and brother-in-law; spray painting at the Cadillac Ranch
- Most depressing shell of a city: Danville VA (followed by Vicksburg, Mississippi)
- Best walk and talk with a friend: where-ever that farm was we walked in State College, Kevin
- Number of Moose, Bears, and Sled Dogs seen in Ontario: 0
- Most energetic welcome: Eli and Jonah in New Jersey
- Number of parent’s homes lent to me: 1 (thanks Chris Harbeck)
- Number of games Shareski Family whupped me in: All of them
- Love lost: 1; Love found: 1
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- Number of parents lost: 1, damnit
- Degree of being “blown away” by response to cookielove: Infinite
- Number of truckloads of Mom’s stuff taken to Goodwill: 3
- Amount of sea shells returned to Sanibel Island: 1/2 bucket
- Number of memories rekindled from a week at Mom’s house: un-countable
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- Number of Google Hangouts participated in: 2 (yes I am way behind, but hooked).
- Number of ds106 blog posts while on trip: 41
- Number of Dead Drops Looked For:1; Num,ber of Dead Drops Found: 0 Best ds106 radio cast- talking vinyl and fake revolutionaries with Gardner Campbell.
- Conference keynote I most wish I heard in person: Jim Groom’s #OccupyOpenEd11
- Number of t-shirts purchased: 6
- Best Bike Ride: Canmore to Banff and back with D’Arcy Norman.
- Most brain cells lost: hanging out with Cole
- Most Recent Bike Ride: Treeline Road, Fort Myers.
- Number of ds106 radio broadcasts with new people: 10 (most recent with Tom Woodward in Richmond VA)
- Number of things shared in StoryBox: 1063 (where are your contributions?) – note, there are about another 30 items not yet accounted for!
- audio recordings: 127
- cookielove items: 15
- documents: 15
- music: 41
- photos: 724
- videos: 134
- remixes: 5
- animated GIFs: 2
- Biggest Dump of StoryBox content in one dump: Vicki Davis’s students at Westwood High School.
- Most Consistent Friendly Lovely Contributor over span of StoryBox: Giulia Forsythe
- Number of Storybox Public Appearances: 40
- Number of StoryBox demos: 6 (September 23 at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University; September 28 at University of Mary Washington, October 21 at Brock University), October 26 for Faculty Development Institute, Virginia Tech; October 27 for Honors Residential College, Virginia Tech; October 31 Two classes at Westwood High School, Camilla GA; Marie’s House, Naples FL (Nov 5)
- Weirdest Photo in Storybox: That guy in the gold jacket in Winnipeg
- Regrets for doing this: zero
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cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
cc licensed ( BY ) flickr photo shared by cogdogblog
damn, man. I’m exhausted just reading the summary. congrats on closing the loop, and on starting a new one in a few days. so many awesome.
What he said. Talk about an epic quest! I’m beyond honored to have been some small part of this.
Moi aussi.
Welcome home.
Awesome. Simply awesome. How many diners?
Alan … so amazed at your journey and your spirit through all of it. I am thrilled to have been a stop on the way! When you were here I was in the middle of dealing with the great flood in my hometown and getting to be on ds106 radio with you helped me frame where I was with all that. I am honored to be the one who is awarded with, most brain cells killed. Welcome home, my friend.