Well, I have the feeling that the previous 45 days have been a once in a lifetime experience. I traveled through Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Idaho and Montana. I’ve met an incredible number of new people whose company I have enjoyed immensely. I’ve taken more pictures than I can count and most will never see the light of day.

I visited 8 National Parks and 5 National Monuments stopping at countless other places along the way. Spending two minutes thinking about it, I actually spent longer than half an hour in the following places:

Marion, IA

Badlands National Park

Wall Drug

Minuteman Missile National Monument

South Dakota Air and Space Museum

Rapid City, SD

Mount Rushmore National Monument

Jewel Cave National Monument

Wind Cave National Park

Denver, CO

Colorado Springs, CO

Golden, CO

Pike’s Peak

Garden of the Gods

Wings Over the Rockies

Cripple Creek, CO

Rocky Mountain National Park

Hill Air Force Base, UT

Layton, UT

Salt Lake City, UT

Shoshone Falls, ID

Craters of the Moon National Monument

Arches National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Frisco, UT

Zion National Park

Grand Teton National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Butte, MT

Glacier National Park

Harlowton, MT

Devil’s Tower National Monument

I’ve also come up with a list of figures:

11 states

8 National Parks, 5 National Monuments

9 nights in hotels, 4 of which I paid for

10 nights at my brother’s house

207 hours, 54 minutes of driving

9,230 miles driven

$1,286 spent on gasoline

I’ve seen 1 presidential candidate for the 2008 election

And kept track of when I rolled over every 1,000 miles:

1,000 miles – May 31

2,000 miles – June 05

3,000 miles – June 10

4,000 miles – June 19

5,000 miles – June 24

6,000 miles – June 30

7,000 miles – July 07

8,000 miles – July 09

9,000 miles – July 12