We're Baaack! The Rockin' Roadtrip In Review...

We've arrived home safe and sound and are overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude for the most amazing adventure!

We used the last leg of the drive to reflect on some of our stats, highlights and... lowlights, so here they are for what it's worth.

Kilometres travelled:  11,000

Number of cities/towns visited:  59,  plus 4 ports of call on the cruise

Best Breakfast:  Gite Colibris B&B in Baie St. Paul, Quebec

Worst Breakfast:  "Paradise?" Palms Hotel, Panama City, Florida - Choice of grits or doughnuts!

Best Beach:  Jim - Daytona, Florida because you can ride a bike on it!
                     Celia - Panama City, Florida - it made up for the lousy breakfast!

Best Sunset:  In the middle of the Caribbean Sea on the cruise

Longest Dinner - Crawfish Boil in Houma, Louisiana - it was hard work shelling all those little "mud bugs".

Most outrageous mini-golf courses: Everywhere in Florida

Music genres we listened to:  Rock, R&B, gospel, soul, Cajun, country, bluegrass, rock-a-billy, zydeco, blues, sacred steel, jazz, delta blues,honky-tonk and...

 

 

can't forget the drum circle!

Most authentic Delta Blues:  Jackson, Mississippi

Best Dancers:  Zydeco fans, Breaux Bridge (breakfast!), Louisiana

Worst tourist maps:  Louisiana - even the tourism centre staff told us they were wrong

Funkiest City:  Asheville, North Carolina

Most dangerous bike ride: 

Cel - When Jim said, "Follow me!" onto a freeway ramp, Washington D.C.

Jim - A tie between the streets of N.Y. City and the New Orleans cemetery/housing projects district.

Most stress producing moment:  Getting gas in sketchy neighbourhood, Mobile, Alabama

Greatest personal transformation:

Best people watching:  Walmart - hands down

Most entertaining people:  Cajuns in Louisiana

Most difficult accents to understand:

1. Mississippi
2. Arkansas
3. Cajun
4. Philadelphia

Most difficult sentence to understand:  Mississippi fast food restaurant - "Yo won gree o fraa??  English translation:  Do you want grilled, or fried?

Best Scenic Drive:  Tie between Natchez Trace Parkway

and

Blue Ridge Parkway

Best low-tech concept:  "Cajun Rear-view Mirrors" when swamp tour operator was backing up the boat at full throttle, staring straight ahead, without turning around.  "I'm usin' my Cajun rear view mirrors - just watchin' yer wife's face and when she hollers, I stop."

Most naturally beautiful state:  West Virgina, "The Mountain State"

Jim's favourite activities when when he needed a break from driving:

Worst (and only) car problem:  A nail in the tire - how lucky is that?

Number of oil changes:  2

Number of roadkill sightings: 672 (honestly, we kept track!) - OK, we know this is morbid, but our excuse is we had to pass the time somehow!  This included raccoons, possums, groundhogs, vultures, deer, crows, skunks, foxes, rabbits, hawks, squirrels, turtles, porcupines, pelicans, armadillos, snakes, egrets, gulls, moles, nutria (large water rats) and... one random state trooper's hat.

Number of times people thought Canada and Alaska were one and the same:  Too many!
                                                                                           

Number of days that did not have picture-perfect, sunny weather:  2!!!!!!!

Cost of entire trip:  PRICELESS!

Being home again with family and friends:  Even more PRICELESS!!

Thank you to all of you who followed the blog and kept in touch.  We are truly blessed.