Adding Up the Recession Roadtrip
States visited: 27 (21 more to go)
Words written: 43,080
Miles driven: 12,738 (so much for that 10,000 mile estimate for total trip!)
Number of rental Priuses: Now driving number 5, nicknamed Pericles.
Average mileage: 40 to 42 mpg
Nights spent sleeping in the Prius: 6
Number of speeding tickets: 2 (Only one justified, I swear.)
Number of parking tickets: 3
Pounds of beef jerky consumed: 3
Pounds of granola consumed: 9
Gallons of coffee consumed: About a million
Number of fast food burgers consumed: Don't recall, but after 3 days of violent illness resulting from--I suspect--an unfortunate visit to Jack-in-the-Box, I've pledged to eat no more fast food.
Number of times Prius got stuck: Twice
Ran out of gas: Once
Yelled at: Once (By an Elvis impersonator in Vegas)
Number of times I experienced fear: Once (I wasn't kidding about having an irrationally bizarre aversion to wind turbines.)
Interviews conducted: More than 200
False leads followed to disappointment: More than two dozen
Number of senior citizens seen riding a bike in nothing more than a Speedo: 1 (Such a ridiculously glorious sight.)
Number of times collision with animal narrowly avoided: 4 (squirrel, dog, crow, elk)
Number of showers taken in a waterfall: 1
Average hours of sleep per night: 4 to 5
Average hours spent driving per day: 3 to 4
Twitter followers @RecessionRoadie: Over 2,000
Number of times babysitting for crackhead who said she needed to go apply for jobs: Once was enough
Longest span of time I've gone without changing clothes: 8 days
Longest span of time gone without showering: 4 days (When camping with homeless in Sacramento last week.)
Length this "4-month/48 state" trip will probably last: 5 months, give or take a couple weeks.
Number of times an interview subject moved me to tears: 5 (Rachel Polston in South Carolina, Rita Baldwin in Biloxi, Mississippi, Rosa Jurado in Rogers, Arkansas, "Jimmy" in Las Vegas, Nevada, Charles Zimmerman in Sacramento, California)
Number of laughs shared: Countless
Number of days I've considered how fortunate I am to be having this experience: This is day 102 of the trip.