Lessons learned

From this trip:

1. The GPS is not always right or reliable.

2. Wyoming is beautiful and it never ends.

3. South Dakota is boring and never ends.

4. Don't plan to stop in the Twin Cities when you don't leave Rapid City until after 10am--it's impossible. We crashed after 11 hours of driving in Rochester and it was too late to have seen anyone.

5. Bugs in the west have a death wish. Many, many of them committed suicide on our bumper, ski rack and side reflectors. So many that by Ohio, live flies started becoming attracted to our car because the dead bugs were so crusty. We were going to take a picture but it rained in upstate New York and washed it all away.

6. Road food is novel and enjoyable for roughly two days and then it becomes vile.

7. The state troopers in Wyoming and South Dakota are the nicest police officers ever. They are so nice that it feels like they're doing you a favor when they pull you over for speeding. Somehow Lunchboy got away with a warning and I got the $150 ticket for doing 91 in a 75 mph zone. YOU try not speeding in Wyoming.

8. I hate hate hate hate Howard Stern.

9. Even satellite radio repeats the same 10 artists and 15 songs over and over. We should have invested in a few books on CD. Bligh, your mix rocked--thank you!

10. There's no place like home.