The road leads on.

Well, we are home again. After something over 6,000 miles, we are back in Chepachet.

Driving through Pennsylvania, we were struck by how truly green and forested it is here, unlike most of the west and much of the midwest. There are mountains here, but what gently mountains they seem after the wild shapes and sizes we encountered elsewhere.

The traffic is heavier, although it lightenes significantly as we pass through Hartford, Connecticut, and it takes significantly longer to get anywhere. Gas prices are higher again.

The last three days of our journey seem a bit surreal. It may be due to the very bland nature of I-70 compared to the much more interesting I-80. There is no Bob and Ray, but the Red Sox solider gallantly on.

A couple more odd thoughts on traveling, and specifically on hotels:

Price is no guarantee of quality. The fabulous MGM Grand cost about 75% of the much-scuffed Holiday Inn Express in Tusayan, Arizona. Economies of scale, perhaps. And casinos.

Brand name is no guarantee of quality, either. We stayed at two different Holiday Inn Expresses, one of which was the much-scuffed location in Tusayan. The other, I can’t remember where at the moment, was excellent and a good value. Hampton Inn varied from just okay to really good. Hilton Garden was excellent every time – the one time we found that the name guaranteed the quality, but perhaps it is just that they are almost all very newly built.

A very quick guide to quality seems to be the welcome mat outside the front door. If it’s grubby or just sad-looking, the hotel inside isn’t going to thrill with cleanliness or quality.

So, that’s about it for our coast-to-coast journey. Don’t know what I’ll do with the blog.

But as Ray Goulding said, “Write if you get work.”

And Bob Elliot replied, “Don’t hang by your thumbs.”

Excelsior!
Carol