there and back again....

October 6, 2013

Total Days: 31

Total Mileage (car): 7990.5

Total Mileage (with ferry): 8836

Total Driving Time: 163 hours, 54 minutes (almost 7 days!)

Home sweet home.

The Malcolm Family - home again!

It feels great to be home.  After the push of the last few days, you can only imagine how great it feels to be out of the truck.  We got home around 9pm on the 3rd - it took Colter a few minutes to process where we were, but then it was Christmas day.  He rediscovered all his toys, hopped on his Mopi (bike) and sped around the house for the better part of an hour.

Home. 

A map of our adventure:

Now THAT'S a map.

And some fun facts:

Farthest point North: Galbraith Camp, Alaska (Point J), 68 degrees 32.915 minutes
Farthest point South: Grand Canyon Village, Arizona (Point Y), 36.1000 degrees

# of States/Territories: 11

Total Night Breakdown:
       Camping: 15
       Friends/Family: 7
       Hotels: 5
       Ferry: 4

Total Gallons of Diesel: 527.3

Maximum gas price: $1.49/L or $5.63/gal in Fort Nelson, British Columbia
Minimum gas price: $3.71/gal in Salt Lake City, Utah

Teeth popped: 2



What a ride!  We can't wait to go back.  Thanks for journeying with us....one more blog in the making that I should be posting in the next few days....

the lower 48

October 1, 2013

Day: 30

Total mileage (car): 7480

Total mileage (with ferry): 8325.5

It has been a rockin' few days.  We're camped out at La Quinta just south of Salt Lake City and we only have 500 miles to go.  When you've come this far, 500 miles is just a drop in the bucket. 

We knew the last few days would be a push.  It's always a bit more challenging with a toddler.  We've managed.  Hot dogs with ketchup dip-dip always makes for a delicious car dinner - organic, naturally.  We've sang plenty of songs and danced around like those crazy parents you always look at when you're twenty and think, "I will never be like that."  But you will.  You can make it into a mini exercise if you really try.



SO happy to be out of the car

We stopped at a few parks throughout Canada.  CJ and I had a competition to see who could get across these swingy-feet-balance thingies.  I won (he'd probably say otherwise).  They had a metal slide at one park and Colter flew off of it.  He's a tough kid-  he looked shocked for a second, then laughed and got right back up to do it again.  We ran up and down a hill for a good ten minutes.



Exploring the playgrounds in British Columbia

We waved goodbye to Banff as we drove past Calgary.

We'll be back, Banff.

And then we crossed the border back into the lower 48.

It feels good to be back stateside.  I can't wait to get back up to Alaska but it is pretty great down here too.  The winds picked up in Montana and our Yakima roof carrier slid a good 6 -10 inches in the easterly direction.  Two semi-trucks were blown off the road.  Crazy winds.

Opening another grandma present!

Great Falls, Montana last night.  The Great Salt Lake tonight.  And tomorrow we'll be curled up in our bed.  At home.  With the shutdown, I reckon it's going to be nice and quiet.

Late night snuggles.