St. Louis, Trip Stats, and Home

After picking up Susan (Jen's sister) in Missouri, we ate at the Old Spaghetti Company and took a brief look at the arch.  We failed to photograph the food, but just fyi... each entree ($7.99 - $12) comes with bread, a drink, a soup or salad, AND spumoni ice-cream!  This place was great but, unfortunately, the closest one is in Nashville I think.  It is most Definitely worth another road trip to go back there!

Not the best photo of the arch, but we did see it!

To end the road trip with a BANG, we decided to head for home and drive straight through the night.  We drove 23 solid hours (with that 1-hour spaghetti stop and, of course, a few quick rest stops).

A little gas station humor helped push us through the night.  Susan also helped us stay awake while we switched off driving, she was so fresh!

We arrived in Montreat, North Carolina around 7:30am to drop Jen and Susan off with Betsy and Steve.  What a happy reunion!

And arrived in Columbia around 10:00am!  "Reunited and it feels so good"...as mom sang over and over and over.

Emilie liked her Yosemite hat.

AND FINALLY, the moment we have all been waiting for, here are the TRIP STATISTICS:

Number of States Visited:   23

Number of Miles Driven:   8,823 miles (in 20 days)

Times We Filled Up The Car With Gas:   19  

Total Gas Cost:   $922  

Total Driving Hours:   149 hours 15 minutes

Individual Driving Hours:

Fran - 96 hours 15 minutes

Rebekah - 29 hours

Jen - 24 hours

Most Miles and Hours Traveled Straight:   23 straight hours of driving, 1513 miles (the trip home)

Number of Arguments/Discrepancies/whatever you like to call them:   1 (Fran v. Rebekah *driving)

Number of Free (unwanted) Driving Lessons:

Rebekah - 19

Jen - 2
Fran - 0 (she gave the lessons)

Number of Caramel Apple Pops Consumed:   71

Number of Traffic Violations:   1 (Jen in Canada) 

Number of Times Stopped at a Dairy Queen:   6

Lastly, here are the Jobs. (In case you were wondering, we did actually work as a team and all contributed with our individual strengths.)

Fran - Driver

Jen - Cartographer / Navigator

Rebekah - Historian / Comic Relief

TADA!  (good work Jen)

Dear Blobbers,

Thanks for reading!  Our trip was quite the adventure and we enjoyed keeping you up-to-date!  Stay tuned in 2014!  Plans are in the works for Jen and Rebekah to travel to Africa to visit Susan (she's moving there), and Fran is going on an Alaskan Cruise!  Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Jen, Fran, and Rebekah