Day 42--The last day of our great adventure!

We returned to Sarah and Craig’s this morning after finding the fold-out, tent-like play house we sought. With an attachable tunnel and Thomas the Train Engine on the sides it was a big hit. We chatted and played and had a bite of lunch before Ken and Jen took off for Howell. We stayed until the boys went down for their naps and then left. We had a sunny 50 degree day to drive in and it was all fine until, just short of the state line, we had another blow-out on the camper! Again we were lucky in that we were right by an exit so we got off the freeway and into a parking lot to open the camper and change the tire. I told Marv he was getting way too good at it! Back on the road we listened to MSU’s season ending game against Michigan, where we totally blew them out of the water. Bliss! We backed into the driveway just as the game ended. I ran in to turn up the heat while Marv unhitched the camper. Then we drove to Coral Gables to have dinner. When we returned we turned on the water and emptied most of the back of the truck before watching the Oscars and generally relaxing a bit. We had driven 7,612 miles through 12 states, spending at least a night in 6 of them. We averaged 16.2 mpg and saw gas for as little as $2.27 (when we had a full tankL) and paid as much as $3.06, but it was usually between $2.49 and $2.69. Considering the weather going on elsewhere, and before and after we visited several areas, we felt that we were pretty charmed for the whole trip. Two blown-out tires on the camper, both times in easy, safe places to replace them, were our only emergencies. We both agreed the trip was as good as or better than we had hoped, but perhaps not quite as much warm weather as we would have preferred. We will settle back into life here in East Lansing and enjoy what will hopefully be a LONG run in the Big Ten and NCAA basketball tournaments. I don’t plan on adding to this blog until the first full week of April, when we will be traveling to Hawaii with our buddies Kris and Heidi for her spring break. Do come back then to read the continuing adventures of The Savage Traveler.