More notes from the roadtrip...
+ Door to door, Boston to Berkeley, it was 3401 miles.
+ I stopped in McDonalds exactly 0 times, thus proving it's possible to drive across the country on the interstate and not have to eat in one. In fact I ate french fries only once a day, and only because I wanted to. With most fast food restaurants now serving salads, there are healthier choices than non-stop grease as one works their way across the interstates.
+ I used 88.5 gallons of gas, at the atrocious price of $195.01* (it got increasingly atrocious the further west I travelled, from a low in the $1.90s to nearly $2.50). Fortunately I think I got in the low 30s in terms of gas mileage, which is pretty good for a 10 year old car (and would likely have been even better had I not had a bike strapped to the back to ruin the fine Sentra aerodynamic stylings.)
(* Actually, I used more than that. This figure does not include the gas used to drive from Boston to NJ, or the little bit I burned off driving to Berkeley after filling the tank in Fairfield. Also, I think I'm missing a receipt.)
+ I stayed in 3 Super 8's, at the annoying cumulative price of 170.84. I probably could have done it cheaper - there were some cheap Motel 6's that I passed - but after last year's dog show fiasco (when there were no motels with vacancies within 30 miles of Youngstown, OH, where I was ready to end my travel day) this year I decided to plan my journey in advance and book rooms where I thought I'd stop. And where I knew some to be.
+ I passed through the Indianapolis area, stopping once just to the southwest for a meal. Everyone there was gearing up for the upcoming race. The KFC, for example, planned to open at 7am that day so people could pick up their orders.
+ My favorite sign seen on the journey was in Nevada, on I-80 somewhere east of Battle Mountain. The billboard read something like, "The Washington Post voted Battle Mountain the armpit of America. Make us your pit stop." Alas, I did all my stopping in Wells and Winnemucca so there was no need.