In my last post I wrote that we've driven Wesley, our 1985 VW Westphalia camper van, over 5,400 miles from Alexandria, Virginia, to San Augustinillo, Mexico. Since I make a lot of things up when I write - an author's perogative, I tell the kids - I wanted to see how close to the truth that number was. So as part of J's last math lesson, we got out the Mexico map and figured out the kilometer segments for the legs of our journey and added them up. Then we did a math equation to convert our total kilometers to miles, which is a unit of measurement no one in the rest of the world except us Americans can relate to. It turns out that since July 31, when we left Alexandria, we've actually only driven 1,759 miles in Mexico, and 2,196 miles in the U.S. from Alexandria to Laredo, Texas, where we crossed the border. We had accumulated 1,499 miles before July 31, most of those miles being between our house and Trader Joe's, which is less than a mile away, confirming my suspicion that when we are not sleeping, we are stopped at a traffic light on our way to that fine grocery store.
As part of the math lesson, we also did subtraction: 5,454 miles (our current odometer reading) less 1,499 miles (our odometer reading on July 31, when we left Alexandria) and learned that we've driven 3,955 miles. We checked this by doing an addition problem: adding 2,196 (our U.S. miles driven since July 31) to 1,759 (our Mexican miles driven). It comes out the same either way - we've driven 3,955 miles since July 31.
While that may seem like a lot of driving, it actually seems like a lot more if you drove it, and it's a more impressive number if you don't convert it from kilometers, which is why I've decided that when I jog, I no longer am going to measure my runs in miles. I ran five kilometers today - up and down the beach. Then I went for a swim in the ocean. It was pretty darn good.
The other thing J and I did as part of his learning was to recall where it was we've been in the ten or so weeks since we left Alexandria. Here's what we came up (the date in parens is the date we left the place).
Alexandria (July 31) to Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg (August 3) to Kerr Lake,Virginia
Kerr Lake,Virginia (August 4) to Walkerton, North Carolina
Walkerton (August 5) to Statesville, North Carolina (Norman Lake Campground)
Statesville (August 6) to Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta (August 10) to Double Springs, Alabama (Clear Creek Campground on Lewis Smith Lake)
Double Springs (August 11) to Fulton, Mississippi (Tennessee River/Tombigbee Waterway Campground)
Fulton (August 12) to Jonesboro, Arkansas
Jonesboro (August 13) to Bull Shoals - White River State Park, Arkansas
Bull Shoals - White River State Park (August 16) to Tulsa, Oklahoma
Tulsa (August 18) to Pat Mayse West State Park, Texas
Pat Mayse West (August 19) to Palestine, Texas
Palestine (August 20) to Austin, Texas
Austin (August 23) to San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio (August 24) to Laredo, Texas
Laredo (August 25) to Hidalgo, Mexico.
Hidalgo (August 31) to Matehuala
Matehuala (September 1) to Santa Maria del Rio
Santa Maria del Rio (September 2) to Guanajuato
Guanajuato (September 4) to San Miguel de Allende
San Miguel de Allende (September 8) to Los Azufres
Los Azufres (September 10) to Huetamo
Huetamo (September 11) to Zihuatanejo
Zihuatanejo (September 19) to La Barrita
La Barrita (September 20) to Pie de la Cuesta
Pie de la Cuesta (September 22) to Acapulco
Acapulco (September 23) to Playa Ventura
Playa Ventura (September 25) to Puerto Escondido
Puerto Escondido (October 1) to Playa Escobilla
Playa Escobilla (October 3) to San Augustinillo
San Augustinillo (October 9) to ?
It's been a great adventure to date, and we plan to be on the road for another ten months at least.
I also want to thank Paige Conner Totaro, our friend and co-founder of the All Over the Map website which is hosting the Vanamos blog, for finding a map to add to the blog that tracks where we've been. That feature is something that people had been requesting and Paige got it done. We hear ya folks!