definitely worth the stop!

Jeff,
I love this! My wife is encouraging me to get back into this cost range.
Jeff

I imagine your tours will cost much, much less than mine, of course, because of your frequent camping (stealth and paid.)

I could probably come up with a pretty close estimate for how much I spend on food, but I'm actually a little afraid to do that, ha!

This is fascinating stuff, and makes me want to go back and dig up the cost for my tours.

Yes, I also found that interesting. I'm going to do a little more analysis of the data, and update this page.

I don't have a good feeling for campground prices, since these days I pretty much only camp when I don't have other options, and a lot of the time the campsites in those situations are free (town parks that don't charge anything, etc.)

The more expensive "RV Park" type of campgrounds are my least favorite option of all. Usually far too busy, noisy, and annoying for me.

It's kinda interesting, in that I thought the hotel prices would be radically cheaper than today, but I guess I would classify these as only modestly less expensive. Especially for the more budget-oriented hotels. Seems like the bigger jump might be in campground prices though.

Another great example of the importance of punctuation.

BOTH of those windows have a surprise in them.

It's a little strange looking at this journal now - this year it will be fifteen years since I did the tour.

I have to admit that I'm a little depressed seeing how much I've aged in that time. I wish I still looked like I did in the picture with the old man in front of McDonald's, haha!

Haha. At the time I don't think I'd heard about the infamous Robert Ford, or I might have kidded the nice cyclist Robert Ford about his namesake.

The Robert Ford I met originally had an ambitious plan to ride around the perimeter of the USA, starting in Texas. But when he got to Washington, DC (I found out later), he quit.

I wonder what he's doing now? The internet is clogged with search results for the infamous Robert Ford, unfortunately, so I can't find out.

Things are different in the Deep South.

still does

Robert Ford..... interesting name for a biker since it's also the name of the crack-smoking Toronto mayor. From Wikipedia:

"On March 7, 2007, Ford spoke out against cyclists sharing roads with motorists, which were 'built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes.' As councillor, Ford opposed the installation of bike lanes on University Avenue and Jarvis Street and during his election campaign, proposed spending money on off-road cycle paths. Bike lanes were installed on Jarvis in 2010 over the objection of traffic advocates, and Ford made it a priority to get them removed during his campaign."

I had no idea that onions grew in bags like that.

The instant I saw this pic, I KNEW. I even remember where I was when I saw it.