Put It In the Books!

LA/XC-5 DAY 28:  POSTING FROM WESTPORT, CT

Final day’s mileage from Staunton, VA to Westport, CT:  429.7

Total LA/XC-5 mileage (final): 7,420.6

Road Music:  Tons of politics — irresistable after Wednesday night’s “Nasty Woman” Debate #3; Sirius sports; selected albums: 31 (Jana Kramer); Dig Your Roots (Florida Georgia Line); Blak and Blu (Gary Clark Jr.)  

Weather leaving Staunton Thursday morning: 79 degrees and sunny, with fluffy white clouds

Weather arriving Westport Thursday night: 67 degrees, foggy and rainy

Last day state tally: 7 (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut)

Gas money total for LA/XC-5:  $761.73

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LA/XC-5 SUMMARY

Total state tally LA/XC-5: 22 (Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland); LA/XC-4 was 25

Total state tally, all five LA/XC trips combined: 41 (additional states from first four trips: Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan)

Mileage Comparison:  LA/XC-5=7,421 (lowest total); LA/XC-4= 8,710 (highest total); LA/XC-3= 7,978; LA/XC-2 = 8,060; LA/XC-1 = 7,643

Total Mileage, all four trips: 39,812

Westbound mileage (LA/XC-5): 3,510

L.A.-area mileage (LA/XC-5): 456

Eastbound mileage (LA/XC-5): 3,457

I thought my brilliant dog might start reacting even earlier, but it actually wasn’t until we made the turn off Greens Farms Road onto Clapboard Hill that he started bouncing off the doors and seatbacks, knocking the gearshift from Drive to Neutral, and going generally batshit.

Almost exactly four weeks after hitting the road on LA/XC-5, we were home sweet home.  Kemba wasted no time getting himself re-acclimated:  He jumped up all over Carol (her favorite thing); tracked mud from his run onto the newly

shampooed carpets; “helped” Luz with her bags of groceries; ecstatically wrestled with his pal Ruckus, who was up from NYC for a visit . . . and slept a peaceful sleep on the easy chair in our bedroom, snuggled up on his Mets fleece.

We’d put in a workmanlike final day on the road.  After a hardcore fetch/workout for the K-Dawg in super-pretty and peaceful Gypsy Hill Park in Staunton, VA, the rest of the time it was nothing but long and hard driving.  Though we’ve had days when we’ve covered more miles than yesterday’s 430, they weren’t packed into seven densely settled, heavily traveled, not especially scenic east coast states.

AND THE WINNER IS . . . Bill Ryan, hands down.  His Guess-the-Total-Mileage entry of 7,273 was a mere 148 miles off the LA/XC-5 total of 7,421.  Bill, you name the time and place — Winslow Park, maybe? — and Kemba and I will be there to present you with your bottle of Jack Daniels Old No. 7.  

BEST INNOVATION OF LA/XC-5:  A super-simple, rugged, and highly functional Gator Ade G-Series water jug — the same one we use for Kemba on those dog days out at the beach.  Five road trips ago I

started with a couple of cases of Poland Springs and Ricky’s water bowl, and kept improving the system until I got to this year’s winning formula:  Fill the bucket to the brim with cubes each morning at the motel’s ice machine, then let Kemba drink directly from the bucket — the way he likes it — each time we stop.

WEIGHT LOST BY BEAGLE MAN DURING LA/XC-5:  Came home at 145.6 — a loss of 2.4 pounds.  Might not sound like much, since in the past I’ve boasted about losing as much as nine pounds on my patented BeagleManTourDiet — Muscle Milk, Clif Bars, and apples during the all-day drive, then a low-calorie restaurant meal in the evening.  But this time I started out lean and mean, right smack at my target weight of 148.0 — so I didn’t have a helluva lot I could lose.

ON DECK?  Long-term . . . will there be an LA/XC-6?  I wouldn’t rule it out. Short-term?  Well, I’ll be home . . . for one day.  Today.  Then, tomorrow, it’s right back on the road.  I kid you not.  I trade in Kemba for Carol, and we head down to Chestertown, Maryland, for the #happilyeverafderr wedding.  Visions of unlimited hors d’oeuvres and cocktails for me throughout the celebration.  Don’t forget, I have those 2.4 bonus pounds to play with . . .

RANDOM ROAD NOTES:

•  Second day in a row I ran into a “surprise state” — WILD AND WONDERFUL WEST VIRGINIA, the sign said.  This time I’d actually studied the map the night before, and was sure I’d be going directly from Virginia to Maryland.  Oops.

• Road signs mis-read from afar:  LION’S DEN ABDUL (was actually “Lion’s Den Adult); EBOLA (Enola, PA)

LOOK FOR A NEW BEAGLE MAN POST EVERY THURSDAY. OR PRETTY CLOSE TO THURSDAY. COULD BE WEDNESDAY. OR FRIDAY. LET’S NOT GET TOO OBSESSIVE HERE 🙂 . . .  OH, AND BTW, YOU CAN ALSO FOLLOW ME ON FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND INSTAGRAM.