And a good day at the lake will make you wish you never had to leave! I had a great time visiting my parents in NC this weekend. For nearly four days all I did was eat, drink, fish, jet ski and a bunch of nothing. Who could complain about that. I had such a great time, I didn’t even bother to open my laptop once. I know some of you will not believe that, but it’s really true - I have witnesses.

My parents live on Lake Gaston, which straddles the NC/VA border just west of I95. It’s a huge lake with lots of off shoots and coves. It’s great for anyone who loves to be on a lake, go waterskiing, wakeboarding, tubing, fishing, or just hanging out and having a great time. The lake was a bit busy on Saturday and Sunday, but was absolutely perfect today! My parents said the tourists were finally going home and they were finally getting their lake back.

The only thing I wish my parents had was a boat to ski behind. I grew up waterskiing and kneeboarding so it’s weird not having that opportunity at the lake. My parents do have a pontoon boat, but it’s really not the same thing - not exactly going to get a wake-to-wake jump behind the pontoon boat. But that’s ok! I’m so out of shape right now (especially the muscles necessary for skiing) that I would probably need another vacation if I had gone skiing all weekend.

Luckily prices have come back down under $4/gallon recently so I’m feeling a little better about about driving my big truck around than previously. Not that I care to drive anything else really, but poor gas mileage is definitely a concern for anyone driving a large vehicle these days.

While prices are still not that great, they were down right horrible when I went on my 3600 mile road trip last month. Lucky me! I’m not upset though because I had had anticipated high gas prices around the 4th of July and through the rest of that month. But to make it more interesting, I decided to keep track of my mileage and fuel costs and then I could let the rest of you know what kind of gas mileage a Honda Ridgeline really gets.

Before I drop the numbers on you, I want to mention a few things about how I drive that definitely impacts the mileage I get in my Ridgeline. I typically drive about 10 miles over the speed limit at all times. I’ve been known to drive 15 miles over, but almost never drive just the speed limit. If I am driving the speed limit, I’m probably also tailing the guy/girl in front of me who wont’ get out of the left lane so I get on my way. I hate drivers who camp in the left lane!

I pretty much always purchase the medium grade of gasoline. This means I’m purchasing unleaded gasoline that is anywhere between 89 and 92 octane. Also, my Ridgeline is a 2007 model with 36,000 miles on it at the beginning of my road trip. I did recently replace the air filters and I did check tire pressures regularly, but could have used an oil change before starting the trip - my indicator was at 10% oil life by the time I finished the trip. I’m sure the age and exact condition of my Ridgeline impacted my fuel mileage and it’s not likely that I’ll ever get perfect conditions for the absolute best MPG possible.

My Ridgeline Gas Mileage Spreadsheet

If you check out the spreadsheet above, you’ll see that I averaged just under 17mpg (16.84mpg to be exact) over 3600 miles, through 10 states. Not too bad for a truck of this size. Honda estimates that the Ridgeline (all models 2007 to 2009 have the same estimates) should get 15 MPG in the city, 20 MPG on the highway for a combined 17 MPG average. My Ridgeline had a combined MPG close to 17, but I never reached 20 MPG on the highway. With the exception of when I was driving through the mountains, I always got better than 15 MPG. The mountains did kill my gas mileage considerably. For roughly 730 miles of driving between the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Rocky Mountain Mountains of Colorado, my gas mileage was only 14.9 MPG including all highway miles. Of course, living in that kind of scenery may just be worth the extra gas you spend to get around.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with the gas mileage I got. I would have liked to see 20 MPG at some point, but as long as I stay above 15 MPG in the city, I’ll call it a fair compromise. I will continue to update this spreadsheet and include my mileage as I commute every day in Dallas. That will give us a pretty good idea of the city gas mileage.

Let me know what kind of gas mileage you get so we can compare notes - well, except for Andy who drives a dinky hybrid, but couldn’t put a set of golf clubs in the back seat.

So, by now you all know that I’m no longer on the road trip. In fact I’ve been back for more than a week, but still haven’t finished updating the blog. Blogging on the road turned out to be more difficult and time consuming than I realized. Regardless, I want to give this final post on my trip so we can get to the bigger reason for this blog - My Ridgeline!

After leaving Rocky Mountain National Park I had planned on going to Moab for some mountain biking. I tried to find a guide to help out as I heard the safest and best way to experience Moab is someone with experience on the local trails. Finding a guide turned out to be pretty difficult and then it was 110 degrees when I drove in to town. These two factors combined to convince me that mountain biking in Moab this summer might not be a good idea so after getting some gas, I just kept on driving.

What I didn’t realize after leaving Moab is that there is damn near nothing between Moab and the Grand Canyon. Towns were scarce and the ones that did exist were too small to support a restaurant. By 6pm I was a little concerned about dinner. I had plenty of food in the truck, but I was really hoping for a decent dinner. About that time, I was driving in to Mexican Hat, Utah. Mexican Hat is a town of approximately 32 people (it was hotly debated and could be anywhere between 30 and 34 people). I nearly drove right by The Swinging Steak, but it somehow caught my eye and I swung the truck around to the parking lot to see if I could get some dinner here. The Swinging Steak turned out to be the best place to get a steak for miles and miles! It also turned out to be an international hot spot. As crazy as it may sound, at least 5 different groups from 4 different European countries were represented in this far out of the way restaurant and hotel. I decided to stay the night and just happened to get the last open room. Who would have thought in the middle of now where I’d stop at such an international destination. I met two different Dutch groups and hung out with them all night. There was a family of four and another, separate couple from Holland. We had a great time talking about Europe, the US and the road trips we were all taking. In the middle of this, I also witnessed my first sand storm. The sand surrounded us (did I mention the restaurant and bar were outside?) as it blew through the patio. I’ve never seen so much sand - it was impossible to see even a few feet in front of you. Luckily it lasted only a few minutes and after wiping down the bar and clearing the dust from everything, we all got back to our drinks and conversations. To perfect the night even more, our entertainment was a local singer who sang nothing but Willie songs all night - it was awesome!

The next day I drove on to the Grand Canyon. I didn’t plan to stay more than a day but I really wanted to find a good hike in to the canyon while I was here. I drove the southern rim to the visitor’s center and stopped at the scenic overlooks along the way. I decided the hike I was most interested in would be the South Kaibab Trail. The South Kaibab Trail is about 6 miles to the Colorado River, but that was too far to go in and out in one day. I decided to go just 3 miles down and then come back up. After my 8 mile hike in the Rockies, I thought this would be a good distance - little did I know how hard this hike would be. The first three miles were great. Of course it was all downhill. As I turned around and started on my way back up, I realized just how much I underestimated the climb back out. The first mile back was ok, but it wasn’t long before I was hiking only 100 yards at a time before having to rest again. It was a brutal hike out, but I did make it and I got lots of really great pics along the way.

After the Grand Canyon visit, I decided that I was pretty much done with the road trip and ready to head home. I had just a few more places to visit in Arizona before hitting the road home. I spent the first night in Flagstaff and enjoy a casual dinner and evening in town. Had I gotten here earlier I could’ve enjoyed the beer festival going on at the same time but I apparently made it a little late. The next day I drove to Jerome, AZ. This is a really neat little town situated on the side of a mountain so that houses are all on one sithat is somewhat of a cross between a very artsy community and lots of bikers, but somehow it just works here. So, if you are looking for some great handmade artwork and lots of good little restaurants and twisty roads to challenge the best of drivers, then you really need to check out Jerome.

After spending the night in Sedona, Arizona, I hit the road back to Dallas. It took about 15 hours from Sedona, but I made the drive straight though (small nap on the way). I can’t tell you how nice it was to get back home! I even had a few extra days in my vacation to relax at home, get my gear cleaned up and take care of a few things around the house before starting back to work on Monday.

Driving across South Dakota was pretty amazing when you take in to consideration the diverse scenery you’ll see. It’s completely flat in the eastern portion of the state. But things change completely when you run in to the Badlands. The Badlands are a very crazy looking place. Hopefully the pictures I took will help describe the view. I didn’t spend much time in the Badlands, but the drive through the park was definitely worthwhile. I did manage to take a few short hikes to get better views while I was here, but that’s about it. As I came out the bottom of the park, I decided to take the southern route to the Black Hills instead of going back up to the interstate.

On my way in to the Black Hills, I ran in to the Reptile Garden. I’ve always been a big fan of reptiles so this was an easy stop for me. You can blame this on my mom. She’s the one that allowed me to bring home every pet imaginable - as long as they weren’t poisonous, of course. Anyway, I decided to go by the alligator pit first and watched as this guy wrestled with an alligator in a pen with at least 20 other alligators just watching along. This guy was crazy, but apparently you have to be to get in this pen. Actually, the gators looked pretty docile - like they could have cared less what was going on. I’m still not sure I would have felt comfortable inside that pen. From the gator pen, I went to through the other exhibits which were all pretty typical - a bunch of snakes, lizards and turtles - except when you go to the Giant Tortoise pen. In the Giant Tortoise pen you can actually pet the tortoises! I thought this was really cool. I was surprised, however, that no kids were riding them. There were two very large tortoises just minding their own business as several visitors hung out with them and scratched their necks. They seemed to like having their necks scratched and so I gave it a try as well. Definitely not the kind of thing many turtles will let you do!

Moving on, I decided to camp at the KOA outside of Hill City, SD which is right in the middle of the Black Hills. It’s also only 5 miles from Mount Rushmore which was the primary reason for me coming here. In hind sight, there are a lot of cheaper places to camp, but KOA makes it easy and does have a lot of amenities. For instance, it was really nice to have a restaurant with wi-fi to hang out in during the thunderstorms that came both nights I camped there. It’s been a while since I’ve camped in a thunderstorm. I actually had to bring out an extra tarp to cover my tent during the rain to keep it from leaking more than it already was.

I spent the morning of my first full day on a bike ride through the middle of the Hills. The George S. Mickelson Trail is an old railroad turned to a hiking/biking trail. The trail is 110 miles from one end to the other. As an avid cyclist, I decide to ride 20 miles out and back, heading north and starting at the Hill City Trail head. The trail is a great bike ride, but after living in Texas for so long, I had no idea that an uphill climb could last really last for 8 miles - but they do! At least I got to enjoy the 8 miles back down as well. Needless to say, the ride was enjoyable, but definitely a workout. The scenery on the trail is also amazing. It’s the best way to really see the forests and have an opportunity to see the wildlife with it.

However, the highlight of the Black Hills is definitely the Mount Rushmore Monument. We’ve all seen pictures in our history books, but it’s impossible to really understand how impressive this monument is until you actually see this in person. It’s worthwhile to get the audio tour aids ($5 rental) as you walk through the park. You will really learn a lot more with the audio aids than you will just walking on your own.

Now if Mount Rushmore is big, the Crazy Horse Monument is enormous. It’s the largest mountain sculpture to date. I have no idea when this will ever be finished, but I’m sure it has a long way to go. Currently, the workers are carving out the horse’s head, but you can still how much progress has been made so far. I walked around the rest of the park as well, but did not take the bus tour to the monument. Overall, this was an interesting stop, but I think it will be much more impressive once it’s finished.

From the Black Hills, I headed south to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I’ll update you on that part of the trip next.

Here is a quick update to let you guys know what I’ve been up to so far:

I drove 15 hours on the first day to get to Parkston, South Dakota. By lunch, I managed to drive 7 hours north to just above Salina, Kansas where I decided to pull over in to Minneapolis and get some lunch. This is also home to Rock City which I decided would make a good detour while I’m here. Rock City is about the strangest group of rock formations I’ve ever seen.

The rock formations at Rock City were formed millions of years ago and you can get more information at these three links:

Official Site: http://www.naturalkansas.org/rockcity.htm

Wikipedia Site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_City,_Kansas

Fan Site: http://www.washburn.edu/cas/art/cyoho/archive/KStravel/rockcity/

On Saturday I went to Mitchell, South Dakota to see The Corn Palace. I really have no words to describe this place. Every year, the town commissions the redesign of The Corn Palace exterior and murals on the interior using nothing but corn of various colors. The first Corn Palace was built in 1892. Every year The Corn Palace is redecorated with a new theme and the 2009 version is currently underway. Here are some links to help describe this better as well:

http://www.roadsidephotos.com/sd/sd3.htm

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2215

On Suday, I finished the drive in to Mount Rushmore. Along the way I drove through the Badlands National Park. This is truly an amazing view and I was absolutely stunned with the scenery. It was just as stunning to see the Badlands and in less than an hour drive in to the Black Hills – talk about a complete change of scenery. I haven’t seen real trees this entire trip so it’s great to see the forests and pitch camp within. I’ll have more pics of the Black Hills in my next blog.

So, be sure to check out the gallery. I have a lot more pics there.