It all ends here

Dustbury, Oklahoma — 4915.3 miles

The real question, of course, is "What has changed since I left?" The answer, of course, is "Not much," although I shudder to imagine my electric bill, even with the A/C set on a thrifty 82 degrees in my absence.

Oh, and some Roads Scholar working the exits up in the northeast has come up with a new wrinkle: the speed limit just beyond the Afton/Vinita exit from the Will Rogers Turnpike is 17 mph. I guess this is as fast as you can go and still get the attention of Baron von Tollbooth.

Coming into Afton, the sign at the bridge at Horse Creek shares a pole with this one: RADAR ENFORCED. How they intend to enforce a creek is beyond me. (There are no speed-limit signs for at least 500 feet in either direction.)

Something I didn't know existed, but found on US 60 west of Vinita: Belgian Blue beef. It's billed as low-fat and organic, both of which seem to be worthy goals.

Some things I thought I'd see, but didn't:

• Kids in Bristol, Pennsylvania, which means I am unable to vouch personally for their sharpness.
  
• The George Washington Bridge, mostly out of the sort of fear inspired by WCBS traffic reports.
  
• Any official trace of the former village of New Rome, Ohio, which I drove through at somewhere around 40 mph. A couple of businesses on Broad Street make reference to New Rome, but otherwise it's disappeared from the face of the earth.
  

Final toll report: Will Rogers Turnpike, $1.25; total $26.65.

I did not in fact blow my budget this year: in expectation of even worse gas prices than I saw, I allowed for $2800, and spent $2175. The usual statistics:

Total amount of fuel used, in gallons: 160.1
Fuel consumption, in miles per gallon: 30.7
Worst tank, in mpg: 28.4
Best tank, in mpg: 34.0
Fastest speed attained, in miles per hour: 87
Number of emails accumulated: 1,621
Number of which I actually had some reason to read: 247

The least-pricey tankful was bought at a Kum & Go (!) in Springfield, Missouri for $2.099.

Acknowledgments: Your Humble Narrator would like to thank:

• Donna and Lisa in Bucks County
  
• Janis and Randye in Bucks County
  
• Dawn "Gee, Dad, it's a Wurlitzer!" Eden, not in Bucks County
  
• The Hide-A-Way Pub, Blackstone, Massachusetts
  
• Hubbard Laundry, Hubbard, Ohio
  
• JP Morgan Chase Bank, Elizabethtown, Kentucky
  
• An unknown woman at the Corning Museum of Glass, for helping to inspire this story
  

Personal to She Who Is Not To Be Named: Have a wonderful summer.

This concludes the text entries for World Tour '05. I return to the Big Desk, having a Coke and wearing a smile. Thank you for your support.

Posted at 6:05 PM to World Tour '05