By the numbers: 16 days, 3 states, 5 National Parks, and 2,825 total miles

For each of my road trips, I usually do a final "recap" post that lists the "numbers" for the trip - total miles traveled, number of parks visited, number of states driven through, etc. This is that post.

The Big Bend National Park road trip via the Desert Southwest is now finished. I'm back home, safe and sound, and unpacking my thoughts of the trip and the highlights and low points of the road trip (and, yes, where I might go on next year's road trip). 

Needless to say, this road trip was a great adventure across the deserts of the Southwest starting in Phoenix and Tucson, detouring to Chiricahua, continuing into New Mexico and White Sands, and on to the desert landscapes and mountain vistas of Big Bend National Park, the ultimate and greatest part of the road trip.

In the end, here are some "by the numbers" stats on the road trip:

• 16 days of road tripping - from Saturday, September 9, through Sunday September 24
• 2,825 miles traveled - an average of 176 miles a day
• 417 miles traveled in a single day - from Alpine, Texas, to Fredericksburg, Texas
• 2 historic small town hotels stayed in - Hotel El Capitan in Van Horn, Texas, and Holland Hotel in Alpine, Texas
• 5 National Parks visited - Saguaro NP, White Sands NP, Carlsbad Caverns NP, Guadalupe Mountains NP, and Big Bend NP
• 2 National Monuments visited - Chiricahua NM and Waco Mammoth NM
• 2 National Historical Parks visited - Lyndon B. Johnson NHP and San Antonio Missions NHP
• 1 National Historical Site visited - Fort Davis NHS
• 1 Presidential Library visited - LBJ Presidential Library
• 2 caverns visited - Kartchner Caverns and Carlsbad Caverns
• 1 UNESCO World Heritage Site visited - San Antonio Missions NHP
• 3 art museums visited - Tucson Museum of Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, and Blanton Museum of Art (in Austin)
• 3 states traveled through - Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas
• 1 foreign country traveled to - Mexico
• 1 crossing of the Continental Divide - on I-10 in New Mexico
• 2 interstate highways traveled - I-10 (Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas), I-35 (Texas)
• 4 large (pop. 500,000 or more) cities visited - Phoenix, Tucson, San Antonio, and Austin

In Big Bend National Park, near the hike to the Homer Wilson ranch

In Big Bend National Park, near the end of my epic hike to the South Rim 

My Thrifty rental car, a 2023 Chevrolet Malibu, which was a star