Conclusion Entry
Ray Wraps It All Up
More than two months after the finish line, Ray sat down to write the conclusion to the ALL50 journal — illustrated with images from the finale, his 50th birthday, and the drive home.
The road trip ended on June 26, 2003. The journal entry that wrapped it all up came more than two months later — on September 3, 2003.
That gap wasn't laziness. It was life: the Nashville Corvette anniversary festivities, Ray's 50th birthday in Perham, Minnesota, the drive home down the California coast with webmaster Edward, and the slow process of returning to normal life after 63 days on the road.
The conclusion entry was Ray's attempt to make sense of what had happened — to put the ALL50 road trip in context, to thank the people who had made it possible, and to document the final images of a journey that had taken him to every state in the union.
Photos from the Day
The Numbers
22,796 miles. 63 days. 50 states. Those are the headline numbers — the ones that fit on a bumper sticker or a commemorative brick.
But the conclusion entry was about the other numbers: the people met along the way, the landmarks visited, the meals eaten, the motels slept in, the gallons of gas pumped, the service stops made, the hail storms survived, the speeding tickets received (one), and the mechanical failures endured (none serious).
What It Meant
Ray had set out to do something that had never been done before: drive a brand-new Corvette to all 50 states in a single continuous road trip, timed to arrive back at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green as part of the 1,000-Corvette convoy marking the Corvette's 50th anniversary.
He did it. And in doing it, he discovered something about America — its scale, its diversity, its beauty, and the generosity of the strangers who welcomed a man in a red Corvette into their towns, their landmarks, and their lives.
The conclusion entry was the last chapter of the journal. But it wasn't the last chapter of the story — as the years of post-trip entries that followed would prove.
The 50th Birthday
Ray turned 50 on July 7, 2003 — eleven days after the road trip ended — at his mother's home in Perham, Minnesota. Karen, his fiancée, was there. So was his daughter Amanda, who had flown in from San Diego. Family and friends gathered to celebrate both the birthday and the trip.
The timing was not coincidental. Ray had planned the ALL50 road trip partly as a way to mark his 50th year — 50 states, 50 years. The birthday party in Perham was the exclamation point.