Yesterday I posted about the evening winds being really strong. I woke up this morning at 02:50 and could not breathe through my CPAP machine. I thought it was my nose still plugged up like it was when I went to bed. I pulled the mask off and no air was coming out. With my brain in the fog of very little & very restless sleep I had to research & fix the issue.

There is a power outlet tower (a ‘Tower of Power’ for you old-schoolers 🤣) and it did not have power to it. I looked out the window and saw the green lights on the electrical surge protector so I knew that was working – I had thought maybe the winds knocked the power out. The breaker box in the trailer was okay so I was stumped so far; the only option was to go outside and see what was up.

I turned on a light and barely had any 12V power so I need to look into a new battery – the trailer is 3 years old and the battery is probably at least that old so it may need changed out. I will probably add a second battery when I do that so I have more power storage.

I stumbled outside after getting my clothes on and the trailer connection was fine. But, when I went to check the other end of the cable, apparently the winds had worked it out of the socket on the surge protector and tossed it to the ground several feet from the plug.

I turned off the breaker, plugged the shore power cable back in & lit the breaker back up. I went back in the trailer and all was well once again. I got back in bed and finally fell back asleep after a while.

Rider jumped on the bed and woke me up around 06:45 – they both had their usual morning routine they were waiting on me to help them with. I wanted more sleep but when they jump up on me like that it is Defcon 4 – the missiles are in the silo and ready for launch.

I laid there as long as I could, but as usual they both sit there next to each other shoulder-to-shoulder staring at me. Of course, the harassment continues while I am getting dressed.

There’s no going back now…no more sleep this morning so let’s see what else happened today.

First off, the kidney stone. One symptom seems to have gone away but, as I learned with the last one, it can change. One of the things that kept me awake after fixing the power was some nausea from the stone. I finally fell asleep but it took a while.

After an oh-so-refreshing shower, I started getting things put away to leave. After that, I got the Tacoma manual it to figure out enough to get me through the day.

I pulled out of our campsite & adjusted the brake controller on the road out of the park. It works so nicely. My Avalanche had an aftermarket one and it was a hassle. I got on the interstate and we’re gonna find out how this truck does.

It is quite a bit smaller but very impressive. My Avalanche was a 2003 and a lot has changed in vehicles. It had the 5.7L V-8, but it was getting tired. My new one has a turbocharged 2.5L 4-cylinder and it out-pulls the Avalanche quite handily. The Avy got about 15 MPG on the highway…sometimes (but not often) up to 17 MPG, but towing…oh man. I would get 9 MPG. The Tacoma got 23 MPG when I drove it off the lot, and towing it did even better than the Avy – no less than 12 MPG. This is a truck with an engine half the size of the Avalanche – in cylinders AND cubic inches – and it runs like a race car.

I had some ferocious crosswinds starting out, had a few headwinds & tailwinds. It is the mountains so the winds whip around constantly – nothing really new to me. Even with those winds I got better mileage than the Avalanche on a good day. However, after ten years I will miss that truck.

Of course, the Tacoma has a smaller fuel tank so I have to stop just a little more frequently since it gets better mileage. And, of course, when I am not towing it will save me a lot of fuel/$$. I tend to start looking around the half-tank mark, and do not let it get below a quarter tank. That is good practice to do on long trips, but out west gas may not be available as often as other places since the towns are sparse.

Spearfish is nearly on the border so it did not take very long to see this sign:

A few miles after the sign near the town of Beulah is something called the “Vore Buffalo Jump”. I have stopped here in the past and it was very interesting and I think it is well worth the stop for the history. It is actually very clever what they did.

We pulled over in a scenic overlook and took a few pictures.

I am still trying to outrun some weather, but I have been to Devil’s Tower a few times before. I will probably stop there sometime soon and do the circle trail again & camp out at some point.

Other than the winds it was a nice day on the roads., with 70 degree temps. It has been extremely dry my entire drive so far. Huh…maybe science IS true after all. Fires are burning all over the country.

I had looked up places to stay ahead of time since I have seen many still closed seasonally; I needed one that was open. I found one that had good reviews called Mountain Range RV Park near Columbus, Montana so that is home for the night.

And speaking of places to camp, I mentioned last week about staying at the Love’s RV Stops campsites. I saw some of these locations on my drive and they usually have just a few spots – they are limited by their space available on the property. I saw one today that had a huge campground:

I am getting the blog postings cleaned up before I start posting, and after that I am going to just relax. The last five days have been so busy and I am ready for a break. I am gonna go watch a hockey game even though it is not the Colorado Avalanche. I do plan on getting out much earlier than today. so I can arrive at a decent time.

So that is today’s excitement. I WILL see you tomorrow, won’t I?

Shawn