I just made the drive to South Dakota to clean out the storage locker there. I left Monday after an appointment in Missoula and drove straight through, retuning late Tuesday night. Slept five – yep, five – hours. I got up, loaded my truck and a 6×12 trailer, and hit the highway back – again, straight through. About 1500 miles in 36 hours. Slept like a baby Tuesday night, though! Since I did the trip so quick I was able to get the trailer back a day early, saving me $40.

I really have not done a drive like that in a long while and I just cannot do those long-ass-day drives anymore. When I worked I always maximized every moment of my time off; vacation time was so important to me that I would leave immediately after work & drive all night to get to Colorado (10-11 hours each way). Then, I hated so much that I had to leave that I would leave late, drive all night, and go straight to work from the road. – stopping at home is for wusses. Crazy and reckless I was, but not a wuss.

But, since I have done shorter days towing my trailer I really like the slower pace. Drive 4-5 hours max, set up camp, and it’s on. I have time to explore if I want, or just sit and watch a sunset after some pre-game festivities. After doing road travel a bit more leisurely, this drive just Kicked. My. Ass. Lack of sleep and loading the trailer by myself for about 90 minutes probably also had a say in how beat I was.

I want to start out the details with the observation that it was a weird trip – it had a weird vibe that was not a good vibe. The highways were eerily quiet to the point of concern that it was so noticeable. I have traveled a lot at various times of the year and this trip was unlike the rest. The most noticeable thing was the lack of trucks bringing goods to our stores. The highways are usually busy 24/7/365 with tractor-trailers but not this trip. I know many trucking companies have gone under plus with the border issue stupidity with the US I am sure that is not helping – I did not see very many Canadian trucks like I used to. I saw fewer cargo trailers this trip but more big & odd-shaped things on flatbeds.

There were very few RVs on the roads but the campgrounds were surprisingly busy. I assume the full-timers people are long-terming it once they get someplace because it is so expensive to drive, especially with longer distances between places in the Western US. I did not notice many personal vehicles being driven for pleasure either – many people are understandably staying home with the high cost of travel.

It also made me think about my plans to travel. I just do not know if it will be possible to do much of it until this ridiculous BS stops. One station I stopped at it went up $.25 a gallon in 16 hours overnight between my visits there and back. Average price was $4.50 a gallon and I did find a few places for $4.19. At maybe 14 mpg if I am lucky that means at $4.50/gallon it is $22.50 to go 70 miles and that adds up quick over 1500 miles. In the West I start to hunt for gas at a half-tank but will push it if I can go a bit farther to the next fuel stop. With some of the big distances between fuel stops you have to be careful to not run out so I get fuel when I can even if it is only a quarter tank. It also means stopping quite often with only a 20 gallon tank. I saw diesel for $6.69/gallon. This is why Doritos are $7 a bag (well, that and greed)…and stay sitting on the shelves.

As you may know, I hit a deer in June and totaled my brand new Tacoma. As I drove in the darkness through Wyoming Monday night the deer were everywhere, and all I could imagine was hitting another one. One impressive buck was simply standing in the right lane in the dark – no reflective gear or flashing lights. I was going 80mph and had to take evasive action while pulling the trailer – a seat-clenching proposition. At least he did not move in front of me when I had to dodge him.

So, let’s move on and look at a few pictures. I was doing a fast turnaround because I only had a couple of days to do the trip so I did not get to stop and see much other than a few things here & there at rest stops. I got a few pictures of the fall colors and the landscape.

As you can see, it was horribly dry and that was most of the trip. The few patches of dark green I believe were newly-planted winter wheat fields that had been fertilized. There’s not much around but the wide open spaces have a beauty all their own. You can really imagine how it must have been riding one of the cross-continent trails going west in landscapes like this.

And there you have my adventure this week. I still need to go finish unloading my truck tomorrow and will grab my bike rack to get my e-bike out on a rail-trail that runs through Kalispell. The weekend looks like a big temperature drop so if I want to ride it has to be tomorrow before noon – there is a wind advisory after that. I need to get in the storage unit and really do some organizing before unloading anything else into it – we were just trying to get the trailer unloaded so it is a bit cluttered.

Thanks for having a look at my blog. I’ll see you next time.

Shawn