3 Exodus – Heading North
It was time to leave my good friends and Las Vegas behind and head North. This is the part of the Road trip I have been most excited about because I’m heading towards Canada. But let’s not jump too far ahead.
I left Vegas late so by the time I actually found a gas station and hit the highway it was dark. There are two schools of thought when it comes to driving in the dark. The first part is that there are less vehicles and traffic on the road so you have free reign. The other is that you can’t see anything cool that you may be passing.
As I drove North on 15 I was quickly out of Nevada. There was a very short jaunt through Arizona and then I was in Utah. All of a sudden, the road got fun. I am a driving driver. I hate long, endlessly flat road that go in the same direction for hundreds of miles because they are mind numbing and they put me to sleep even when I am not tired. I like curves and hills, crests and grades. I like to be a useful part of the driving experience, not just a passenger. Well Highway 15 is a drivers road. All of a sudden the road started to get windy. It was dark so it was hard to see but there were tall rock walls along either side with ‘falling rock’ signs everywhere. The speed limit dropped from 75 MPH to 55MPH in some places, but I figured since there were no shoulders there were no cops… he he The nice thing about GPS is that you get to see the curves before you get to see the curves, so you can place your vehicle appropriately ahead of time and therefore you can go through curves quicker then if you are blindsided by them. The other neat thing about my GPS is that it has an altimeter which lets me know my elevation. Though road was hilly with up grades as well as down, you can tell you are primarily going up. In fact there were stretches many miles long where you were only going up. My ears popped several time and at my highest point I was just over 6000 feat.
Notice if you will the speed posted underneath it. :0D
The problem with going uphill constantly is it Kills your fuel mileage. I dropped down to 23.8 miles per gallon but it still wasn’t bad. I figured the whole trip at an average of 20 MPG just to be safe so I’ve been way ahead. Somewhere along 15 the darkness go the better of me, combined with all the walking in the sun I did in Vegas, and around 01:06 I had stop and rest. At 04:35 I was awakened by an 18-wheeler barrelling 3 feet from my passenger window and back on the road I went. Around 04:58 I stopped in Beaver, UT and filled up. I paid $4.30 a gallon, which is the highest I’ve paid SO FAR. It was dark when I passed Salt Lake City and I didn’t feel like waiting 3 hours for the sun to come up so I kept on driving. I stopped again long enough to catch the sun rise.
Dawn is my favorite time of the day when I’m in the mountains. Where light just starts to peak over the mountain tops while everything else is dark. It’s letting you know the sun is near and will be arriving shortly. It’s just beautiful to catch.
Next I crossed into Idaho. I don’t know why but I wasn’t expecting Idaho. I thought the computer would take me through Wyoming, but I asked for the fastest route and that’s what I got.
Idaho is pretty too, with small communities tucked into the base of mountains. It also has expanses of plains between rolling hills, and fields of what I can only guess are potatoes. In fact, Idaho is very proud of their potatoes…
…as well they should be I guess.
I finally cross into Montana, and STUNNING is all I can say. This state is absolutely positively beautiful. I pull into West Yellowstone, which is a quaint and rustic little town outside of the park.
And then it was off into the park.
There was wildlife everywhere. The views were magnificent and the foliage was electric with fall colors of florescent yellows and orange and red coming into the plants and trees that weren’t evergreen. The air smelled wonderful and I drove with all the windows and the roof open. I couldn’t get enough of it up here. I also came to the conclusion of why I feel so at home up here and why I hate Texas soo much. It’s because you can be outside out here and think about anything cause you’re not focused on how miserable the weather is. Also, scenery changes, seasons change, foliage changes. Texas is stagnate. And finally, the evergreens. Oren means Pine Tree. I need to be amongst my own kind.
I could spend a couple of weeks just bumming around Yellowstone but I came here for a purpose and then I have to make a break for Canada. That purpose was:
CLICK ON THE PICTURE FOR A VIDEO
And they call it Old Faithful because it’s predictable within plus or minus 10 minutes. It went off within 8 minutes of when they thought it would. The rule is if it lasts around 2 and a half minutes it will come back in 90 minute. If it goes off for 5 minutes it comes back in 60 minutes. I caught the 2 and a half.
After leaving the park I headed north, but man the views in this part of Montana are definitely not disappointing.
The other thing is that it’s all Granite. Everywhere they have broken up the mountain to make a roadway is rocks and boulders of the most amazing granite never to have graced the Kitchens of Los Angeles. I had to pick some up just to have.
I headed for Helena and by this time it was dark again. I wanted to see Helena so I decided I would find a motel for the night and see the city in the morning before heading into Canada. I went to 9 motels/hotels over the course of 2 hours and all were booked. Based on the number of Police and Government vehicles in all the parking lots I venture to guess there was a convention. I figure I’d head just outside the city and find the closest motel. Around 23:00 I still have no luck and give up on Helena. I am on 3 hours of sleep and i can’t fight it anymore so I find a rest stop and pull in. I get the car ready for another night of sleep and I move just right to pull my back, and down to my knees I go. Great! I struggle to get back into the car and fall asleep.
I wake up with my back still hurting and shivering. It’s 44 degrees. I start the car and just lay in it with the heat going for a little while and then I gingerly get out and stretch till my back feels better. As the sun comes up I realize where I am. Beautiful.
I have breakfast on the hood of Soup and raw veggies and a cup of tea.
Then it’s back on the road. I get about 45 minutes in when I experience some Technical difficulties. I have an inverter that changes car battery power to household power so you can plug regular stuff in it. My cellphone battery is going low so I plug the charger into it since my car charger is pain in the ass and wont stay in the phone if I move it. I’ve done this several times already but I guess there is a problem with the inverter because we reach catastrophic failure. The inverter dies but it takes the multiport with it (a splitter that turns 1 cigarette lighter into 3), and the fuse blows in the car as well. So off to the next truck stop. $38 for a new inverter and splitter and I change the fuse. Back on the road we go.
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