It was raining as we left Salt Lake City at 9 am Thursday morning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As we go further out of town, the rain slowed and eventually stopped.\u00a0\u00a0 The rest of the northern drive was dry.\u00a0\u00a0 I like driving the bus when it’s dry!\u00a0\u00a0 Just prior to Dillon, MT, the wind really picked up.\u00a0\u00a0 Had to fuel up there, so it was a bit shocking how windy it was when standing out in it filling the tank.\u00a0\u00a0 I ended up filling up at the same Sinclair station we filled up last summer.\u00a0\u00a0 Back then it wasn’t on Gas Buddy so I added it.\u00a0\u00a0 Was glad to see it was still listed when I started to plan the next fill-up.\u00a0 $3.12 per gallon,\u00a0 almost reasonable for diesel.\u00a0\u00a0 I pumped in $400 worth.\u00a0\u00a0 We will top up the tank once we get closer to the Canadian border as I am seeing their prices are like California diesel costs.<\/p>\n
We stopped overnight in Idaho Falls at an Elks Lodge for $10 a night with\u00a0 50 amp power and water.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It seemed pretty nice until around midnight when we woke up to someone screaming (presumably into a phone) about a fight he had with his girlfriend,\u00a0 and he was pacing the parking lot around us.\u00a0 He finally walked away and I fell back to sleep, but Kathy stayed awake waiting for the nightclub across the street to empty at 2 am.\u00a0 She told me there was a lot of yelling and cars screeching about.\u00a0\u00a0 There were houses right across the street also.\u00a0 Not sure how those folks deal with all the noise late in the night.\u00a0 (unless they are the ones drinking in the bar)\u00a0\u00a0 So far we have stayed at 2 Elks lodges.\u00a0\u00a0 Neither place were peaceful at night.<\/p>\n
We headed out of Idaho Falls around 10 and drove the 250+ miles to Helena.\u00a0\u00a0 I called the fairgrounds and made reservations for a few nights just prior to heading out.\u00a0\u00a0 Now that we are here, $21 a night is a great deal.\u00a0 It’s actually at the outskirts of the city but seems like we are in the middle of nowhere.\u00a0 Trees and grass all around, extremely quiet place.\u00a0\u00a0 Dusty seems to really like this place.\u00a0 No stickers in his paws so far.\u00a0\u00a0 In Montana it seems campgrounds near cities are few and far between.\u00a0\u00a0 I noticed this last year when looking for a spot in Missoula when visiting my Niece.<\/p>\n
The ride to here was fairly uneventful except for the wind gusts in the mountains.\u00a0\u00a0 I think we saw at least 3 Continental Divide signs on the drive here from Idaho.\u00a0 6000+ summits,\u00a0 not too tall for the Rockies.\u00a0\u00a0 I remember driving to Denver a long time ago and the Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 was close to 12,000 feet.\u00a0\u00a0 Mostly I just remember the Toyota I had was having a hard time getting enough oxygen to give me any power to climb to that point.\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully it was mostly downhill after that.\u00a0\u00a0 I wonder what this diesel would act like at that elevation.<\/p>\n
On to Canada…next Stop!<\/p>\n
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It was raining as we left Salt Lake City at 9 am Thursday morning.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As we go further out of town, the rain slowed and eventually stopped.\u00a0\u00a0 The rest of the northern drive was dry.\u00a0\u00a0 I like driving the bus when it’s dry!\u00a0\u00a0 Just prior to Dillon, MT, the wind really picked up.\u00a0\u00a0 Had to … <\/p>\n