Taking off!
on My 2,000 mile Drive From ND to NV
This is the last picture of my truck and trailer in ND. I'm at the weigh scale before I take off, my final weight came in at 12,220 pounds. It's only -5° this morning. A darn site better than was predicted. Early forecasts put us at -22!!! According to the Internet, it was -17 last night, but I'm leaving at about 10am and it has warmed up a few degrees. (listen to me! Warmed up to -5!?!)
I told you I weigh over 12,000 lbs, but I didn't tell you I was nearly 50 feet long. Now that feels huge to me, and trucking down the road with over 6 tons I feel pretty cool. Well, that is until I stopped for a stretch in a South Dakota rest area and this semi parked beside me and made me feel smallllll.
While at the rest stop, I took the time to warm up the trailer. I have a battery operated propane heater so while I was stopped I let it run. I figured it would be easier to warm it up overnight if I kept it a little warm during the day.
So anyway, I continue south on I-29 through SD and end up staying the night in Watertown, maybe an hour north of Sioux Falls. The drive was fairy short and uneventful, however it was cold, cold, cold. The temp never went above 0, and it was a little windy but not too bad. Each time I stopped for gas (3 times) I warmed the camper again. That night I stayed in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Watertown. I guess it's called "boondocking", when you dry camp in a parking lot? Anyway, it was new to me but it sounded fun.
So the temp dropped that night and went down to -8. But when I got there it was 5 or so above and I turned on the heater so I can stay in the camper, remember it's cold inside as well! I wander around Wal-Mart for a little while, while the trailer warms up and finally go out to cook dinner and get some sleep. I read for a while before turning in and checked my maps for the next day. I set the heat to about 50 and went to bed around 10pm. Near midnight I wake up, shaking cold.
I fiddle around w/ lights and fuses and go out side to check the gas because if you haven't guessed, my heater died. It's a couple degrees below 0 outside, and not much warmer in! Short story, my battery was dead and wouldn't turn on the circulating fan; no fan, no heat. I didn't know what else to do and I was tired and I didn't feel like looking for a motel at midnight (I'm pretty stubborn!) so I cracked open a window, turned on the oven, curled up in my 0-degree mummy sleeping bag, and went back to bed. If you haven't guessed yet I didn't wake up dead but my thermometer did tell me it was about 20 inside the camper.
DAY 2
Despite being really damn cold I took off to a beautiful clear day. This is a picture of South Dakota, just north of Nebraska. I've gotten off of I-29 and onto Hwy 81. I'll stay on this secondary road for the next 2 days.
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This is part of my "Flat State" series. Folks in ND (and elsewhere I guess) give ND crap about being one of the flattest states in the nation. Which of course it is. I understand that ND has the lowest elevation change of any of the states. So anyway this is the first installment of my "Flat State" series. Flat South Dakota. |
That morning the wind picked up and quickly went from windy to howling. This is a picture of snow blowing sideways across the road.
I liked this bridge. I don't know the name but it could be looked up. It is the Hwy 81 bridge between SD and NE, across the Missouri River. I don't know if you can tell, but the traffic is stacked. You only see one skinny lane in front of me because the other lane, the one going north, is above me! How unique. Also notice the Missouri river isn't totally frozen. This is the last open water I'll see for over a 1,000 miles as I travel south, until I get to Texas.
I have a couple more pictures of my day in NE. The wind blew so hard I thought I'd be blown over a few times. Other than that it went well. I made nearly 400 miles, and drove the whole way about 54 MPH. That made it about 12 hours before I tiredly found a motel for the night. The battery was still dead in the camper and it was still cold, about 15 above I think, and I needed a shower.
DAY 3
This is a picture of some storm damage that I went by in KS. 
There was a lot of ice and wind damage to trees and buildings. It was almost as bad as a tornado or something. Branches were down every where for miles and miles.
This is the famous Dalton hideout. I don't know much about it except it's ummm... famous and it's ummmm.... a hide out. You might remember the stories from a few years ago. Donna and Ron spent some time running from the law and before they did their year in the MN hideout, they obviously spent some little time in KS. :-)
Well Welcome to Oklahoma! This is my submission for the "Flat State" series, this is Flat Oklahoma.
Well Welcome to Texas! Notice no snow? The temperature went above freezing for the first time in well, months for me. I don't remember where the temp went above 32, I think in OK. But it went up to 37 this day. Very nice! :-)
It looks like any other place in the mid-west, just a small town in the country.
Obviously windmills. Very good to see texas using alternative forms of energy. I actually saw windmills all through the mid-west. Kansas specifically had windmills, too.
Not to be out-done, this is Flat Texas. It's part of my "Flat State Series".
Finally after over 400 miles I stopped in (near) Dalhart TX. I liked it here. First, the large park I stayed in had developed sites w/ power and water (if it wasn't still below freezing!). There were lots of places to walk (trails) and a swim area too. Also, the town was nice and about the right size. There is a lake down below my camper (you can see it in the pics?) and it was full of Geese. And I mean full! They were so loud they woke me up and there was so much goose poop you could smell it... every where. I kicked up the speed today and cruised at a little over 60. That knocked off at least an hour of driving.
I haven't mentioned, but the MPG on my truck is rising. The first day, due to cold and speed, I got 6.4 miles per gallon. Talk about bad! So today, with lower speeds and warmer weather, I'm in the hight 7's... 7.8, 7.9 MPG.
Temp tonight? 6° above 0. In Texas... Am I leading a cold front or what! :-)
Day 4
Today dawned (again!) cold and clear and I hit the road early. My target is Tim and Barbs house in NM. I woke up at like 6am and since it was so early took my time getting around. I cranked the heater to warm the interior and decided on eggs and toast for breakfast. I checked out the truck and sort of goofed and didn't hit the road until after 8.
Rough life, huh? :-)
A couple of morning pictures.
Like I said, I was taking my time. I had maybe a 5 hour drive to Tim and Barbs house in Albuquerque and like 8 hours to get there. This was taken by some rail road tracks w/ a historical marker. (I stopped at those when I could, becuase of my size there were some I didn't want to dare!)
This was about a man who moved into the area to raise sheep. Turns out he wasn't very popular w/ the cattlemen but he eventually won a spot for himself for a while anyway, by being honest, but tough. Even the indians in this region respected him. He eventually was force to go back home but the inroad he made and the example he set helped others behind him move in and make a new life for themselves, too.
This was in the Canadian River valley where it crosses Hwy 54 in TX. I just looked on my map and it says it was really the 'Rita Blanca' river. But the sign said something about the Canadian too, even though that river is a little south of where I am.
Brunch time in NM.
I was perhaps half way to Albuquerque and passed signs for this lake and figured I'd have a look, and a break. Remember I'm not rushing today?
This is Ute Lake, just outside of Logan NM. I walked over to the lake expecting a mud-hole sort of large farm pond but this was a beautiful lake. Probably man-made (but I don't know that) and the water filled up a canyon. The rocks and rock walls around the lake were great the small islands in the middle looks like they're rising out of the calm early afternoon waters.
I had a fried egg sandwich and a nice walk. :-)
As I approached Albuquerque from the east, I got into the hills, I also got into snow. Not a lot but enought to make me a little nervous on the mountainy roads.
And speaking of scared! I'm nearly 50 feet long and heavey, and we're driving on damp roads w/ snow behind us, and the temp is sitting on 34°. Sounds to me like a recipe for disaster. So, being of sound mind and body, slowed down. But oh no, not the local Albuquerque'ians. To them, it was a chance for adventure! So I'm winding through the 'canyon' east of town, going downhill at maybe a 6 or 7% grade, semi's are using the run-away ramps, it's snowing and I'm sweating, women and babies are screaming, and the locals? The locals are doing 80. Ok, maybe that's an exageration... but I'm doing 50 and I feel like a marble in a pinball game w/ bumpers and corners and the ocassional paddle screaming by. Some of that traffic was going EASILY 20 to 30 MPH faster than me and most of the trucks on the road.
But I arrive safe and sound. Tim and Barb fed me a wonderful supper and even let me take the left-overs. I know Barb thought I was a little weird but I was tired of eating out of cans and her dinner was good... so I took it! :-)
Tim
Barbara
And the kids... :)
DAY 5
It was a funny morning. I left Albuquerque at like 32°, within 10 minutes I climbed out of town into the hills to the west and the temperature dropped to 25. 10 minutes later it was back up to 35 and within a short distance it was once again down into the mid 20's. Very odd.
I was going into and out of valleys or bowls and they seemed to be trapping the cold air so as I descended the temperature dropped, and as I climbed out of the holes the temperature rose. But it was a pretty morning, haven't they all been? :-)
The first picture here is my submission for the "Flat State Series", this is Flat New Mexico.
Now if you look close you'll see it's not really all that flat. I'm on a plateau of some sort and the clouds up in the distance? Those are really hiding the next valley. The temperature in those clouds (that fog!) will be quite a bit lower than where this picture was taken.
The next 4 pictures are me approaching AZ. Did you see the Pixar movie Cars? Well, that movie is about Route 66 and how a modern racecar accidentally ends up on a portion of the nearly forgotten Route 66, and how he falls in love with the area. It's a great movie.
If you watch the movie, you'll see hills that, much like my pictures, might remind you of huge rock waves washing in from a huge rock ocean. The prows of rock are pushed up in waves, which disappear into the distance.
In the movie, the rocks are whimsically drawn in the shape of automobile front-ends. Hoods and grills are cleverly drawn into the rock formations that you see here in these pictures.
A really good movie, if you haven't seen it watch it... and then watch it again. You'll miss the fun if you don't watch it at least 2 times.
Somewhere in there I entered Arizona. It's really AZ and not NM that is the site of the movie "Cars". But it's just a line on the map that seperates them, on the ground west NM looks a lot like east AZ.
Yes, it's a dinosaur.
This part of AZ is amazing. I think it's become my 3rd favorite state. I absolutely loved driving thru this part of the country.
A few more pics.
And this would be the AZ entry in the "Flat State Series". However there are mountains in the background so I guess that makes Flat AZ, the loser of the flat state contest... :-)
Arizona
Sunset in Arizona
I again spent the evening in a parking lot, this is a truck wash beside a truck stop. I could have stayed in the truck stop, but it was loud and it was busy. Right across the street this big parking lot... I asked if I could stay and they were pleased to let me stay in the American Truck Wash parking lot. Thank you!
DAY 6
Arizona
Arizona
Arizona
I hope you enjoyed the AZ series there, as much as I enjoyed driving through it. But, finally, it's.... well it's my destination. It's my new home. IT'S THE BORDER OF NEVADA!!!!!!
Now I don't meant to end this too quickly, but well, I'm here. The first pic is just a snap overlooking a housing district in Henderson, in SE Las Vegas.
The final picture is of course my camp site in Fam Camp, on Nellis AFB. I'll be here for the next 4 months I think. The spot is a little crowded, a little baren, but I like it. It's my spot, my trailer with my truck and motorcycle parked nearby, and of course my food and beer inside. To me, that's all a win-win-win-win situation.
Thanks for reading. I'm looking forward to seeing the family again and making the drive south with them in early June. Wish us luck and look for pictures!
-scott
