It was a beautiful, but freezing morning in West Yellowstone when we drove off. We pretty much put a 150 mile or so max on our days. Any more than that and we don’t enjoy ourselves. Thanks to a lot of rewards points we’re also hopping across the States from Holiday Inn Express to Holiday Inn Express. Meaning today’s exciting destination was Pocatello, Idaho. Yes, the Pocatello.
Along the way we drove through the Targhee National Forest and stopped for a bit at Mesa Falls—taking in the falls from the lookouts and hiking through the woods so Lowe could chop down trees with his axe (stick).
Fingers stained purple from blueberries, nails packed full of dirt, and a ladybug narrowly avoiding death. That’s Lowe.
Another stop in the small town of Ashton where a playground with an especially tall slide held the kids’ attention for well over an hour. Before we knew it it was mid-afternoon and we had a total of fifty miles under our wheels.
For some reason this trip seems to have cemented the friendship between these two. They’ve played and laughed more in the past few days than they have in the past few months. Their friendship has always relied most heavily on whether Ouest was in the mood or not. Lately she’s been in the mood to play more often than not. She sits in the back of the car tickling Lowe or talking to him in her silly adult voice and makes him laugh uncontrollably, which is infectious for all of us.
At this point Lowe would follow Ouest right off a bridge, so having her take the lead in playing together has been great. We just don’t leave them alone around bridges.
Back on the road we quickly ran into trouble. A truck carrying three trailers full of hay started on fire. We saw the smoke and the traffic jam just as we pulled alongside a highway rest-stop, so we pulled off there and laid in the grass for another hour waiting for cars to start moving again.
By the time we pulled in to Pocatello it was six o’clock. Ten hours had passed covering 160 miles. It really doesn’t matter what type of vehicle we are driving, our average miles per hour seem to remain the same—fifteen to twenty. Still better than our average on our boats, but not by much.
6 Comments on “Average Cruising Speed”
Looking forward every day to you photographs and commentary. It warms my heart.
I had a couple of the Saab 96 cars for a few years. Three cylinder 2 stroke engines. Mine required a quart of oil to be poured into the fuel tank, followed by 8 gallons of gasoline. Great cars on snowy or icy roads. And not being married yet, I could carry a Saab engine into my house to rebuild it on the kitchen table.
I just loved the photos today. A cross country road-trip is on my bucket list (whenever we get tired of this sailing life), but I was never really interested in the northern part of the county. Your last few posts have changed that for me. Thanks for the fresh perspective. Have fun.
Deborah (s/v Wrightaway)
I can’t help but wonder what would cause a fire on a hay truck. Was the driver smoking and threw his lit butt out the window? Was it spontaneous combustion? Did the muffler somehow cause this? We’ll never know but it is fun to conjecture. It is all so random!
More pictures but no answer: http://www.eastidahonews.com/2015/09/straw-truck-fire-stalls-interstate-15/. A short or a locked brake would do it.
Yep, playgrounds and slides are a smile maker. It is usually the first thing I stop and ask about. Great pictures!