On the Road

I’m parked on the side of the road right now, tired and a little bit annoyed. I’m in Arizona, and for some reason, Arizona doesn’t believe in LTE or even 3G, so I had to drive a little longer than I would’ve liked since I stopped about 45 minutes ago to write this entry but realized I had no cell service. First world problems?

Anyway, I’ve been on the road for close to 15 hours now. I packed up all my stuff: a duffel bag full of my clothes, toiletries, and even my Primal Fuel, just in case, my messenger bag with all my electronics, my pillows, and a care package for my mom from my sister. Then I went outside to start my car, only to find it covered in snow. Hopefully this didn’t mark the beginning of something awful for this journey.

I drove south from Ronan, Montana on the I-90 until I hit the 15 South highway, and I’ve pretty much been on that highway since. I hit the south western edge of Montana, where I entered Idaho and saw this beautiful reservoir there that I had to stop and take a picture of. America is beautiful.

From Idaho I drove south for a few hours until I entered Utah. I’m not entirely sure how long I’ve been in Utah, but Utah is a damn big state, so that’s where I’ve spent most of my time. It was funny seeing the two lane highway in both Montana and Idaho increase to three, four, and even five lanes in Utah. Utah is big and beautiful, and I think maybe one day I’ll come visit this state properly.

I stopped maybe 5-6 times to gas up and buy some drinks. In Montana, I stopped at a Safeway in Dillon, where I bought some Starbucks¹ and a bottle of water. For food, I packed a big gallon bag of my patented trail mix², which has held me over through the whole trip.

During my last gas stop, after filling up my tank, I went inside and bought two more bottles of water. Once I went back onto the road, Siri redirected my route, and like I have been the whole trip, I listened to her and followed her directions. Unfortunately, for some reason, I missed an exit, so she re-routed me toward some other road. The plow king decided this out-of-the-way road didn’t deserve to be plowed, and when I realized I was supposed to be on it for over three miles, I decided I should just do a U-turn and enter the exit I missed earlier. Unsurprisingly, the road was too slick for me to perform the tight turn, and my car ended up stuck in the 2 foot deep powder.

I tried just stepping on the gas, but I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t want to blow my engine, so I went outside, took this picture, and started to kick the snow away from my tires, because I thought that would help. It didn’t. I studied my situation, saw that if I just reversed from whence I came, I could have a shot of getting out of my little jam. I did!

I went back onto the forgotten road, drove until I merged back onto the 15 South, and I’ve been on that road since. I’m about 90 or so miles from Las Vegas right now. I did think of going to sleep right here in my car, but now that I’ve written this entry, I’ve found a new surge of energy that may last me through the rest of the night. We’ll see.

I’ll let you guys know tomorrow.