Today is the big day! We leave Yuma and the scaldingly hot weather (50C / 120F) for cooler climes up North. Yay!
Specifically, we are headed to Dillon, Montana, to a little campground called Countryside RV Park, which was recommended to us by our friend Julie in Yuma. So, we are booked into that CG from July 13th until August 13th, thereafter we will move to another CG somewhere else up North. Perhaps remaining in Montana, perhaps moving to the Oregon coast, which we hear is absolutely beautiful, but definitely remaining up North during the peak of Summer, until Yuma cools down a LOT! Enough of that arse-burning, crazy, heat for us!
We have to be back in Yuma by the end of September as we have to move the big Montana off our friends’ site (Richard and Brent), as they have rented their lovely site to other friends of ours who are returning to Yuma on October 1.
So, the initial trip up North, from Yuma was meant to be a slow and fun site-seeing trip, but due to our delays in getting Hitch (our little “travel” RV that we bought for ease of travel and which we have been working hard to renovate since March) ready, we delayed our departure from Yuma until the last minute, and finally decided that today is the day we leave.
Karen worked her butt off getting stuff packed, and me getting the Montana ready for storage in the hot Yuma sun. I ultimately decided to leave the electricity on with one of the two A/Cs setup to switch on at 90F (32C) in order to take the edge off the build-up of heat inside the RV, which can do ugly things to the RVs. I also left two large 5 gallon drums filled with water with sealed tops on and a few small holes drilled in the tops, to allow water vapor to slowly escape and thus keep the inside a little less dry, to help prevent the wood from cracking and other bad juju.
I had serviced the Ford with fresh oil, new filter, replaced both fuel filters, pumped the tires to the maximum 60 psi (4.1 bar) Front, 80 psi (5.5 bar) rear, and greased Hitch’s wheel bearings and pumped all 4 of her tires to 100 psi (6.9 bar) in prep for the trip. We were as ready as we were ever going to be!
I’d decided that despite being late for our prepaid 1 month stay in Montana, I did NOT want to drive up the boring I-15 Interstate highway, if I could help it. We much prefer the more scenic, smaller, less busy, secondary highways which often go through the center of quaint little towns, passed farms and food stalls, and what not. This is our preferred way to travel.
Emerson’s saying, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey!” is our motto. I love the road, not for getting us quickly from A to B, which is what the Interstates are so good for, but rather, to see the beautiful sights, see the cool little Mom and Pop places and local restaurants, for a quick bite to eat on the road, etc.
So, using mostly secondary highways, despite starting off on the I-15, we decided to take up the generous offer from our friends Dave and Robin, who we met in Yuma, and who have a lovely off-grid home in North Fork, Idaho, for a stop-over evening and night with them. Here’s the trip, as planned in our favorite trip planner, “RVParky”.