Well this post is a couple days late,.. But the trip went pretty well, slow and uncomfortable as to be expected but the deuce made the nearly 1300 mile drive without any problems, I did develope a leaky front left axel seal, which worried me a bit, but if it's not leaking it's empty.. at least thats how it works in the airplane world,..
So, after picking up the truck and a 101 trailer the night I flew in to seattle, I had planned on leaving the next morning which turned in to the next afternoon, so around 1100 on the 10th I departed the seattle area, .. went up HWY 18 where I picked up I-90 E,.. must have just missed the lunch crowd as traffic wasn't bad,.. The interstate wasn't bad, although I was down to around 34 MPH going over snoqualmie pass (and most off the mountain ranges along the way).
stopped and picked up some more parts to bring east with me around Vantage, WA and by this time my head was pounding and I thought,. god is this entire drive going to be like this,? then found a box of ear plugs in the glove box and man what a difference, couple that with some tylonal and gatorade and we were off again and feeling much better.
Stopped in Missoula, MT late that night and dropped off the trailer,.. had a good bullshi##t'n session for a couple hours and then back on the road,.. made it about another 50 miles till I had to grab some sleep at a rest area. Woke up the next morning and holy crap,. the VFW was selling breakfast !!, so I talked to the guys for a bit, had a couple cups of freshly brewed "go-juice" and some eats,... and on the road again, another day long drive ahead of me!
This time I got as far as the north dakota border, ( holy crap is montana a long state!) but I kept telling myself, gotta get to the border and then I'll sleep,.. well the border was foggy and I wasn't super tired so the fog finally lifted around dickinson, ND. Stopped for gas and energy drinks, and looked at the map,.. 100-ish miles to Bismarck, my destination was in sight!!
So with double shot expresso and a pack of smokes in hand,.. I made the last leg and finally got into bismarck around 0430 on the 12th. Almost 2 full days after I left,.. Although it was slow and at times painfull, it was fun and definatly an experiance to say the least. So All in all I spent around $600 on gas and snacks, stopped about a dozen times as the fuel guage doesn't work,.. so I had to check the level and keep topping off,...
But I did meet some really cool and helpful people along the way, so many thanks to: Joe Maxwell, Nolan Mortensen, Tony (Quarkz), Kurt Schmidt, Keith West and Jeremy (Bighurt), so to all of you thanks again, for both the patience and the hospitality and everything else...
I wish i could have taken some pictures along the way, the drive was absolutely beautiful, but unfortunatly I left it in spain in my hurry to pack... so my parting words from this adventure, if you ever get the chance, do the drive, just do it in something other than a deuce !
