See The USA In 4 Days I Trail Cooking

Ever have a crazy idea, and somehow, it all falls into place? In 24 hours’ time we pulled it all together.

The weather showed an unusual weather pattern for 5 days. No rain. No snow. Balmy, even into the upper 50s, across the northern band of the US. We could safely drive our RV across the US and take I-90. In winter.

Whidbey Island, Washington to West Virginia in the Eastern Panhandle.

Gassing up. At $4.59 a gallon in Washington State. This was the priciest gas we bought.

Taking the ferry off Whidbey Island. 28 feet of petite Class A RV.

Gassing up in North Bend, WA with Mount Si in the background.

Approaching Snoqualmie Pass. Very little snow for the last day of February.

Coming over Snoqualmie Pass, to Eastern Washington. The snow levels were painfully bare.

The last snow we saw in Washington State. Rest area just after the pass. #1 lesson in long haul RV drives? Stop. Often. To stretch and chill.

The plains of Eastern Washington, as you approach the Columbia River. Good road and always boring.

We kept driving thru Idaho and crossed into Montana as it went dark. There was almost no snow along the way, though the pass separating the states was sketchy due to heavy amounts of sand (or salt?). It obscured the lane markers. Good thing it was late and almost no cars out.

We made it to Missoula, Montana, and made “camp” at the Love’s Travel Center, parking in one of the free RV slots by the gas pumps. We were the only RV there, so they were cool with us putting our bed slide out. Ask always, but they seemed so very nice about it.

Woke up to a cold morning. Boondocking can be so, so cold. We got on the road.

The rest areas in Montana are some of the best in our nation. They have solo bathrooms, are clean and warm. We stopped in Anaconda and got to admire the massive smokestack. Odd history? Lucille Ball lived here as a child.

It was my birthday. On the road. As we drove across Montana, I pondered a lot about my Dad growing up here. He was born in the Great Depression and spent his childhood on a poor ranch in Eastern Montana. I had a lot of miles to ponder it.

The second night, we reached Box Elder, South Dakota. I had reserved us a spot at the Love’s RV Stop, a campground next to the travel center. Its neighbors are a military base, a McDonald’s, and a Starbucks. It’s a bit out of Sturgis. We had power and ran the heat.

You can’t sleep more than 3 hours at rest stops in South Dakota, which is a state law.

Driving by Devil’s Tower and knowing it’d set us back another day if I visited it. It was also so very windy and freezing cold 🥶

A frozen lake on the prairie in Minnesota. Morning 3 was a cold one. There was a trail to the lake, so I walked it.

At a rest stop in Minnesota. My Dad spoke to me here from the ethers. He was born not many miles from this frozen lake, like so many Scandinavians, Minnesota was the first stop. How many moved to Eastern Montana because Minnesota was too people-y? My Dad has been gone for 23 years. Oh, to have asked him more questions.

Day 3 was windy as we drove across South Dakota and Minnesota. It was gripping the steering wheel. For the most part, we were often the only vehicle besides the never-ending line of 18-wheelers crossing the country. The road in the prairie was horrible, full of pot holes and never-ending boredom.

Wisconsin came into sight. We crossed the river into the state as the sun set, a spectacular pink one. Wisconsin had nice roads, and the wind finally stopped. The sun set, and we drove into the darkness.

Waking up in Wisconsin on day 4. I wore my Hill People Gear crossbody bag much of the trip. Easy to grab and toss on.

The Love’s Travel Center in Poynette was a boondocking camp. They have free RV lanes, but we got told we could camp in the Hardee’s parking lot, as it was away from the gas pumps and lights. We parked, so our slide was over a parking strip, and not in anyone’s way. It was a loud and cold night, like 27* in the morning. We did run heat before bed, on the generator. The 18-wheeler lot was packed, overflowing, and there were angry drivers yelling at other drivers all night long. It was the only Love’s that wasn’t clean inside we stopped at. Too many people, really.

We hit the road before 6 am.

Oh, the things you see….along I-90. Haribo’s headquarters in Illinois. Mildly more exciting than the Spam Museum we passed earlier….and Hormel’s headquarters.

We ate a lot at travel centers and rest stops. Make a sammie, take a break, and back on the road. Play leap frog with the same trucks.

We cleared Chicago just before rush hour. Going through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania became a blur. Nothing but 18- wheelers, as we worked our way down onto I-70, and then took 76 across Pennsylvania, in the dark. We dropped into Maryland, and finally made it to highway 81 and into West Virginia.

Day 4, we put in 900 miles to get to the Eastern Panhandle.

Got there, and went to bed.

I’m not sure I’d willingly drive a Class A across the US again. It was something I’d never done, and that was cool to do.

4 days is brutal miles. But there’s something about doing it.

-Sarah