Road test

Bitterroots

Today was the road test for the truck and camper. Our goal was to get back across the Bitterroot Mountains, across the Continental Divide at a little better than a mile high, and find a good place to take a rest. Between the stress of hard traveling (oh, and did I mention traveling during a pandemic?), the chaos and uncertainty surrounding the import process, getting the brake controller serviced and learning to manage the new rig, I'm tired. Mentally and physically. The last hurdle, which we undertook today, was to be certain I had enough truck to pull the trailer safely. Having gotten through all that, we decided to book three nights in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park. The plan is to take a day completely off the road and just mess with all the bells and whistles on the trailer, review the manual, and rest. Friday we hope to visit the National Park. Saturday we have a mid-day appointment in Billings for an oil change and a relatively short hitch to South Dakota and we'll plan the next leg from there.

So today was the road test across the Bitterroot Mountains. The truck is a mid-sized V6 with an extended wheel base. I'm rated to carry 1391# and tow 6300# just somewhat over the minimum requirements to tow the trailer set by the manufacturer. I took a deep breath, took my time, and we made the trip in good form. Ruthie took her first turn at the wheel today and all went very well. We don't climb tall mountains very fast, but we climbed them without straining the engine. I don't tow over 60 miles an hour anyway, and it felt almost effortless on the flat. The truck has a transmission cooler and we used the transmission coming down the steep grades as to not overuse the brakes and never felt out of control. With the Rocky Mountains behind us, the rest of the trip should be a breeze. Kudos to the engineers at Nissan trucks!

Beyond the road test, the day has been a geography lesson. Montana is an ever-changing landscape. The Interstate follows river valleys between mountains that open in to broad plains of irrigated fields or wide expanses of buttes and folded hills covered in sagebrush, native grasses and fir trees. We crossed through July 4th Pass again today (Ruthie took a picture to prove I'm not prevaricating) and frequently across the Clark Fork River. We are staying these three nights at Big Timber. 

The trip today has been gorgeous at every turn. There really is no way to photograph all we saw, so I include only a few samples. Our only disappointment was not getting back to Wheat Montana before they closed...

Purpled mountains majesty

Clark Fork