North Dakota, Montana

Minot, SD – Whitefish, MT
Daily Mileage: 726
Total Mileage: 3461
Total Number of States Traveled: 18


Got up early and took the dog out for a walk. The room I had was on the backside of the motel complex and opened right onto the parking lot. As soon as the door opened I experienced an Alaska flashback as a wall of arctic air hit me in the face. The sky was clear with the sun just peeking up – the parking lot had snow remaining from where a plow had shoveled it some days back. The guy parked next to me in his contractor work pick-up had a plug running into his room to keep his truck heated over night. But due to my good Alaska training, I knew that only around -10 degrees do you really need to start worrying about having a battery blanket and oil pan heater. The Tundra started like a champ with the exterior thermometer reading 2 degrees. Bottom line: Minot, North Dakota does not disappoint for it’s frigid reputation. I jumped on Hwy 2 and continued west. There were a handful of 2m amateur radio repeaters between Minot and Whitefish, Montana – all using terrain to provide wide swaths of coverage. I was usually able to hit at least one repeater during the entire day – but I never got a single reply, nor did I hear any other hams talking.
Hwy 2, just two lanes along this stretch, is generally very straight – following the same train tracks used by Amtrak’s Empire Builder run as well as freight trains. I was able to make good time, averaging between 70 and 80 mph. Coming to the North Dakota/Montana state line…


…I decided to stop at Fort Union – a trading fort located near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers…. essentially making Fort Union a trucker’s stop on the Interstate.


When established back around 1830, the rivers were still the primary means of transportation and the trading post thrived for almost forty years, until the railroad finally came through providing a more efficient means to move goods. I was the only visitor – so I got some personal attention for the park ranger… he explained how the Indians would trade fur and buffalo skins for rifles, cookware, liquor, and tobacco.


The administrators who ran the post when native, marrying Indian women and integrating the trading operations into the tribal life of the locals. In the 1870s, as the Indian wars came to their height and the railroad came through, Fort Union was disassembled by the US Army in order to help build Fort Buford about 10 miles east.
Back on the road, I blasted across the badlands, passing through the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. I stopped in Malta, Montana for lunch at the Dairy Queen (which was filled for the lunch rush) and continued west. The next reservation was Fort Belknap, which took me to the down of Chinook where I turned south to head to the Bears Paw Battlefield.


At this location, the Nez Perez chief surrendered to the US Army after being surrounded. The tribe had set up in a depression, similar in appearance to a bear paw.


The ground was snow covered, the skies clear – and no one was around for miles. There was a small set of mountains to the south (that stand out after two days of rolling through prairies). It was a cloudless sky and even though the temp had climbed to only 32, it felt very warm outside.

I departed Chinook and headed west… continuing to make good time along US 2. The land was still basically flat – with no real sign of mountains yet. Finally approaching the town of Shelby was there an appearance of mountains. Shelby was a pretty big city (for northern Montana standards). It sits at the crossroads of I-15, connecting the north with access down to Butte, Bozeman, and Billings. I stopped at a large truck stop, adjacent to a rail yard and the on-ramp for I-15. In the distance, I could see low rolling clouds and the base of the mountains. After topping off the gas tank, I went inside to get some coffee and a sandwich… and then it was back on the road. I could hit a repeater on 2m now again, but never got a response.

My progress slowed a bit, passing through Cut Bank (self-proclaimed coldest spot in the US… I, however, noted that the current temp was in the low 40s… not even close to the mornings Minot, North Dakota temp of 2.

Further west, I pasted into the Blackfeet Indian Reservation an Glacier National Park. It was dusk as I started to climb into the mountains, following a well maintained twisting road. Had I more time, I would have enjoyed spending the day at Glacier National Park. The stream paralleling the highway appeared to be golden as the sun set.

It was dark as I came down through the mountains and arrived into the town of Whitefish. I got the distinct feeling that I’d arrived on the west coast once I’d reached Whitefish. I don’t know if it was due to seeing familiar sights like a Safeway grocery store… or that the people didn’t talk with accents anymore. It just felt like the west coast.

The Best Western Mountain Lodge
6510 Highway 93 S
Whitefish, MT 59937

Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota

La Crosse, WI – Minot, SD
Daily Mileage: 736
Total Mileage: 2735
Total Number of States Traveled: 17


I departed from La Crosse, Wisconsin (located on the eastern bank of the Mississippi) and headed east on I-90 for 27 miles until I hit the small town of Sparta, where I took Wisconsin State Route 27 north toward Eau Claire where I picked up US 53 north. The dairy farms were still covered with snow, but although the day started out pretty cold, it was in the mid-forties by lunch.
I rolled into Superior, Wisconsin and crossed into Minnesota and the city of Duluth on the western shore of Lake Superior:


… I talked to a ham while passing through Cameron who told me just earlier this week the first ship came into Duluth as the ice is starting to break up. Duluth is built up on a steep hill over looking Lake Superior. After climbing to the west, I rejoined US Route 2 – the road I started out on when I left Plymouth, Mass.
I had an enjoyable conversation with a ham near Deep River who ended up having two kids who had gone to my rival High School back in Sunnyvale, CA. As I approached Bemidji the repeater was pretty quite, except for one conversation I heard between three hams who were making coordination to help about with the funerals that will take place this Saturday. Most of the stores along US 2 had their flags at half mast, mourning the terrible loss at Red Lake High School…


I made good time through the rest of western Minnesota, stopping for fuel and food in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The sun set as I continued west on US 2 – and I watched as the temperature slowly dropped. It’s suppose to be 9 degrees tonight here in Minot…. but I’m guessing that’s probably pretty warm for the locals.

Best Western Kelly Inn
1510 26th Avenue SW
Minot, ND 58701

Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin

South Bend, IN – La Crosse, WI
Daily Mileage: 396
Total Mileage: 1999
Total Number of States Traveled: 15

I started the day swinging by Notre Dame University:


Go Irish!

Back on I-80…. heading west.

Driving through Chicago was a total, complete nightmare.


Crazy, random toll plazas – crazy, huge roads elevated about a million feet up in the air.

The goal of the day was to go by the Illinois Railway Museum…


… but notice the sign…


After the disappointment at the Illinois Railroad Museum, I stayed west on US 20 passing the towns of Stockton and Elizabeth, taking a quick break in Galena.


There was a tall, wooden observation tower on the side of US 20. The weather had really cleared and the temperature was up in the low 60s – very comfortable.


Back on the road, I headed into Dubuque enjoying a conversation over the radio with one of the local hams. He told me his son had just returned from Iraq… spending time up in the Kurdish area and Mosul.

I crossed the Mississippi and entered Dubuque.


The original plan was to stop by a Starbucks, hit their WiFi connection and stock up on caffeine. But my trusty GPS failed to find the Starbucks, so I ended up getting dinner at Applebee’s… the first sit down, non-fast food meal I had since leaving Germany. It was nice to get a real dinner.

Heading northwest out of Dubuque on US 52 through Guttenberg and McGregor paralleling the Mississippi on the west bank, I crossed the river and entered Wisconsin in the town of Prairie du Chien making my way along US 53 to La Crosse. The Mississippi was beautiful during dusk and I stopped to take a few pictures.


Unfortunately, I’ll remember La Crosse for the Best Western I stayed at. They put me in a smoking room… which isn’t that big of a deal. But this was like sleeping in an ashtray. It was really, really bad.

Midway Motor Lodge
1835 Rose Street
La Crosse, WI 54603

New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana

Buffalo, NY – South Bend, IN
Daily Mileage: 455
Total Mileage: 1603
Total Number of States Traveled: 12

I started the morning in Buffalo, finding a Starbucks just down the street. After heading out of Buffalo and stopping by the edge of still frozen Lake Erie,…


I got on to Route 20 and headed west. This part of New York is actually wine country – there are vineyards all along Route 20. I stayed on Route 20 until I crossed into Pennsylvania and passed through the city of Erie. Back on I-90, I made good time into Cleavland to my day’s objective:


The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame – totally awesome!


I could have spent the whole day there. It’s about 6 floors with interactive displays and just all kinds of amazing stuff. Back on to I-90, I kept going west. A little west of Toledo I decided to give a call on the 2m national simplex calling frequency and had a great conversation with Tom, a J. B. Hunt trucker who was also heading west. He’s based out of Buffalo and was heading up to Wisconsin. Tom’s got an ICOM IC-706MKIIG – it does HF and he’s able to talk to folks all over the country while driving his truck.

I continued to make good time and made it into South Bend, Indiana shortly after 8:30pm.

Comfort Suites Hotel
52939 S.R. 933 N.
South Bend, IN 46637

Massachusetts, New York

Hyannis, MA – Buffalo, NY
Daily Mileage: 540
Total Mileage: 1148
Total Number of States Traveled: 9


I headed up to Plymouth… saw “The Rock”.


Skirted around Boston and headed west on Route 2. It was nice to be off the beaten path.


Route 2 headed up into the mountains on what’s called the Mohawk Trail. I stayed on Route 2 until I got to Troy, NY where I jumped on I-90 and continued west.

I crawled into Buffalo a little after 8pm. That damn GPS brought me in through the bad part of town… I’m thinking it’s doing that on purpose.

Best Western Inn – On The Avenue
510 Delaware Ave
Buffalo, NY 14202

The truck needs gas and a good washing.

The goal tomorrow is to make it to the eastern bank of the Mississippi.

New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts

Cape May, NJ – Hyannis, MA
Daily Mileage: 411
Total Mileage: 608
Total Number of States Traveled: 8

It was a pretty dreary day – rain in the morning and it lasted up into New York. I got my introduction to Toll Roads in New Jersey. I was driving along and all of a sudden – BOOM – cough up 35 cents. Luckily I had a good pile of change. The Toll Booth Lady on the George Washington Bridge called me “hon'” – I felt like a local.

I crossed into Connecticut and had originally wanted to drive by Yale (there’s a Starbuck’s with WiFi), but was running behind schedule – so I just blasted on through. I stopped in Rhode Island for gas and food then headed toward Cape Cod. Had a nice QSO with N1KO while driving through Providence.

It was dark by now and I had just made it into Hyannis when my Belkin’s Bluetooth GPS ran out of juice. The Econo Lodge I’m staying at is on 58 East Main Street – I’d plugged in 57 West Main Street… so I ended up going in circles for about an hour until I figured out I was on the wrong side of Hyannis. I finally got turned around and found the place. Frustrating end to a long day.

Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey

Hampton, VA – Cape May, NJ
Daily Mileage: 197
Total Mileage: 197
Total Number of States Traveled: 4

All in all, I’d call the first day a success. I packed up, checked out of my room at the Arrow Inn (in Hampton, Virginia, near Langley AFB) and headed out. I sparked up my Axim X30 and Belkin’s Bluetooth GPS along with the included navigation software for Pocket PC and input my destination [Cape May]. My plan was to head for Norfolk and then take the Chesapeake Bridge over to the coast and then head north. The navigation software, giving verbal driving commands, had other destinations in mind (or at least that’s my belief). There’s a setting to pick the type of route you want (Quickest, Shortest, Major Roads, and Local Roads). I think I had it on Local Roads… and the software took me into (what appeared to be) the bad part of Norfolk. I changed the setting to Shortest and then I was back on track.
I crossed the Chesapeake Bridge ($12 fee) and headed out over the water. It was a gorgeous day – clear skies and a brisk 53 degrees. I had hooked up my magnetic mount antenna for my handheld amateur radio before I left. I used a software program from ARRL called TravelPlus for Repeaters to get the frequencies for the 2m and 440 repeaters along my route. It seemed like a your average Saturday chat session – hams talking about their projects and upcoming ham events. I made one call to make sure I was getting out and all looked good.
After crossing the bridge, I headed north. I made good time through Virgina, trying out the cruise control which worked great. I’d left with about a 1/2 tank of gas with the intent of filling up for lunch at Ocean Shores, MD. Shortly after crossing into Maryland and turning east to head for the coast (and Ocean Shores) my fuel warning light came on. That reminded me of when I had my 93 Toyota 4×4… I was traveling from Ft Benning to California over the Christmas holiday while I was finishing up OCS and was in Mississippi on I10. The tank was getting pretty low, but I wanted to wait for the fuel light to come on and also try and use as much fuel as possible to minimize fuel stops in my attempt to cross the country in two days. Ends up my 4×4 didn’t have a fuel light. I ended up running out of gas, but thanks to the kindness of the locals, I was offered a ride to a gas station by a group of drunk hunters and then got another ride back to the truck from a man who was on his way to a hospital to see his wife who’d fallen out of a deer stand earlier. Anyways – this time I actually have a fuel light, which came on. I stopped at Newark, Maryland and filled up and was out a Ocean Shores by 1:30pm. My plan was to hit the Starbucks in Ocean Shores to check email and make a blog post, but the actual location for the Starbucks was on the laptop and not programmed in the Pocket PC. I started getting a little nervous about the time, because I had to be up to Lewes, Delaware by 3:30pm to check-in for the 4:30pm ferry to Cape May, New Jersey.


So I drove around for a bit (Ocean Shores is your classic cheesy beach resort community – like Myrtle Beach, South Carolina or Seaside, Oregon) and failed to find Starbucks. I decided to delay lunch and headed north. It ended up being a short trip to Lewes – so I got lunch in town at Arby’s (this huge cheddar chicken wrap – very good) and then made it to the ferry landing by a little after 3pm. I’d made a reservation over the internet, checked in, and put my truck in line. We started loading the ferry at about 4pm and departed at 4:30pm. I got out of the truck and took a quick walk around, it was still a real nice day but very windy on the water.


I retreated back to the truck and watched the third episode of the Amazing Race (where they had a Roadblock in Argentina and had to eat 4lbs of meat – I love the show). The ferry arrived; I rolled off and ran into some navigational problems. My motel was at 501 Beach Avenue, I’d put in 501 Beach Drive – needless to say I was misdirected for about an hour, then my GPS failed (some kind of power issue). It was dark by the time I finally found the place.
Definitely some lessons learned from the first day.

Marquis de Lafayette
501 Beach Drive
Cape May, NJ 08204

Here’s the route for tomorrow:

Fully Caffeinated


I’m posting from one of the Starbucks in Newport News, VA that has WiFi access. I’ve set up my Belkin’s GPS in the truck and it gives directions verbally – it’s worked well on a test run… we’ll see how it does tomorrow.

Overall a productive day – I got a cell phone, P.O. Box, and finished the loan paperwork with the Toyota dealership.

I’ve been using my scanner to listen in on the amateur nets, but I haven’t made a contact yet. I’m going to hook up my mag mount antenna tomorrow for the trip.

Arriving in VA

(1) The flight out here wasn’t bad. I was able to use my frequent flyer miles to upgrade my ticket from coach to 1st class (or “Envoy Class” as US Airways calls it). Well worth spending the miles – it was an eight+ hour trip and having the extra room to spread out and stretch was nice. Instead of watching movies, sleeping, or reading, I spent most of the flight talking with a German businessmen who spoke excellent English. He was extremely well traveled in the US – had been to 45 of the states. We also talked about the war in Iraq and he thanked me for my contribution. I thanked him for the German hospitality I’d experienced, as well as sung high praises for German beer and coffee (and the Autobahn, train system, cafes, etc.).

(2) Picking up the Tundra was relatively easy. It’s exactly what I wanted – plenty of space inside the cab… the back seat is pretty roomy. It’s got a bazillion bells and whistles… some stuff that I don’t need but I guess I’ll live with (sun roof, seat warmers, approximately 8 cup holders throughout the cab). USAA should have the check to the dealership tomorrow (Friday), I have to go sign it and then I should be good to go. The truck drives very well – smooth like my Dad’s ol’ Buick.

(3) If everything is on schedule I should be rolling out Saturday morning for the Road Trip. I think my first stop will be Cape May… although I’m still trying to find a place to stay.