The De-Tour: Day 1 — We are now a caravan of four

September 17, 2017

The morning was an early one. I’d spent the last couple days wrapping up things as work and getting ready to go. By 10pm Saturday, my checklist was complete:

• CB radio installed
• Warm clothes and extra sleeping bag (just in case) packed
• Two weeks of breakfast, lunch, and dinner gathered (and pre-cooked in the case of dinner)
• Truck fueled, loaded, and waiting in the garage for an early morning start

My target go-time was 4am, and with an actual on-the-road time of 4:30, I wasn’t doing too bad. I pressed the skinny pedal as I got onto I-90 heading east and monitored aprs.fi for the rest of the crew that had left the night before. By 7:00, I was crossing the Columbia River, happy to see that Mike (@Digiratus) was still beaconing from the Spokane area.

As I neared Spokane, my gas gauge neared empty. I knew it was time to pull over and refuel, and to fill up my auxiliary fuel containers as well — there were a few points in the trip where we’d be away from gas stations for a prolonged period, and I didn’t want to be that guy bumming gas.

As I completed my fill-up and got back on the road, it was about 9:30, and I noticed that Mike, Zane (@SpeedyTech7), and Dan (@drr, with his dad) were back on the road; they were ~20 minutes ahead of me. I pushed that skinny pedal just a bit further, which combined with the weight I was carrying for a two-week trip wasn’t going to be pretty for my MPGs.

To see what happens, continue reading on adventuretaco.com; the adventure is just beginning!

Originally published at adventuretaco.com.