The 4,500 mile road trip
Discussion
This tale features a 7-month pregnant wife, 3 kids aged 5 and under, a dog and another PHer. Oh, and myself.
I write this from the bottom right hand corner of rural Oklahoma. This is my view on a lazy Sunday afternoon looking West over Sardis Lake in the SE corner of Oklahoma.
All that being said, this story starts 365 days ago. At that time, I had a 2 month old baby and one night while up late, I was reading about the 2024 Eclipse…as there was nothing better to do! I had seen a partial in 2017 from Southern Florida but was left wishing we’d traveled to see totality.
I looked at historical weather data for April, picked an area that has generally good weather averages for early April, then looked at the path of totality and found that one of the closest spots to where I live would be close to the best statistical place for the weather. In about 30 seconds, I formed a plan. We’d drive from our home in North Idaho, down to the corner of Oklahoma, see the eclipse and drive home again. With that in mind, I found a rural cabin on AirBnB and booked it.
Most women who have given birth a handful of weeks prior to being told they’d be going on a road trip of over 4k miles with 3 kids aged 5 and under would probably not have been too impressed…and that’s before mentioned taking a 95lb dog with us too. Fortunately for me, I have the best wife and she indulges me on my mad whims and we make life work!
From that point on April 8th 2023, we’ll fast forward to last Wednesday - (April 3rd). With the car packed full to the gunwales the night before with more food, drink and clothes that 5 people could possibly use in a month, let alone 11 days, we loaded the kids and dog the car and set off for an adventure. We left our home in North Idaho bound for our first night’s stop of Billings Montana.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about the car. Our tool of choice for this trip has been a 2024 Ford Expedition Max Limited 4x4. The Max part means looooong - comparable to the Suburban. Limited means upper-mid level trim package (so leather, heated and cooled seats, pano roof etc). The 4x4 is self explanatory but will come in useful!
Day 1: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho toBillings, Montana Sheridan, Wyoming. 510 639 miles.
As I said, our first destination was to be Billings, MT which is around 510 miles door to door. We set off at around 6:45am. We were making such great progress that first day that we found ourselves getting towards Billings around 4pm. The driving was going well, the kids were being good. The dog was also being good. So we made the decision to push on to Sheridan in Wyoming that evening. This was our day 1 route. Point to point, around 639 miles - in reality more than that as we stopped for comfort breaks, kids play parks, lunch etc. We rolled into Sheridan at around 7pm - 11 hours after we left home. All-in-all, a great first day’s driving.
At one point, we stopped for gas in Hardin, MT which is just on the Crow Reservation. I filled up and then we took the kids to the local park to play for a few minutes. It was a pretty sketchy feeling place and as white people we certainly looked out of place! It also wouldn’t be the last time on this trip that we were an attraction at one of our stops!
Day 2:Billings, MT Sheridan, WY to Limon, Colorado. 505 miles.
As we had pushed on those extra 130 miles on day 1. The next morning was a bit of a slower start, getting breakfast and packing up the car. This particular hotel had us on the 2nd floor…but didn’t have an elevator which was fun for me…the pack horse! In truth, the extra 2 hours of driving took its toll on us on day 1. On top of which, my kids were super excited to be staying in a hotel (not something they do often) so sleep wasn't plentiful for any of us! I’d be lying if I said I recalled a lot of the first half of the day. McDonalds hot tea and diet coke got me through the day. In the afternoon, we came into Casper and my wife found a wonderful park for the kids to play at. We ate some freshly made (by my fair-hand) sandwiches and rehumanized. The second half of the day was a fun drive through Cheyenne, around Denver and stopping in Limon. This time, we had a much nicer hotel (with functional elevator!) and really enjoyed our night. We all slept great and what was even more fun was meeting up with another PHer and his family…but I won’t out him right now!
Day 3: Limon, CO to Newton Kansas. 413 miles.
This day started off more slowly - our kids were playing together during breakfast and we planned our route - we started the first half of the day taking the road less traveled (including a dirt road at one point as a detour) through to Oakley where we all had a fun lunch. From there we pushed East into Kansas and dropped down to Newton. I wanted hot tea so we stopped in Selina Kansas. Let’s just say that unless you really need to go to Selina, it’s probably worth giving it a miss. The less said the better!
The biggest thing about this day was the wind. There was a TON of cross wind driving East after lunch! While driving straight, my steering wheel had to have been turned 25 degrees just to keep the car going straight.
Day 4: Newton, KS to Sardis Lake, Oklahoma. 361 miles.
This was to be our shortest day so far. Again, kids playing at breakfast which was fun and then heading off. The other family was going a bit of a different route so we went our separate ways. Only as we rolled into Newton the night before did I realize that this was the same Newton of The Car Wizard. On the way out of town, I couldn’t help but be “that guy” and stop to grab a couple of photos at his shop.
If I thought Day 3 had been windy, it had nothing on Day 4!!! Several times, the door got pulled out of my wife or my hand as we were getting out of the car. My wife found an amazing place to stop for lunch this day on the outskirts of Tulsa. It was called Appalachia Bay Recreation Area. Before we got there however, we had to get gas…so I did at the gas station that still makes me chuckle at the name…
The kids played on the beach by the lake (I dipped my toes in…and yes, is was bloody cold!!) and we could barely communicate with each other due to the wind.
In the afternoon, we also had a dust/dirt/sand storm to drive through - the wind blew the dust off the fields and across the interstate so thick we could barely see.
We pushed on from there to a town called McAlester where we picked up supplies for our remote cabin and then headed for Clayton which is on Sardis Lake.
It wasn’t the easiest place in the world to find…even with coordinates! There is a steep access road to get to the house which the kids enjoyed.
This was our sunset on that first night as we enjoyed pizza.
https://imgur.com/a/sZyHQHQ
Day 5: Sardis Lake, OK.
Today we explored 2 super local towns called Haileyville and Hartshorne. We grabbed brunch at the most small-town local place you can imagine called Twins Cafe…it was amazing!
We also went to a grocery store that smoked their own meat on site. I grabbed some smoked riblets as a little snack before heading home. They were super delicious…but a little salty.
And now I am sitting enjoying the view. The kids are napping and I am sipping another cup of hot tea! We will probably go for a walk a little later and tire the dog out before coming back to the cabin to enjoy dinner once more.
It’s really incredible how the landscape changes from day-to-day, state-to-state etc. It’s hard to remember that this is all one great country that I live in - I really love it here!
What’s to come:
Tomorrow, April 8th, is the day of the eclipse. Depending on which forecast I look at, the weather may or may not play ball. If nothing else, it’ll be a fun time as we “Eclipse Chase” tomorrow and see what happens. If nothing else, we are making memories that the kids will enjoy - either by remembering them or from the photos reminding them! After the day of the eclipse, we are heading home - although we will be taking a different route home seeing some new places.
Each day of driving, I have been making time-lapse video clips. This condenses each day down to about 2 minutes. If anyone is interested in seeing the landscape change, I can post some here later.
I write this from the bottom right hand corner of rural Oklahoma. This is my view on a lazy Sunday afternoon looking West over Sardis Lake in the SE corner of Oklahoma.
All that being said, this story starts 365 days ago. At that time, I had a 2 month old baby and one night while up late, I was reading about the 2024 Eclipse…as there was nothing better to do! I had seen a partial in 2017 from Southern Florida but was left wishing we’d traveled to see totality.
I looked at historical weather data for April, picked an area that has generally good weather averages for early April, then looked at the path of totality and found that one of the closest spots to where I live would be close to the best statistical place for the weather. In about 30 seconds, I formed a plan. We’d drive from our home in North Idaho, down to the corner of Oklahoma, see the eclipse and drive home again. With that in mind, I found a rural cabin on AirBnB and booked it.
Most women who have given birth a handful of weeks prior to being told they’d be going on a road trip of over 4k miles with 3 kids aged 5 and under would probably not have been too impressed…and that’s before mentioned taking a 95lb dog with us too. Fortunately for me, I have the best wife and she indulges me on my mad whims and we make life work!
From that point on April 8th 2023, we’ll fast forward to last Wednesday - (April 3rd). With the car packed full to the gunwales the night before with more food, drink and clothes that 5 people could possibly use in a month, let alone 11 days, we loaded the kids and dog the car and set off for an adventure. We left our home in North Idaho bound for our first night’s stop of Billings Montana.
But before we get to that, let’s talk about the car. Our tool of choice for this trip has been a 2024 Ford Expedition Max Limited 4x4. The Max part means looooong - comparable to the Suburban. Limited means upper-mid level trim package (so leather, heated and cooled seats, pano roof etc). The 4x4 is self explanatory but will come in useful!
Day 1: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to
As I said, our first destination was to be Billings, MT which is around 510 miles door to door. We set off at around 6:45am. We were making such great progress that first day that we found ourselves getting towards Billings around 4pm. The driving was going well, the kids were being good. The dog was also being good. So we made the decision to push on to Sheridan in Wyoming that evening. This was our day 1 route. Point to point, around 639 miles - in reality more than that as we stopped for comfort breaks, kids play parks, lunch etc. We rolled into Sheridan at around 7pm - 11 hours after we left home. All-in-all, a great first day’s driving.
At one point, we stopped for gas in Hardin, MT which is just on the Crow Reservation. I filled up and then we took the kids to the local park to play for a few minutes. It was a pretty sketchy feeling place and as white people we certainly looked out of place! It also wouldn’t be the last time on this trip that we were an attraction at one of our stops!
Day 2:
As we had pushed on those extra 130 miles on day 1. The next morning was a bit of a slower start, getting breakfast and packing up the car. This particular hotel had us on the 2nd floor…but didn’t have an elevator which was fun for me…the pack horse! In truth, the extra 2 hours of driving took its toll on us on day 1. On top of which, my kids were super excited to be staying in a hotel (not something they do often) so sleep wasn't plentiful for any of us! I’d be lying if I said I recalled a lot of the first half of the day. McDonalds hot tea and diet coke got me through the day. In the afternoon, we came into Casper and my wife found a wonderful park for the kids to play at. We ate some freshly made (by my fair-hand) sandwiches and rehumanized. The second half of the day was a fun drive through Cheyenne, around Denver and stopping in Limon. This time, we had a much nicer hotel (with functional elevator!) and really enjoyed our night. We all slept great and what was even more fun was meeting up with another PHer and his family…but I won’t out him right now!
Day 3: Limon, CO to Newton Kansas. 413 miles.
This day started off more slowly - our kids were playing together during breakfast and we planned our route - we started the first half of the day taking the road less traveled (including a dirt road at one point as a detour) through to Oakley where we all had a fun lunch. From there we pushed East into Kansas and dropped down to Newton. I wanted hot tea so we stopped in Selina Kansas. Let’s just say that unless you really need to go to Selina, it’s probably worth giving it a miss. The less said the better!
The biggest thing about this day was the wind. There was a TON of cross wind driving East after lunch! While driving straight, my steering wheel had to have been turned 25 degrees just to keep the car going straight.
Day 4: Newton, KS to Sardis Lake, Oklahoma. 361 miles.
This was to be our shortest day so far. Again, kids playing at breakfast which was fun and then heading off. The other family was going a bit of a different route so we went our separate ways. Only as we rolled into Newton the night before did I realize that this was the same Newton of The Car Wizard. On the way out of town, I couldn’t help but be “that guy” and stop to grab a couple of photos at his shop.
If I thought Day 3 had been windy, it had nothing on Day 4!!! Several times, the door got pulled out of my wife or my hand as we were getting out of the car. My wife found an amazing place to stop for lunch this day on the outskirts of Tulsa. It was called Appalachia Bay Recreation Area. Before we got there however, we had to get gas…so I did at the gas station that still makes me chuckle at the name…
The kids played on the beach by the lake (I dipped my toes in…and yes, is was bloody cold!!) and we could barely communicate with each other due to the wind.
In the afternoon, we also had a dust/dirt/sand storm to drive through - the wind blew the dust off the fields and across the interstate so thick we could barely see.
We pushed on from there to a town called McAlester where we picked up supplies for our remote cabin and then headed for Clayton which is on Sardis Lake.
It wasn’t the easiest place in the world to find…even with coordinates! There is a steep access road to get to the house which the kids enjoyed.
This was our sunset on that first night as we enjoyed pizza.
https://imgur.com/a/sZyHQHQ
Day 5: Sardis Lake, OK.
Today we explored 2 super local towns called Haileyville and Hartshorne. We grabbed brunch at the most small-town local place you can imagine called Twins Cafe…it was amazing!
We also went to a grocery store that smoked their own meat on site. I grabbed some smoked riblets as a little snack before heading home. They were super delicious…but a little salty.
And now I am sitting enjoying the view. The kids are napping and I am sipping another cup of hot tea! We will probably go for a walk a little later and tire the dog out before coming back to the cabin to enjoy dinner once more.
It’s really incredible how the landscape changes from day-to-day, state-to-state etc. It’s hard to remember that this is all one great country that I live in - I really love it here!
What’s to come:
Tomorrow, April 8th, is the day of the eclipse. Depending on which forecast I look at, the weather may or may not play ball. If nothing else, it’ll be a fun time as we “Eclipse Chase” tomorrow and see what happens. If nothing else, we are making memories that the kids will enjoy - either by remembering them or from the photos reminding them! After the day of the eclipse, we are heading home - although we will be taking a different route home seeing some new places.
Each day of driving, I have been making time-lapse video clips. This condenses each day down to about 2 minutes. If anyone is interested in seeing the landscape change, I can post some here later.
Edited by The Moose on Sunday 7th April 22:00
Fantastic road trip and write up so far. Reminds me of the first time I went to the US with my parents in 1980. Driving around rural Nevada - vast open spaces, the food(!) and meeting friendly, welcoming people.
Good luck for the eclipse tomorrow. Apparently we might theortically catch the merest nick of it here in North Wales - about 8pm just as the sun sets. If it isn’t raining. Which it will be.
Good luck for the eclipse tomorrow. Apparently we might theortically catch the merest nick of it here in North Wales - about 8pm just as the sun sets. If it isn’t raining. Which it will be.
gf15 said:
Thank you for the fantastic write up.
A proper adventure with the kids, something they will remember forever.
A proper tour of mid America.
Please post a link to the time lapse videos.
I hope the eclipse has superb visibility.
Cheers,
GF15
Will post the links in due course. Have to make sure there aren't any incriminating frames in there A proper adventure with the kids, something they will remember forever.
A proper tour of mid America.
Please post a link to the time lapse videos.
I hope the eclipse has superb visibility.
Cheers,
GF15
Keeping fingers crossed for the eclipse. Either way, it should be a fun day!
Om said:
Fantastic road trip and write up so far. Reminds me of the first time I went to the US with my parents in 1980. Driving around rural Nevada - vast open spaces, the food(!) and meeting friendly, welcoming people.
Good luck for the eclipse tomorrow. Apparently we might theortically catch the merest nick of it here in North Wales - about 8pm just as the sun sets. If it isn’t raining. Which it will be.
Thank you. I have to say, I do love this country. Very infrequently do I meet people that are not just lovely. Like this morning at Twins Cafe, the wait staff were super...and as were the other customers. Just good wholesome people.Good luck for the eclipse tomorrow. Apparently we might theortically catch the merest nick of it here in North Wales - about 8pm just as the sun sets. If it isn’t raining. Which it will be.
Good luck on your end of the eclipse - hopefully you get to see something too!
RDMcG said:
Great writeup! Coincidentally am in Russellville AR this evening, will have a look at the Eclipse tomorrow before a bit of wandering around the area
.........
We are debating on whether we should head East towards you there or South towards Paris. Will wake up and see what the forecast looks like. Hope all is well .........
Awesome write up.
I hope you get a great view of the eclipse.
I was on a Seacat in the middle of the channel on Aug 11 1999 that cut its engines so we could enjoy the eclipse in tranquility.
What I wasn't prepared for was the way the darkness raced towards you along the sea (or land) at approx 1000 miles an hour (the approximate speed of the rotating earth). It really is spectacular so get a viewing spot with a good lateral outlook if you can (not just upwards)
I hope you get a great view of the eclipse.
I was on a Seacat in the middle of the channel on Aug 11 1999 that cut its engines so we could enjoy the eclipse in tranquility.
What I wasn't prepared for was the way the darkness raced towards you along the sea (or land) at approx 1000 miles an hour (the approximate speed of the rotating earth). It really is spectacular so get a viewing spot with a good lateral outlook if you can (not just upwards)
fflump said:
Awesome write up.
I hope you get a great view of the eclipse.
I was on a Seacat in the middle of the channel on Aug 11 1999 that cut its engines so we could enjoy the eclipse in tranquility.
What I wasn't prepared for was the way the darkness raced towards you along the sea (or land) at approx 1000 miles an hour (the approximate speed of the rotating earth). It really is spectacular so get a viewing spot with a good lateral outlook if you can (not just upwards)
Thanks for the pointer. I’ll see what I can see! Your experience sounds idyllic!I hope you get a great view of the eclipse.
I was on a Seacat in the middle of the channel on Aug 11 1999 that cut its engines so we could enjoy the eclipse in tranquility.
What I wasn't prepared for was the way the darkness raced towards you along the sea (or land) at approx 1000 miles an hour (the approximate speed of the rotating earth). It really is spectacular so get a viewing spot with a good lateral outlook if you can (not just upwards)
Sycamore said:
I love how America seemingly takes a car design, agrees it's all fine, and right before sign-off someone says "Ok now scale the size up by two" 
That sunrise looks special
Then they take the design and add a bit more in each direction to get the Excursion!! Unfortunately, they no longer make it.That sunrise looks special
The Moose said:
We are debating on whether we should head East towards you there or South towards Paris. Will wake up and see what the forecast looks like. Hope all is well
All well..forecast here is sunny for the whole eclipse period. No idea about traffic as I am staying put where I am in Russellville.I've driven the majority of the route that you've taken so far on various road trips throughout the US and you've definitely picked some roads "less travelled"
Like you, trips like this are part of what I love about the US, rocking up at a tiny local cafe or bar where they've never heard an English accent before never gets old!
Like you, trips like this are part of what I love about the US, rocking up at a tiny local cafe or bar where they've never heard an English accent before never gets old!
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