Road trip to Montana
Posted: Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:47 pm
Last year, when I arrived at the airport to fly home for Christmas, I found that my flight was canceled and there was no way for me to fly to Missoula, Montana before sometime in January. So I packed up my car and headed home that afternoon. It turned into a fairly fun trip so I decided to do the same again this year but with a little more planning. I have a friend in Vegas and a friend in Utah so I decided to stop by their places along the way.
Okay then onto the pictures that were taken with my cellphone. I was hoping for a new camera for Christmas but that didn't happen so this is all I've got:
Day 1 - LA to Salt Lake City - 700 miles
Leaving LA:
I left Thursday the 20th so I didn't have to deal with much traffic. Except for when construction of some sort brought me to a complete stop on the 15 somewhere north of Barstow. Thankfully I had brought snacks:
I topped off the tank in Baker so I could cruise straight through Vegas to St. George, but unfortunately Baker has probably the most expensive gas in the country:
Nevada isn't good for much other than prostitutes and driving fast:
Train wheels:
There was no time to stop in Vegas because I had to make it to Salt Lake City and had left later than I wanted. Also my friend Ross who lives in SLC told me it was supposed to snow. A lot.
Somewhere north of LV:
I think St. George is the most mormon place in the entire world:
Then I ran into snow about 170 miles south of Salt Lake and couldn't go faster than 20mph for a good hour at least.
It was a white out and I stopped in Fillmore, UT, filled up, and aimed my headlights downward so they worked more like fogs.
That let me more than double my speed and I made it to Salt Lake before midnight.
We went to some bar that was about 15 feet wide and had $1 beers. It was great. Then we ate at some greasy diner. That was also great.
End of Day 1
The next day we skied Alta, which had two feet of powder, then went out to some bars that kind of sucked but one had shuffle board.
My friend Ross in Salt Lake goes to the University of Utah and is also from Montana. We decided we'd carpool, and even though he has a new 4Runner it worked out better to take my Subaru because of our after Christmas ski-plans.
Then I got a call from another friend, who was also headed to Montana, but was stranded in Salt Lake with her boyfriend due to some sort of an airline clusterfuck.
Day 3 - Salt Lake to Missoula - 525 miles
Conveniently for my friends stuck in the airport, we had room in my car to bring them home since their checked baggage was somewhere else. Possibly in Montana. Here's all of us. For some reason my phone takes pictures mirrored when it's closed.
Nice spoiler, dude:
Boring:
Snacks and a funny Audiobook:
Except that jerk Ross left it all in my car so there are sunflower shells and peanuts all over my floor.
Monida Pass- Continental divide and Idaho/Montana border:
We stopped in Butte to drop off the two hitchhikers at her boyfriend's parent's house. That place sucks a lot by the way.
Then it's another hour and a half or so to Missoula.
I spent the next two days there and went out with friends from high school and stuff. It turns out that SubaruNation lives in my neighborhood but I didn't have time to hang out with him.
We drove to Canada Christmas day to visit my sister and grandparents and stuff. I didn't drive or take any pictures on that section because I was hungover. It's about 350 miles to Lethbridge, Alberta. We stayed there for 4 days and guy I sort of know showed me his car and some other stuff you don't see in the states.
We did parking lot donuts in this:
Unfortunately the kid is into the drift/fast and furious scene and I expect that car to end up wearing a telephone pole in pretty short order. Here's some other stuff that's around there:
Not just a re-badged SC300:
There were more Skyrines:
Toyota Sera:
Southern Alberta is pretty flat and boring.
Then we were back in Montana. Here's Rogers Pass between Great Falls and Lincoln:
We stopped in Lincoln to buy some delicious meat snacks:
Lincoln, by the way, is the home of the Unabomber.
Day 10 - Missoula, MT to Big Sky, MT - 236 miles
We got to Missoula at about 8 Saturday night and the next morning I headed out to Big Sky Montana to meet up with Ross and his family to ski. I made it there by 1:30, grabbed a ticket someone was finished using, and skied most of half a day. The next day was New Years and we skied a full day and then got trashed at the awesome condo they had rented.
I would have liked to go to the top of Lone Peak (11,166ft) but no one would go with:
Day 12 - Big Sky, MT, to Salt Lake - 371 miles
To get to Salt Lake from Big Sky you end up going through part of Yellowstone down highways 191 and 20 to Idaho Falls where you get on I-15. We stopped in West Yellowstone for gas and saw this crazy thing:
The roads were a bit snowy:
And some asshole crashed and backed up the highway for an hour so I missed a lot of the rose bowl:
I'm pretty sure no one died. When we got down out of the pass you could see the Tetons:
We made it to SLC, watched Illinois get destroyed, and I had a very cold beer:
We skied Alta the next day:
Then went to some birthday party thing and I got groped in the bathroom by some hot mormon chick who was drunk and slutty.
Day 14 - Salt Lake to Las Vegas - 421 miles
The most scenic part of this section is definitely the Virgin River Canyon between St. George, UT, and Mesquite, NV.
There was construction so I got to take lots of pictures at 4mph.
That afternoon I made it to Vegas, had dinner with my friend Tony and his family, and then we went out to some bars and stuff. The next day we got a little crazier and ended up at this greasy strip club in North LV with a friend of his who was trying to get laid. By some dirty 3rd rate stripper. It was sketch to say the least. We also went into a greasy casino across the street and I thought I was going to get robbed for the $50 I won playing blackjack (which I proceeded to lose at craps). So anyway there I was sitting in a strip club at 4:30 in the morning while the guys I was with were trying to get action in the VIP. Then we went to fatburger and acted like retards:
Day 16 - Vegas to LA - 275 miles
After a solid 6 hours of sleep I dragged my ass out of bed and drove to LA. That sucked and it was rainy:
Here's the full gallery and a mostly finished google maps tour of where I was:
Gallery
Google Maps
Incomplete Trip Stats:
Miles driven: 2600
Current mileage: 189900
States visited: 6 (NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT, WY)
Money spent
on gas: $308
skiing: $170
gambling: $25
strippers: $14
food/drink: $400
Total cost: ~$1000
Okay then onto the pictures that were taken with my cellphone. I was hoping for a new camera for Christmas but that didn't happen so this is all I've got:
Day 1 - LA to Salt Lake City - 700 miles
Leaving LA:
I left Thursday the 20th so I didn't have to deal with much traffic. Except for when construction of some sort brought me to a complete stop on the 15 somewhere north of Barstow. Thankfully I had brought snacks:
I topped off the tank in Baker so I could cruise straight through Vegas to St. George, but unfortunately Baker has probably the most expensive gas in the country:
Nevada isn't good for much other than prostitutes and driving fast:
Train wheels:
There was no time to stop in Vegas because I had to make it to Salt Lake City and had left later than I wanted. Also my friend Ross who lives in SLC told me it was supposed to snow. A lot.
Somewhere north of LV:
I think St. George is the most mormon place in the entire world:
Then I ran into snow about 170 miles south of Salt Lake and couldn't go faster than 20mph for a good hour at least.
It was a white out and I stopped in Fillmore, UT, filled up, and aimed my headlights downward so they worked more like fogs.
That let me more than double my speed and I made it to Salt Lake before midnight.
We went to some bar that was about 15 feet wide and had $1 beers. It was great. Then we ate at some greasy diner. That was also great.
End of Day 1
The next day we skied Alta, which had two feet of powder, then went out to some bars that kind of sucked but one had shuffle board.
My friend Ross in Salt Lake goes to the University of Utah and is also from Montana. We decided we'd carpool, and even though he has a new 4Runner it worked out better to take my Subaru because of our after Christmas ski-plans.
Then I got a call from another friend, who was also headed to Montana, but was stranded in Salt Lake with her boyfriend due to some sort of an airline clusterfuck.
Day 3 - Salt Lake to Missoula - 525 miles
Conveniently for my friends stuck in the airport, we had room in my car to bring them home since their checked baggage was somewhere else. Possibly in Montana. Here's all of us. For some reason my phone takes pictures mirrored when it's closed.
Nice spoiler, dude:
Boring:
Snacks and a funny Audiobook:
Except that jerk Ross left it all in my car so there are sunflower shells and peanuts all over my floor.
Monida Pass- Continental divide and Idaho/Montana border:
We stopped in Butte to drop off the two hitchhikers at her boyfriend's parent's house. That place sucks a lot by the way.
Then it's another hour and a half or so to Missoula.
I spent the next two days there and went out with friends from high school and stuff. It turns out that SubaruNation lives in my neighborhood but I didn't have time to hang out with him.
We drove to Canada Christmas day to visit my sister and grandparents and stuff. I didn't drive or take any pictures on that section because I was hungover. It's about 350 miles to Lethbridge, Alberta. We stayed there for 4 days and guy I sort of know showed me his car and some other stuff you don't see in the states.
We did parking lot donuts in this:
Unfortunately the kid is into the drift/fast and furious scene and I expect that car to end up wearing a telephone pole in pretty short order. Here's some other stuff that's around there:
Not just a re-badged SC300:
There were more Skyrines:
Toyota Sera:
Southern Alberta is pretty flat and boring.
Then we were back in Montana. Here's Rogers Pass between Great Falls and Lincoln:
We stopped in Lincoln to buy some delicious meat snacks:
Lincoln, by the way, is the home of the Unabomber.
Day 10 - Missoula, MT to Big Sky, MT - 236 miles
We got to Missoula at about 8 Saturday night and the next morning I headed out to Big Sky Montana to meet up with Ross and his family to ski. I made it there by 1:30, grabbed a ticket someone was finished using, and skied most of half a day. The next day was New Years and we skied a full day and then got trashed at the awesome condo they had rented.
I would have liked to go to the top of Lone Peak (11,166ft) but no one would go with:
Day 12 - Big Sky, MT, to Salt Lake - 371 miles
To get to Salt Lake from Big Sky you end up going through part of Yellowstone down highways 191 and 20 to Idaho Falls where you get on I-15. We stopped in West Yellowstone for gas and saw this crazy thing:
The roads were a bit snowy:
And some asshole crashed and backed up the highway for an hour so I missed a lot of the rose bowl:
I'm pretty sure no one died. When we got down out of the pass you could see the Tetons:
We made it to SLC, watched Illinois get destroyed, and I had a very cold beer:
We skied Alta the next day:
Then went to some birthday party thing and I got groped in the bathroom by some hot mormon chick who was drunk and slutty.
Day 14 - Salt Lake to Las Vegas - 421 miles
The most scenic part of this section is definitely the Virgin River Canyon between St. George, UT, and Mesquite, NV.
There was construction so I got to take lots of pictures at 4mph.
That afternoon I made it to Vegas, had dinner with my friend Tony and his family, and then we went out to some bars and stuff. The next day we got a little crazier and ended up at this greasy strip club in North LV with a friend of his who was trying to get laid. By some dirty 3rd rate stripper. It was sketch to say the least. We also went into a greasy casino across the street and I thought I was going to get robbed for the $50 I won playing blackjack (which I proceeded to lose at craps). So anyway there I was sitting in a strip club at 4:30 in the morning while the guys I was with were trying to get action in the VIP. Then we went to fatburger and acted like retards:
Day 16 - Vegas to LA - 275 miles
After a solid 6 hours of sleep I dragged my ass out of bed and drove to LA. That sucked and it was rainy:
Here's the full gallery and a mostly finished google maps tour of where I was:
Gallery
Google Maps
Incomplete Trip Stats:
Miles driven: 2600
Current mileage: 189900
States visited: 6 (NV, AZ, UT, ID, MT, WY)
Money spent
on gas: $308
skiing: $170
gambling: $25
strippers: $14
food/drink: $400
Total cost: ~$1000
Dude looks like loads of fun!
