An American Journey: The Return Home

…Continued from Eastbound.

The Dynasty, May 2004, shortly before loading for the next trip

Fast forward to May 2004.  I had just graduated from MSOE, and without a job was faced with returning to Oregon while I still had enough money to do so.  It wouldn't be until June 1 that I actually got everything taken care of and got the car packed.  As this was a one-way trip, I had to pack everything I had in Milwaukee into the Dynasty, about 1000 pounds worth of stuff.  The car was packed completely full, with just enough room for me, but I got everything in.

I tried to sleep as much as could during the day on the 1st, so I could leave that night and drive all the next day before stopping.  It was difficult to sleep, but I managed it.  It was around 10:00 PM when I left Milwaukee for the last time.  There are no pictures from this trip either, as the batteries in the digital camera had long since died, and I never put in new ones.

I had an almost full tank of gas, so my first stop for gas was Sparta, at the same gas station I had stopped at in January when returning to Milwaukee.  I think the same cashier was working at the counter.  Incidentally, I stopped for gas earlier than I needed to.  With the weight of all the stuff in the car, I was expecting worse gas mileage than I had experienced in the winter.  Plus, the car was sitting much lower in the back than normal, and I was concerned that the fuel gauge might not be accurate.  This stop indicated that my mileage was as good as in the winter (it would actually turn out to be better in the end).

While traveling through Minnesota, I realized the extra weight was causing one problem.  The car was sitting so low in the back that my headlights were now aimed too high.  Also in Minnesota came the one major problem.  A large piece of debris blew across the road right in front of my car.  For the split second I saw it, it seemed to be a large piece of cardboard or thin plywood.  I felt the car run over it roughly, and saw sparks flying from the back of the car.  As I pulled to the side of the road, my fear was a flat tire.  Normally, this would not be that bad, but to get to my jack and spare, I would have to unload most of the trunk, which was packed completely full.  Also, I only had a mini-spare, which would have limited my speed, if it held the excessive weight in the car at all, plus I would end up buying a tire as soon as possible.  As it turned out, it wasn't a flat tire at all.  The debris has ripped the muffler off, which was now wedged under the excessively low back bumper.

I kicked the muffler out from under the bumper and to the side of the road to cool down.  It wasn't a catastrophic problem, but now I had to wait along the side of the road for the muffler to cool so I could put it in the car until I found a place to get it put back on.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I have been too embarrassed to mention this until now, but in the interest of telling the whole story, here it is.  When I got out of the car here, I locked myself out of it!  In Milwaukee, I had developed the habit of locking the driver's door whenever I got out of the car, only this time I had left the car running and the keys inside!  The Dynasty's doors automatically lock at 20 mph, so all the other doors were locked as well.  Fortunately, the door hadn't shut completely, and I was able to flag down a kind truck driver, who provided a metal strap we were able to use to hook the manual door lock and pull it up, unlocking the door.  It was actually very MacGyver-like.  I don't know if that truck driver will ever see this, but I would still like to thank him for his help.  I might have been stuck there all night if not for him.

By the time I got back into the car, the muffler had cooled enough to put in the car, and I was on my way again.  The car was now VERY loud without a muffler, and I was a little concerned I would get pulled over if I happened to pass a police car, but it was too early in the morning to find anything open.  I decided to just continue on to Sioux Falls, where I would have the best chance of finding a place to get the muffler put back on.

It was about 10:00 when I got to Sioux Falls.  I got off the freeway at an exit that looked promising and searched for some kind of garage.  Fortunately, I hadn't gone too far when I came across a muffler shop.  The old muffler was pretty well shot, with a dent in it and all the stuff inside knocked loose, but the mechanic welded it back on for $20.  He said that the muffler itself didn't look like it had been in bad shape before, but the exhaust line leading up to it was heavily rusted.  He asked, "Are you sure you ran over something?  It looks like it just fell off."  I assured him I had.

On the opposite corner from the exhaust place was a Sinclair gas station with gas for $1.919 a gallon.  This was the cheapest gas I'd seen in a long time and would be the low-price leader for this trip.  It was considerably lower that the stations near the freeway.  If you are traveling and looking for the best deal on gas, I recommend getting away from the freeway a little way; the price may drop dramatically.

After lunch in Sioux Falls, I was on my way again.  South Dakota was, as usual, uneventful, however; the bugs were incredibly thick and I found myself stopping at every rest area to clean the windshield.  Also in South Dakota, I began encountering road construction.  Some parts of the freeway were being completely rebuilt down to the base gravel, and as a result both directions of traffic had to use one side of the freeway as a two-lane road in some areas.  I would continue to encounter construction, though usually not of this scale, all the way through eastern Montana.  I also got another rock chip in my windshield, this time on the driver's side, but very low, so not in the way.  To be fair to South Dakota, which I've suggested is boring, I did stop at a rest area in the state with a built in Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, which was quite impressive and informative.  In the winter, this had not been open.

I stopped for gas and dinner in Rapid City (the address of the gas station was 140 Disk Drive) and left determined to get to Montana before stopping for the night.  My temporarily mis-aimed headlights gave me difficulty through Wyoming; I could see better with my regular headlight than with my high-beams, which seemed only to light up the sky.

I arrived in Missoula, Montana around Midnight, and searched for a motel room, only to find all the cheap ones were gone.  Frustrated, I decided I'd just keep going and find somewhere to sleep in the car.  I was in need of gas though, and looked for the best deal on gas.  I paid for the gas with my debit card at the pump, but I went into the store anyway in search of something for dinner.  There was a large laminated highway map of Montana on the wall and I noticed a rest area about 20 miles west of Missoula.  I decided to spend the night there.  I bought a pre-made sub sandwich and chatted a little with the nice old man behind the counter.  I think he was the owner.

I drove on to the rest area, at which there were signs warning visitors to stay on the paved paths because of rattlesnakes.  I kept an eye out but never saw any.  I ate my sandwich in the car and tried to get comfortable in the car.  In an effort to hang a blanket to block out a light, I broke the rear view mirror off the windshield.  Though, with the car sitting so low in the back, it was really only giving me a view of the pavement behind me anyway.  I settled in as best I could and went to sleep.

The sun was up when woke up the next morning.  I tried to snooze as long as I could, but eventually ended up moving on.  I stopped at the first Burger King I came to for breakfast and coffee, but as I continued on I realized I needed a little more sleep.  I came across a fairly new, and nice, rest area, where I slept for a couple more hours.  At the rest area there was a group of Kiwanis members offering coffee for a donation, so I had a couple cups to wake me up before moving on.

After a stop in Missoula for gas and lunch, I headed across Lookout Pass.  It is a beautiful drive in the summer when you don't have to worry about the weather.  I stopped at the rest area near Coeur D'Alene, where there was another group offering coffee.  When I told them of my trip, they said "I hope you're going to stop soon," to which I replied, "At this point, I'm almost there."  I stopped at the Washington rest area as well for a pick-me-up.  Free coffee at rest areas is one of the few good things about Washington.

At Kennewick, I stopped at Burger King for dinner, and got my first taste of their great new Angus bacon-cheeseburger.  I also bought the most expensive gas of the trip at a Wal-Mart Mirastar station.

It started to get dark as I entered the Columbia River Gorge, and my mis-aimed headlights caused many trucks to flash their lights at me as if I had my highbeams on, but as it was just my regular lights, there was nothing I could do.  I took I-5 home this time (where I saw Amtrak's northbound Coast Starlight running many hours late), and I also took a quick detour.  Even though it was almost Midnight, I wanted to know how much stuff I had in the car, so once crossing back over the Columbia into Oregon from Longview, I went WEST on Highway 30 to Delena, where there is a small scale installed as a minor weigh station (that is never manned).  I pulled the Dynasty onto the scale and made note of the weight before returning home to Rainier and going to bed.

In the morning, I was curious how low the back of the car was sitting, so I measured some key points before I unloaded it.  After unloading, I measured the same points again, and found the back of the car had been down by about six inches (the rear mud flaps had been only an inch and a half above the pavement).  I also drove back to the scale to weigh the now-empty car and found that the car was 1000 pounds lighter.  Though I didn't take any photos of the car loaded, here is a graphic showing the difference between empty and loaded.

Here is a table showing fuel stops for this one-way trip.

CO-OP C-Store, Sparta, WI

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
10.383	$2.119	$22.00	263.7	25.4

Kings Inc. Sinclair, Sioux Falls, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
13.546	$1.919	$26.00	317.7	23.5

Big D Oil, Rapid City, SD

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
14.509	$1.999	$29.00	345.6	23.8

Holiday Stationstore, Billings, MT

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
14.131	$1.949	$27.54	396.7	28.1

Noon's Sinclair, Missoula, MT

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
14.557	$1.999	$29.10	342.7	23.5

Mirastar (Wal-Mart), Kennewick, WA

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
11.822	$2.199	$26.00	341.1	28.9

Flying K, Longview, WA

Gallons	$/Gal	Total	Miles	Mileage
12.278	$2.199	$27.00	300.6	24.5

The average cost of gas was $2.055 per gallon.  This was about 28% higher than about 5 months earlier!  The least expensive gas was once again in Sioux Falls at $1.919 per gallon, though that station was away from the freeway and closer stations were higher.  The most expensive gas was in the west at $2.199 per gallon.  My total cost for gas for this one-way trip was $186.64.  I estimate that the cost for a round trip would have been about $373.28.  In general, gasoline seemed to be cheaper in the middle of the country, and more expensive in Wisconsin and in the west.  I averaged just over 329.7 miles between fuel stops, and averaged 25.4 miles per gallon.  This was an improvement over the wintertime trip, despite having the car loaded down with 1000 pounds of stuff.  I attribute this to more use of cruise control and more time at highway speeds; these factors are due to better driving habits and, more importantly, better weather.

Continue to Epilogue…