Colorado to Nova Scotia: hot, expensive driving through South Dakota; hello Minnesota!

Our Model X was developing unfixable rattles and clunks. We’d already replaced the joints or shocks or some part of the suspension that made the car jerl-jerk-jerk when slowing down. That fix was many thousands. And then we had to replace the windshield only to have it break again! Another thousand. And then the founder of that car maker went cuckoo. Needless to say, we took all of this as a sign to make a change. So we did!

Enter Rivian. This is an electric car that can take four of us plus dog, camping gear, bikes and boats down hole-in-the-rock road (and back) in Utah. It can also navigate snowy roads around home or to Crested Butte and comfortably take us and whatever Kenedy needs all the way to Van City (and back) for Kenedy visits. Decision made and with a significant second guess at our new monthly payment but we drank our medicine and two weeks before setting out on a month+ trip to the Eastern end of the continent, the white Model X was replaced by a white Rivian RIS. Admittedly, we felt a bit like rookie EV owners for the first week.

Getting out of the House

This one day was actually like two months- so much cleaning and packing and details to get the house and our little small store in order before leaving. Hopefully we have what we need for this long, long trip. We’ve done it enough. This whole packing, cleaning thing has become like second nature but maybe that leads to overconfidence and forgetting things (like the camp stove which we did forget). 

Until today, when we actually piled in the car to leave, I wasn’t completely convinced that we would actually get out. And then there was the question of whether or not we’d really try to make it all the way to Cape Breton. Maybe we will point the car east or maybe we’ll point the car West and explore more of beautiful British Columbia. First things first. We left our house, made it about 30 minutes up I-70 for pizza in Idaho Springs and then stayed another 40 minutes beyond, in paradise, actually Summit County. That was far enough to create the physical (and head) space to consider our TBD adventure.

And the thought that came to mind first and foremost: Why are we leaving paradise, again? Perfect weather. Sparkly lakes and mountains. Puffy clouds. A Comfy bed.  At least we were leaving in the coolest car ever - packed to exploding - though it was taking some time to get accustomed to the size of it all (this comparatively tall, heavy and wide car). 

Joonah really doesn't know about this car.

And, the navigation was different. As soon as we pulled out of the ridiculously expensive Rivian charger in Cheyenne, the Rivian navigator told us to turn around and charge more. What the heck?! Slow and low it was...all the way to the Black Hills where we rolled in with much less charge than we wanted and, with a sigh of relieve, plugged in behind The Bavarian Hotel in Custer, South Dakota.  

The Bavarian had everything we needed: a car charger and parking close by, direct access to outside for the dog, a clean room, comfy bed, and quiet sleep time. The little touches were lovely: a cheery flower pen on the desk, the light blue and white colors in the room and the beautiful landscaping. 

Here our bike rack broke and instead of lowering four bikes with the click of the handle, it took three people and some tools to carefully lower bikes down adn out of the way of the trunk. Alas. It's an old bike rack. We are familiar with bike rack problems (on our way North to Alaska, the bike racks were a constant problem and we eventually just bought a new on in Prince George). At least it's safe. 

The Black Hills never disappoint. We could spend the whole month here if we had the time but we have new territory to explore. We headed North through Wall, then East on I-90, planning charging stops with a new sense of humility. 

jackalope sighting while charging in Wall, South Dakota

Hot is the theme of the day.

The theme of day 3(ish) was hot. The entire state of South Dakota was above 100F. We stopped in Pierre for hot lunch where it was 105F and the asphalt was so hot it was melting - too hot to walk the poor dog. We spent a hot night in the tent at Palisades State Park - KB giddily back to his Midwestern roots with shirt off, sweating through the night, in the bugs and a massive smile plastered across his face. 

our camp spot at Palisades State Park in South Dakota

People were having fun at this campground: spending time together, playing in the water, enjoying the outdoors. And we had the whole walk-up tent area to ourselves: watching the stars safely from inside the netting of the tent. We tried sleeping with the rain fly off (because it was hot!) and, of course, it rained. Overall, a lovely place to sleep.

Split Rock Creek runs through the campground. Great swimming holes!

Spontaneous and lucky or irresponsible and stressed?

Minnesota came quickly the next day with its pastoral farmland, charming towns and lakes, eventually cooler temps. We pass organic farms and clean ethanol silos. The grocery charger is packed for the 4th of July but charging costs half of what we paid through South Dakota. The charger near Mille Lacs has a trailer charging spot (something we haven't seen very often) with an RV-towing white cyber truck filling up for a fun long weekend. We navigated toward Duluth with no plan in place but thinking we'd find a spot at any of the campgrounds along the North Shore. Ha! We kept driving North, not finding open campsites and no hotels, too. 

making ramen, charging and scrolling, refreshing and finally snagging a spot!

Stressed and with spotty cell coverage, we stopped to charge in Tofte, made a roadside ramen dinner and lucked out with a cancellation for 3 nights at Cascade River State Park. Hooray! Set up the tent in the dark but with plenty of time to rest, re-pack and re-organize, fix a few things and make plans, all from this amazing, fun area - the North Shore!