Hwy 12 (I-90 E) near Drummond, MT

Caleb and Jessi go to Robert’s to clean his place for two hours while I shower and then converse with Robert and Jake. We all eat something at the table – eggs, garlic bread, mango with cottage cheese. The girls pick tiny strawberries from the garden, some must have turned red an hour ago as they still aren’t ripe, but the girls aren’t ones to discriminate between red, yellow, and green – but my tastebuds are.

I-15 S near Silver Star, MT

Jessi packs us some snacks – graham crackers, fruit leather, and peanut butter – for the road and Jake goes to Bernice’s Bakery with the girls to get some croissants – plain, almond, and raspberry cream cheese – for the adults and a cinnamon roll for the girls to share. A lot of work goes into their fluffy, flaky goodness and I’m grateful for the introduction. I gift Jessi with two partially eaten chocolate bars and pieces are handed out as we wave and drive away after 11:30 – so much for an early start, but it still counts as a morning departure.

I-15 S near Pocatello, ID

I set the cruise control at 75mph and watch as the Montana mountains and clouds go by. We stop at what is left of a gas station to let the dogs out. We are quickly in Idaho and would’ve stopped at the Potato or Idaho Museum but they are closed on Sundays, so it’s a repeat process – check scenery, check road, dream of being in scenery, remember you are driving a 1.5 ton vehicle at high speeds, but reason with yourself that there are very few other cars on the interstate – but you want to live to see more and are starting to scare your husband… eyes on the road.

Wasatch Range, I-15 S near Clearfield, UT

We are just as fast getting into Utah and stops are on the hour to un-hydrate, and then Caleb gets pulled over for doing 78 in a 65. I stopped at some point to let him drive, so I could read and we would make better time if I couldn’t see what I was missing, but didn’t realize the speed limit was restrictive to the county surrounding Salt Lake City and thought it was constrained to the construction zone – otherwise I would’ve told him to slow down.

I-15 S near Nephi, UT

The cop is kind and Sparky loud. We sit for a few minutes on the shoulder of an exit ramp before we are given a warning. Caleb resets the cruise control until we are clearly one of five cars heading south and there is another speed limit sign giving us permission to go 75. I hadn’t planned on driving for so long today, but the rain kept us in the car in Montana, I drove us through Idaho with closed museums, and then read us into sunset in Utah. We are stopped in Holden for the night – the most light seen for miles besides the Milky Way lighting up the sky.

colourful night sky in Holden, UT