2025 CDT Transit

2025 CDT, Transit to Montana and West Yellowstone

The night before departure we were able to enjoy an early 4th barbecue with Patrick, Hallie, Hatcher, and Wyatt. We had spent the bulk of the day getting last minute gear together, packing up the truck, and hitching up the Tab to the truck. The evening was warm and the added anxiety of the days to come made it difficult to sleep. At some point we both fell off to a light sleep before waking up to the alarm at 0445. We made coffee to go and dragged Beau out for a quick walk before pulling out of the driveway. Driving along some minutes later, as I was about to open my mouth and announce my goal for the day, Peggy asked where I had put the recharge batteries for her phone and headlamp. And where exactly was the headlamp? It was a point where I decided the roundabout in the road certainly had a purpose. We returned home and after spending a good amount of time searching and not finding, we grabbed an older, heavier set of recharging battery packs and an old headlamp and headed out once again. By the way, my goal for the day was to minimize any delays when stopping so we could arrive before dark. Not off to a good start.

When we made our first gas stop, I started pumping the gas and Peggy got Beau some water from his bottle behind the passenger seat. Hmm, the spare battery packs and headlamps were right there in a bag behind the passenger seat where I put them. Getting old sucks. Anyway, we did make the entire transit from home to the Montana-Idaho border on a dirt forest road before dark, right on schedule. The day had been very hot with temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s through Idaho and Montana and I festered a growing concern about someone hiking in this heat. We stopped just before leaving the highway and bought a couple of Subway sandwiches for dinner. We got the rig settled alongside a forestry road, ate our food, and got Beau out for a walk.