I dropped you guys off with your mom today at around 2pm your time and headed back. Diesel is cheaper in Idaho right now than it is in Oregon so I refueled in Coeur d'Alene. I decided to cross over at Biggs and take SR-14 up to see if it saves any time on the way back. It turned out to be slightly shorter distance wise but it is only two lane so it takes longer. It was a prettier drive than I-84 for sure but I think I end up saving about 15 - 20 minutes by driving I-84 and that more than makes up for the few miles SR-14 is shorter.
It is getting dark on me now between Tri-Cities and Spokane so the drive is harder now. The mountain passes are starting to get lots of snow so soon there will be some very slow travel as I go over Lookout and 4th of July passes on my way home. Last year I only had to chain up a few times. Hopefully this year is the same, chaining and unchaining takes 5 - 10 minutes each time, plus my wheels are real close to the wells so sometimes I have to scrape the wells with a shovel to get enough hand room to put on the chains. If I have to chain and unchain on both passes it adds an extra 40 minutes to the drive, and then sometimes I have to chain up across the reservation too. On a really bad trip with chaining and unchaining and having to drive 35mph on the bad areas with chains it can add an extra three hours to the trip.
Thankfully that wasn't the case this time. I was tired by St Regis but not too bad so I decided to head on in to Plains and sleep in the car just outside Plains. I nearly hit a deer along the river between St Regis and Camp Bighorn. The deer aren't usually that far in to the canyon so I wasn't expecting them but fortunately one walked across the snow in the median and I saw it up ahead against the white of the snow at the edge of my lights so I slammed on the brakes and came to a stop before I hit the deer. Stupid thing was walking right down the road to avoid having to walk through the snow. It was lucky I came through not a semi, they don't even slow down they just roll right over the deer. That is one big reason to never follow a semi close over here, they will toss a deer right through your windshield and never even know it. That is what happened to Michael and Kayla's old car that caused them to have to buy their Highlander they have now. Michael was following a semi too close and it hit a deer and the rear wheels threw it up into their windshield. The semi driver never even slowed down.
I woke up their outside Plains about 2am and drove the rest of the way home. Didn't sleep at all once I got home just kind of rested then got up for work at 7am. It was a pretty good drive back all in all.
Love,
Dad
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