Day 2: Cardston AB to Provo UT

Monday, April 27, 2009

The goal today is Provo, Utah, which is a pretty good drive (probably 11-12 hours), but there really isn’t much I want to see in between, and besides I have an appointment tomorrow in Provo.

I woke up in the morning to a surprise — I thought I had driven out of the snow, but it had caught up to me during the night. I went outside to find 4 inches of heavy wet snow that promises to make the roads miserable. I was going to take the backroads south from Cardston and cut through Cut Bank, Montana to the I-15, but with the roads in the shape they were (and likely unplowed) I decided it was best to head north before going south and thus stay on the main roads, which would add an hour to my trip. Listening to the radio, I discovered that there was much more snow to come — they were forecasting 12-18 inches of snow on the plains of Montana, and 3 feet of snow in the mountains, and had a winter storm warning in effect until next Thursday! Heading south, the snow finally ran out just after Conrad, I got a little rain near Jefferson Falls, and finally a little sunny sky at Helena. One of the funny things about this trip too was as I drove south, even as it got later in the day, the temperature kept rising; when I left Cardston, it was just under zero, and by the time I got to Provo, it was 14C. After a long day’s drive, I finally made it to Provo just before midnight.

Leave Cardston AB — 9:55am — 219,867km
Milk River (water and Ginger Ale $6.46)
Coutts (American border) — 11:40am — 219,867km
Conrad MT (lunch US$6.75) — 12:30 to 1pm — 219,963km
Great Falls (gas $29.51) — 1:55pm — 220,057km
Dillon (gas $27.25, prepaid cell phone $39.98) — 4:42 to 5:37pm —- 220,408km
Roberts ID (supper $9.20) — 7 to 7:45pm — 220,613km
McCammon (gas $27.41) — 9pm — 220,755km
Arrive Provo UT — 11:23pm — 221,045km

Today — CAD$6.46, US$140.10 — 11:25 hours — 1178km
Total — CAD$222.90 — 16:40 hours — 1712km