I thought I would give you all an update on my travels back West and the long drive to Idaho that I just embarked upon as well. You might be asking, didn’t you just go there? And you are right to. I did, in the moving truck. And now with the family, a calmer, longer, sightseeing, holiday-style trip before reality sets in and I start my new life in Idaho.

Because we have two cars, and there is no way my wife could undertake that drive, I had to go there with the moving truck with her car in tow for the first leg of the trip and undertake a second one with her and our son. It’s a lot, I know. But such is life.

The first trip was interesting to say the least. I experienced a lot of ‘firsts’ in my life. Not always easy to do when you are plus 40 years old. Because we had some hiccups on ‘leaving day’ and didn’t leave NJ until like 1pm, we decided to drive into the night, stopping around 2am, and ended up sleeping in the truck (mind you, it was a Penske truck, so we slept sitting upright). My family friend who drove is a trucker, so it was more natural for him. Not so much for me. But I survived. And that was a first for me.

Because we wanted to continue to gain time and not delay, we decided that we would just shower that night in the hotel. (Context: He is also a tattoo artist and had an appt on Friday, so time was of the essence). The first night we slept in Indiana. The plan for day two was to get as far as West South Dakota. Our goal was Rapid City, but failing that, we planned for Kadoka. I saw that they had four hotels, so I thought we were set for a good night’s sleep.

Sadly, that city boy mentality that I have forgot that small town hotels are not the same as the Best Western or the like. We arrived at Kadoka at 2am and they were all closed. We were absolutely burnt out, so we had to pull another night in the truck, now going on about 40 hrs without a shower. That was rough. But we got up super early and hit the next truck stop, where I took my first shower at a truck stop. Admittedly, it was not that bad. The rooms are large and private, so I couldn’t complain. And it was a lot cheaper than a hotel, so win-win.

But I wasn’t going to make that mistake again, so I booked a hotel in Butte, Montana for night three. But luck just wasn’t on our side as we got a flat on the trailer halfway through Wyoming. We lost around 4 hours sitting in the super dry heat waiting for roadside assistance.

Thankfully, we made it to Butte by the grace of our eyelids not shutting while driving. But once again, we arrived at 2am and, as we had fallen somewhat behind, had little time to sleep. I had all of my family meeting me at a certain time to unload the truck and didn’t want to be late. We got a good, yet short, night’s sleep and made it to Idaho, where we unpacked it all and I felt like the weight of the world was off my shoulders. But that was only the beginning; round 1, as you might say.

We were so beat, we fell asleep at 10pm (I normally sleep at 1am or so, so that was early for me) and had a nice calm Thursday running errands in Idaho before our 8pm red-eye flight back to Newark that same evening. I basically slept an hour, or less if you can call that sleep, on the red-eye flight. I slept better in the Penske truck.

We arrived at Newark at 630am on Friday. I went home, straight to bed, and got a few hours’ rest before I had to get back at it again. While I was away, my wife was cleaning the house. But as it is a lot to cover for a deep clean for one person, there was more that needed doing. So as soon as I woke up, it was back to work, this time cleaning and preparing to load the truck for the second trip.

Friday and Saturday were pretty much cleaning and saying goodbye days. Early Sunday morning, we were up, packed the truck, and left NJ. For this trip, I wanted a more relaxed version. I have my lovely wife and little man with me, after all. There cannot be any truck-sleeping evenings, or else I might not make it to Idaho. Jokes aside, this trip is supposed to be fun and enjoyable, so I decided to do 6 days of 6-8 hour drives with planned stops at certain locations.

And here I am writing you from Sandusky, Ohio. This night was the most unplanned, as it is our second night that we had to plan for, as we meet with family in Wisconsin. So, consulting a map, I decided to check out this small lakeside town that I haven’t been to in 30 years. For those who know Sandusky, you will know that the legendary Cedar Point is here. It was at least legendary the last time I was here, which was when I was 11 years old. Sadly, this time, we will not be going to the amusement park, but we had a nice evening at a restaurant just off the lake.

Next up: Madison, WI – Sioux Falls, SD, Custer, SD, Bozeman, Montana and Whitefish, Montana – then Idaho!

I likely won’t write again until next week, so I wanted to leave you with this update.

Thanks as always for following along!

Talk to you soon 😉

—Justin FitzPatrick, The Shoe Snob

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