It’s a long and complicated list of of circumstances that would lead to a, mostly, non-stop trip from Menifee, CA. to east of Barstow on highway 40, to Nampa, ID and then back to Menifee, but if you were going to try and break it down to its basic bullet-points, it might look a little something like this:

• Family member A lives with family member B near Barstow.
• Family member B is just a horrifically mean and unlikable person.
• Family member A and B get into (yet another) fight.  A bad one.
• “Kicked out” happens.
• Family member A needs to relocate – with all stuff – (leaving it means it’ll never be seen again) to a new start in Idaho with relatives who live there. 
• I have a truck.
  

  

• I have no unmovable engagements for the next couple days
• I also have a spouse still recovering from major, life threatening surgery just a couple months ago that I don’t want to leave alone – or without access to a vehicle – for very long at all. 
• Unfortunately, family member B is definitely not sane enough to wait till February when driving to Idaho fits our medical treatment schedule so much better, and family member A can’t (or won’t) smooth it over so that waiting is an option.

And that’s how I found myself roped into driving to Idaho non-stop to drop off family member A, with a backseat and truck bed full of stuff, a quick turnaround and coming (almost) straight back.

As road trips go, it was long on miles, short on notable stops or points of interest, and a lot of night driving, so not even much in the way of scenery.  On the other hand, it featured loading and unloading a bunch of crap, over $300 in out-of-pocket expenses and about 6 hours of sleep in a 44 hour period.

Broken down as follows:

• On the road at 8:30 am (debate between an earlier start and enough sleep to be able to drive longer, and enough sleep wins)
• I-15 to I-40
• Of course, morning traffic near the 15/91 interchange.
• Arrive at pickup destination around 11:30 am. 
  

  

• The amount to load is considerably more than expected/described.
• The time it takes to load is considerably longer than expected.  More stuff, haphazard packaging, trip to neighboring house for reasons, and a lot to tie down.
• Back on the road at 1:00 pm (ish.)
• A little backwater desert road to cross from I-40 to I-15 east.  Found a small sand dune area along this road that made me wish I’d brought my real camera.  Just lovely, baby-powder fine, freshly wind-blown sand dunes almost straddling the road.
  
• Lunch stop in Baker. 
• Continuing to Vegas on I-15 then I- 93 north.
• There is nothing on I-93 north.  Several stretches of no service for 100 miles or more, 12 degrees after dark, and in the elevation areas a couple stretches hit -4.
• Jump from I-93 to I-84 near Twin Falls, Idaho.
• Arrive in Nampa, Idaho around 5:3o am.  

• Unload and visit a long lost Aunt for a too short 30 minutes or so.
• On the road by 6:30 am.
• I-84 to US-26 to US-95.
• Hit Winnemucca, Nevada by 9:00 am.
• Hinky Motel 6 in Winnemucca.  $55 for 6 hours sleep.  If it wasn’t 20 degrees outside, I’d have just slept at a rest stop.
• Wake up, gas up, grab a dinner to go and on the road by 4:00 pm.
• I-80 to US-95 to US-50 to US-395.
• Quick stop in Bishop for a caffeine boost and a snack.
• US-395 to I-15 to I-215 and home at 3:30 am. 

It didn’t snow anywhere, which was a major break.  There was plenty of snow on the ground in a lot of places in Nevada and Idaho, and it was more than cold enough, but no snow.  Also, I felt good and alert the whole time and never drowsy.  Nearing Winnemucca I felt like I should stop soon, worried that it was too cold to sleep in the truck, and if I passed Winnemucca by and got drowsy later, there wouldn’t be any civilization nearby to get a room in. (and there was not)  Once I got back into some southern warmth I could have stopped at a rest stop, or anywhere really, for some good nap time if I needed to, but it was never an issue.   

I do look forward to traveling through these areas again when I can spend time seeing sites and getting some quality photography in.  I could hear a few of those remote places calling my name.  Next time…