Travel from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington

We drove our coach 334 miles, about six hours of driving, from Missoula, Montana to Ephrata, Washington.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

This map showing timezones, as we crossed from Mountain to Pacific time (west coast best coast), and the state borders between Montana (right), Idaho (middle), and Washington (left):

Timezones

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

I-90 West:

I-90 West

Clark Fork River:

Clark Fork River

Curves ahead:

Curves ahead

Truck stop:

Truck stop

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Rest area closed due to roadworks:

Rest area closed due to roadworks

Trucker info:

Trucker info

Welcome to Idaho and Pacific Time Zone:

Welcome to Idaho and Pacific Time Zone

Roadworks:

Roadworks

Elevation 3,069 feet:

Elevation 3,069 feet

Rest area:

Rest area

Welcome to Washington:

Welcome to Washington

Spokane:

Spokane

Spokane

Train:

Train

Rest area:

Rest area

Sprague Lake:

Sprague Lake

Train:

Train

Another closed rest area:

Another closed rest area

Exit to Quincy:

Exit to Quincy

Field planting sign:

Field planting sign

Field planting sign

Field planting sign

Arriving at our campground:

Arriving

And our site:

Our site

Travel from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana

We drove our coach 329 miles, about five hours of driving, from Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming to Missoula, Montana.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading northwest:

Map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

An interesting trailer:

An interesting trailer

Check-out box:

Check-out box

Crowd watching something on the hill; I couldn’t see anything:

Crowd watching something

A lone bison:

Lone bison

Thermal feature:

Thermal feature

Madison River:

Madison River

Leaving the park:

Leaving the park

Welcome to West Yellowstone, Montana:

Welcome to West Yellowstone, Montana

West Yellowstone

Hebgen Lake:

Hebgen Lake

Madison River:

Madison River

Ennis:

Ennis

We had originally planned to stay at Ennis RV Park, but decided to just push on through:

Ennis RV Park

Route 359 North:

Route 359 North

Truck parking closed on I-90 West:

Truck parking closed on I-90 West

… because they diverted traffic through the parking area due to road works:

Truck parking closed on I-90 West

Continental Divide:

Continental Divide

I-90 West:

I-90 West

Rest area:

Rest area

Wildlife escape ramp:

Wildlife escape ramp

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Arriving at Jim & Mary’s RV Park:

Arriving at Jim & Mary's RV Park

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Buffalo to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

We drove our coach 260 miles, about five hours of driving, from Buffalo to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route map

Route with elevations:

Route with elevations

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Highway 16, west of Buffalo, Wyoming:

Highway 16 west of Buffalo, Wyoming

Signs indicated various rock strata, e.g. Granite Gneiss rocks:

Granite Gneiss rocks

Pull-off for a break:

Pull-off for a break

Runaway truck ramp and interesting rocks:

Runaway truck ramp and interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

interesting rocks

Interesting rocks

Ten Sleep is a cute little town:

Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep

Ten Sleep

Rest area:

Rest area

Wildlife:

Wildlife

Cody:

Cody

Shoshone River:

Shoshone River

Shoshone River

Buffalo Bill tunnels:

Buffalo Bill tunnels

Buffalo Bill reservoir:

Buffalo Bill reservoir

Shoshone River:

Shoshone River

Rest area:

Rest area

More interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Yellowstone National Park east entrance sign:

Yellowstone National Park east entrance sign

And entrance station:

Yellowstone National Park east entrance

Yellowstone Lake:

Yellowstone Lake

Fishing Bridge RV Park check-in area:

Fishing Bridge RV Park check-in area

Fishing Bridge RV Park registration

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming

We drove our coach 186 miles, about three hours of driving, from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Route map

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Custer:

Custer

Bighorn Sheep Crossing:

Bighorn Sheep Crossing

6% grade:

6% grade

Welcome to Wyoming:

Welcome to Wyoming

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Ordering sandwiches for lunch at Heidi’s deli inside Coffee Cup Fuel Stop in Moorcroft:

Ordering lunch at Coffee Cup Fuel Stop

Back to our coach:

Back to our coach

Our step wasn’t working (an ongoing issue):

Our step wasn't working

Lunch:

Lunch

A Starlink dish on the roof of a trailer… hopefully well-secured, but not very aerodynamic:

Starlink dish, not very aerodynamic

Narrow roadworks:

Narrow roadworks

Buffalo:

Buffalo

Fuel stop:

Fuel stop

Filling DEF:

Filling DEF

Arriving at Buffalo KOA:

Arriving at Buffalo KOA

Our site:

Our site

Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota

We drove our coach 324 miles, about five hours of driving, from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota.

Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:

Map

Here’s another variation of the map showing time zones (Mountain and Central) and elevations for the whole year, with a circle showing the highest elevation of this trip; a lot of climbing at the end of the trip, though not as much as ones coming up soon:

Elevations

An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:

Wind turbines and corn fields:

Wind turbines and corn fields

Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture at a rest area:

Dignity of Earth and Sky

The aforementioned rest area:

Rest area

Crossing Missouri River:

Crossing Missouri River

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Sunflowers:

Sunflowers

There seems to be a Beetle crawling up that silo:

There seems to be a Beetle crawling up that silo

Paladin reaching out to touch my foot:

Paladin reaching out to touch my foot

Fun with zoom:

Fun with zoom

Entering Mountain Time Zone:

Entering Mountain Time Zone

Stagecoach art:

Stagecoach art

Rest area:

Rest area

Narrow roadworks:

Narrow roadworks

Passing Badlands:

Passing Badlands

More roadworks:

More roadworks

Exit:

Exit

Buffalo sculpture:

Buffalo sculpture

Interesting rocks:

Interesting rocks

Arriving at our campground:

Arriving at campground

Spending a month exploring New Zealand

A heads-up: we will be visiting my family and exploring New Zealand for 30 days from November 7th to December 7th.

Blog posts will continue while away, since the posts are a couple of months behind real-time. Though I may not cross-post to Facebook during this time, since that has to be done manually, so if you read the posts via Facebook, you’ll need to visit the Sinclair Trails website directly if you don’t want to miss my thrilling content.

We’ll continue the RV lifestyle in NZ: we are renting a campervan and driving around the country. Here’s our route, starting in Auckland, and finishing in Christchurch (the southern loop is in a clockwise direction):

New Zealand route

Not sure yet if I’ll have blog posts about our NZ adventure; no doubt I’ll take lots of photos, so I probably will. Stay tuned!