STE1 Hop 4: Jerome ID to North Salt Lake City UT

217 miles on I-84, I-15 and local roads, with a refueling stop. Cumulative tow miles: 854. Truck miles: 244. Cumulative truck miles: 918.

Again, easy navigation (Jett loves these hops!). Again, beautiful scenery. There were some climbs, but no overly taxing ones. So I really don’t understand why our gas mileage was so poor. Normally our one-tank range is about 240 miles, so I didn’t plan a refueling stop for this hop. But it became apparent, as we approached the outskirts of Ogden, that we would be on fumes when and if we arrived. So we pulled off and got 10 gallons at a Pilot truck stop in Ogden. Not a big deal, but disappointing and a bit puzzling.

Our overnight home was the Twin Falls/Jerome KOA. KOA is always decent, never spectacular. Unfortunately, KOA sites are always cramped. I like KOA for overnights because they are predictable, but I would avoid them for long-term stays.

As I mentioned previously, I caught a spectacular sunset in Twin Falls while I was out trying to get Italian food for dinner (which I did, at Tomato’s – quite good). I also got a glimpse of the spectacular Snake River gorge as it snaked (get it?) through Twin Falls. Other than that I went out three separate times to get supplies and fuel: to Walmart for food, to the local Phillips 66 and TA truck stop for cigarettes (cheaper than NH!) and back to TA for propane because KOA couldn’t fill my tank until the afternoon.

I needed the propane because I woke up at 4am in a room so cold I could have had icicles on my nose. The propane had run out, so I had to go outside – temperature 29 – and switch my propane tanks. That only took a minute, but no one wants to go outside, at 4am, in his pajamas, in sub-freezing cold. Yes, the water line nearly froze (a trickle for a minute before it broke loose) and frost on the windshield when I went out on my morning errands.

Florida can’t come soon enough.