Well….After a mad flurry of preparations and long hours in my cold garage working on my Metro van, I’m heading out from Polebridge Montana to pick up Jackie, my love, in Wisconsin Monday morning. From Polebridge, our home, to Glendive Montana is 571 miles, the first leg. It’s an absolutely beautiful, but barren drive. In winter it can be also very dangerous and I’m not sure I can still do 11 hour non stop, knuckle busting, road trips. But I think the adrenaline will help.

This past month we have had unusually cold weather and lots of snow. On the plains and tonight, Saturday March 2nd, in Lewistown Montana (on route) it’s currently -21° below with wind chills of -41°. It is forcasted to get even colder, down to -29° later tonight.

Monday I’ll be too busy trying to say warm and on the road to post pictures; and cell service is spotty. So, today I went on the State of Montana Road Conditions website and copied some photos from their live road cam’s.

These photo’s should give you an idea of the terrain and current road conditions I’ll be experiencing Monday. I’m sure I’ll stop and take a few pictures myself and I’ll share them when I have time, but for now these will do, they are pretty good!

Before I say anytimg more, please pray for a safe journey. The old van has only two shorter “summer journey” experiences. I don’t have a clue how it will do in below zero temps and icy, snow covered highways, but I’m optimistic and have faith.

The same people who constantly threaten us with global warming and can’t get each day’s weather right, are projecting more cold and windy conditions, but a clear and sunny Monday March 4th. I hope they are right on this one! I told my mom, “We Montana’s are adventurous and I’ll just enjoy the ride!”

I’ve pretty much done all I can do to be safe. I’ll be filling my tank with gas at every opportunity and I’m carrying 7 gallons in spare plastic gas cans just in case. Gas stations are few and far in between along Hwy’s 87, 89, and 200 and “conditions” can change quickly.

Towns with populations of twenty are 100 miles apart. You cannot very well break down and walk to the farmers house without freezing to death. I’ve called all the gas stations along the route and I asked about the road and how late they stay open. Some said 8 O’clock others said 10 p.m “maybe”. The longest stretch without gas, if they are open, is 150 miles. I think/hope I’ll get 200 miles out of my van’s tanks and with the extra 7 gallons I should be fine. I only got about 11 mpg this last summer; and fuel efficency goes down in cold winter weather. I’m also bringing extra gas in case I get into a wind whiteout and have to wait it out idling; it doesn’t need to be snowing to get a whiteout. But just in case all fails, I also bought and installed myself a really interesting diesel heater that works independently of my engine. I installed it just last week and tested it. It works great! It’s a Chinese brand. It has a glow plug and a diesel drip pump. It heats the glow plug then drips diesel fuel into a housing with fins.

A fire inside the housing produces heat and the fins warm up. A small 12 volt fan kicks on and blows air past the fins and it produces 5kw of heat at full power. The inlet sucks outside air and the outlet vents the diesel air outside the van so no smelly fumes or exhaust dangers. The only issue I see is that it runs off an auxiliary battery. I’ve only tested it for four hours. It worked great for four hours on my old battery until it shut off when the voltage dropped too low (a safety feature). Now, with a brand new AGM auxillary battery, it can be charged by my alternator and protected by a battery isolator when the enginge is off, it has a 105 amp hour capacity. I think the heating unit draws about 30 watts continually and about 400 watts on start up to heat the glow plug. I’m hoping It will run 6 plus hours before having to recharge the battery. I’m hoping because the company did not specify the actual wattage used or how long it will run, those are my numbers based on info I gathered from website bulletins boards. One hint nobody mentioned, for those who may want to buy one of these heaters is, it’s best to start the heater with the engine running and charging the alternate battery. Basically letting the alternator heat up the glow plug. This way the glow plug startup process won’t drain the battery. The start up of one of these heaters can remove as much as 20% of your storage capacity and reducing your run time significantly. So, besides the diesel heater, I have a Buddy Heater and 3 canisters of Propane. This could give me 3+ hours of heat in an emergency. I’ll also have a lightwight synthetic comforter, two fleece blankets, two cheap Kmart 40+ degree sleeping bags, my winter jacket, all my clothes for the long tour, and my 119 lb dog. I hope that’s enough because there is not room in the van for another thing!

Because it is the van’s first big, untested, winter journey I also felt like had to bring a bunch of tools, wrenches, sockets, spare fuel filter, my honda generator, an impact driver, a battery charger, a solar panel, and a goal zero lithium “generator.” They call the Yeti Goal Zero a generator, but it is actually just a battery with a built in inverter. I can use it to power my electronics and it recharges by shore power, 12 volt cig lighter, or solar.

So here is the routine I expect to do at each below zero start up. First I’ll try to stay at a hotel in Glendive if I make it that far. In the morning it’s supposed to be about -14°. So I will bring my generator into the hotel to keep it warm. In the morning I’ll bring the generator out to the van, chain it up, start it, and hook it up to the installed 100 watt block heater I added to the engine. I’ll let that run for about an hour to heat the oil. Many cars can start at below zero temps, and mine probably could too if it did not have a new engine. The enginge is still in the “break in phase” so I had to add Lucus Oil Stabilizer. “It allows motor oils a higher degree of lubricity which reduces oil consumption and operating temperatures.” It is a must for new “older” engines along with a zinc additive. The problem with the Lucus Oil is that the stablizer is really thick and needs at least 5° temps to flow properly, per the manufacturer. Anyway, hopefully the engine will start and I’ll be on my second leg of my journey. From Glendive I’ll head across North Dakota, again in freezing, below zero temps, through Bismarck, through Fargo, and hopefully bed down somewhere near Minneapolis. All this travel will be on interstate so not as much to worry about after Glendive. I can do rest stop breaks and bathroom breaks pretty much at will. From Minneapolis to Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin, that too should not be very eventful?

So, there you have it! Preparation will meet opportunity Monday morning, but God is always in charge and my wishes are not always His. Wish me through prayer God’s speed and the wisdom to make this a safe journey. Thanks for helping me write by giving me somebody to write to; thanks for letting me share our journey.