A Workday in Billings, Then Sheridan

My first night on the road turned out to be a pretty good argument for free parking. I spent it in the Bass Pro/Cabela’s and Sam’s Club lot in Billings. There was a little highway noise, but nothing that caused a problem. I pulled out at 8:15 in the morning, with sunshine and an actual workday ahead of me.

Riverfront Park was the destination for the morning, which is a considerably better answer to “where’s the office today?” than most Mondays offer. I stayed there until late afternoon, then started looking at how much ground I could reasonably cover after work. I’m trying to get to Alabama by way of South Dakota and the Ozarks, and I’d like to actually spend some time in the Ozarks rather than simply drive through them.

Handlebars over leafy gravel trail — View from the bike: drop handlebars and stem above a leaf-strewn gravel trail lined with sunlit dry grasses.

Of course, I was also still thinking about water. The 23U’s plumbing is winterized, and the overnight temperatures have been making the decision to turn it back on unnecessarily interesting. Rapid City and Sioux Falls looked promising, but the stretch through Wyoming was another matter. I considered putting water in the fresh tank without running the pump. That might be less risky than filling the entire plumbing system, but it still left me weighing the convenience of running water against the possibility of dealing with frozen plumbing. For now, the question is still following me east.

I looked at a few routes out of Billings. The US-212 shortcut was tempting on paper, and there was a longer southern option, but the route through Sheridan and Gillette on I-90 looked like the sensible one for the motorhome after dark. I left Riverfront Park, stopped for gas, and headed toward Sheridan.

Driver at the wheel of RV — Driver in a dark blue shirt holds the wheel inside the RV cab, beige seats and a step-warning sticker visible.

The fuel stop had its own little technical mystery. At the Holiday station on South Billings Boulevard, the pump hit its $175 transaction limit, so I had to start another purchase. Then it kept shutting off while I tried to finish filling. Between the two transactions, I put in 42.864 gallons for $188.56. That’s a fairly substantial drink, although I still wasn’t completely sure the tank was full. I reset the trip odometer and moved on. At least I’ll have a better baseline for fuel economy going forward.

I made it to Sheridan, stopped at Walmart for a few things, and started thinking about dinner. Also, whether to call it a night. Pushing farther would mean more miles behind me, but it would also mean turning a perfectly reasonable travel day into a late one. I checked what staying in Sheridan would do to the Ozarks portion of the trip. It doesn’t necessarily cost me that time, as long as I keep making steady progress over the next several days.

Class C motorhome in autumn campground — White Four Winds Class C motorhome parked on a leaf-covered campground pad beneath a large tree in golden-hour light.

So I’m leaning toward dinner and a night in Sheridan. There’s still plenty of road between here and Alabama, but I don’t think every evening needs to be an endurance test.