To Montana and back!

[GregBC]

After my initial drive from dealer pickup to home (about 350km/220mi), only had a couple trips near 100mi/160km. For spring break, we had a much longer one planned: Victoria BC to Whitefish, MT: 1100km/680mi.

As a retiree, Whitefish ski resort gives 50% off ski tix (which is amazing!!) and an ID card would also allow the family to stay at Fairchild AFB, just outside Spokane. The problem was: I moved to Canada while on AD and never got a retiree ID. So on our travel day, caught the first (7am) ferry and went down to the Army Reserve Center near Marysville for a family full of ID cards.

From there, across the Snoqualmish pass and across the VERY flat eastern WA.Kept the speeds at or just above speed limit. The drive from Spokane to Kalispell was much better (the back roads from St Regis were incredible); averaged just under 20mpg the whole way with 4 ppl, dog, and probsbly 500lb of stuff (the bed was full).

I was pleasantly surprised by MT. Not quite as in-your-face political that I thought might be the case (I see way morepolitical stickers on the island than anywhere in MT), parking spaces were truck-sized, and I felt like 2/3 of the vehicles were trucks, lol! The ski hill was pretty good - again, half-off for AD or retired military (!), gas was cheap ($3.20!), and food was pretty cheap too. Also got some end-season deals from the local shops - win!

Heading home, had to be pretty creative to fit everything in the bed (it was already full coming out) and still cover it up.Mileage was great at first, probsbly 22mpg…then hit headwinds between Spokane and Ellsberg. I could have slowed to 60mph and not sure if it would have helped much, lol! By time I got home, stillgot about 19mpg for the home leg, can’t complain especially with all the mtn passes. Stayed in Cle Ellum on way back then direct to the ferry and home the next day. Gas near Seattle was $4.60, kicked myself that I hadn’t gotten it in Cle Ellum where it was under $4. I was surprised how much gas prices varied from exit to exit.

Overall the truck was nearly perfect, and made for a comfy long-trip vehicle. Got a couple weird warning about the parking brake when getting into the truck (I ignored it and no issues with the parking brake) and had a pretty close call, heavy braking in traffic (where the anti-collision warning didn’t say a peep! Does the system actually work??).

A few pictures, hopefully they come out alright. For anyone who hasn’t taken BC ferries before, the larger ones have an upper deck and lower deck; you have to leave your vehicleif it’s on the lower deck which kinda sucks but it’s only 90min.

St Regis had some pretty good stuff, haha!

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[GregBC]

Oh and the payload sensor was once again useless. The visual has always shown 200-300lbs when empty (so need to reset it with Forescan at some point) and the sliding scale showed ‘0’ regardless of what I put on/took off.

I also drove in Eco the whole way there and back, but put back in Normal in-town (and when going up/down the ski hill).

 

[Kodiak]

Nice trip. My PB is really the first truck I have driven that seems like it was made for cruising down the highway and long trips. Total pleasure to drive.

Good luck with any future trips you take and safe travels!

 

[Ziggy73]

Nice trip. My PB is really the first truck I have driven that seems like it was made for cruising down the highway and long trips. Total pleasure to drive.

Good luck with any future trips you take and safe travels!

And, you can brew coffee as you drive, along with electric blanket for passengers, air fryer, griddle at rest stops.

 

[Meathead]

And, you can brew coffee as you drive, along with electric blanket for passengers, air fryer, griddle at rest stops.

Yup these trucks are pretty sweet, have nearly everything you need, only thing missing is an onboard factory installed urinal!

 

[GregBC]

Yeah, the PB’s are definitely sweet for that stuff! They were just “unobtanium” , especially for 5.5’ beds, when my purchase window was open and this truck became available. Still pretty happy with what I have tho!

(and with how packed the bed was, the outlets were unreachable anyway, lol)

 

[Kodiak]

Yup these trucks are pretty sweet, have nearly everything you need, only thing missing is an onboard factory installed urinal!

It's not OEM but it is the next best thing.

 

[Ziggy73]

Yeah, the PB’s are definitely sweet for that stuff! They were just “unobtanium” , especially for 5.5’ beds, when my purchase window was open and this truck became available. Still pretty happy with what I have tho!

(and with how packed the bed was, the outlets were unreachable anyway, lol)

True, you were packed tight. I bought a electric cooler(w compressor) for road trips and it's a game changer. I know this is a little random, but it was so convenient to just roll it into the hotel, or plug it into the campsite and don't have to mess with any ice. Not sure why I thought of that when I saw the back of your bed. Heck, you may I already have one?

 

[Ziggy73]

It's not OEM but it is the next best thing.

Ouch, you got to go with a Gatorade bottle, they got the wider opening Plus if you get Gatorade with the lime flavor label it looks normal to people.

 

[Kodiak]

Ouch, you got to go with a Gatorade bottle, they got the wider opening Plus if you get Gatorade with the lime flavor label it looks normal to people.

OMG that reminds of a funny story from my youth. I was working on a loading dock back then and these 2 guys from another department bought an 8 pack of nips and hid it in a little cubby area behind some pallets. You would never know it was there. A guy I worked with saw these two sneaking back and forth every 30 minutes and followed one of them. He found their stash.

He went in there when they weren't looking and drank 2 and filled one back up when he was done. He told us what he did and we laughed our butts off.

When we went to punch out the two were there arguing in Spanish.

The things people do for laughs.

 

[Meathead]

It's not OEM but it is the next best thing.

This is the first thing that came to mind, but as Ziggy73 said it needs to be bigger. Thus my comment about factory....haha

 

[IDK_PB]

To Montana and Back ..my life story (live there, with long visits east) a drive I've taken with/because of two Labrador Retrievers nearly two dozen times, ugh!

I ordered a '23 PB in Jan. delivered to Pennsylvania and picked it up 2 months later.
We are off to Montana once again...
It was interesting to read your post as I'm curious how this truck, which I find to be my most comfortable, does XC. It's 2500 miles to my house and my best fuel economy is going to be here on the east coast where it's crowded; keeping speeds low and using electric 'around town'- compared to out west where a drive to town is 50 miles straight road at 80mph. 100 miles RT at 80mph 4x week and the rest is country driving. I'm curious if ever I'll drive elec. [Here in upstate NY, it's been about 20% elec. avg 22mpg - first 1200 miles]

Thanks for the info. Glad you enjoyed Big Sky Country.

 

[GregBC]

You’d know better than me, but I was impressed with how “in control” drivers seemed to be, at least in the areas I drove. Very few went much over the speed limit and speeds in town were quite pedestrian. I didn’t see anyone really “Speeding” by any stretch. The 50-60mph range seems to be the sweet spot for the 5.0L so I bet the 3.5 will do pretty similar even if electric isn’t used much.

 

[Pelican]

After my initial drive from dealer pickup to home (about 350km/220mi), only had a couple trips near 100mi/160km. For spring break, we had a much longer one planned: Victoria BC to Whitefish, MT: 1100km/680mi.

As a retiree, Whitefish ski resort gives 50% off ski tix (which is amazing!!) and an ID card would also allow the family to stay at Fairchild AFB, just outside Spokane. The problem was: I moved to Canada while on AD and never got a retiree ID. So on our travel day, caught the first (7am) ferry and went down to the Army Reserve Center near Marysville for a family full of ID cards.

From there, across the Snoqualmish pass and across the VERY flat eastern WA.Kept the speeds at or just above speed limit. The drive from Spokane to Kalispell was much better (the back roads from St Regis were incredible); averaged just under 20mpg the whole way with 4 ppl, dog, and probsbly 500lb of stuff (the bed was full).

I was pleasantly surprised by MT. Not quite as in-your-face political that I thought might be the case (I see way morepolitical stickers on the island than anywhere in MT), parking spaces were truck-sized, and I felt like 2/3 of the vehicles were trucks, lol! The ski hill was pretty good - again, half-off for AD or retired military (!), gas was cheap ($3.20!), and food was pretty cheap too. Also got some end-season deals from the local shops - win!

Heading home, had to be pretty creative to fit everything in the bed (it was already full coming out) and still cover it up.Mileage was great at first, probsbly 22mpg…then hit headwinds between Spokane and Ellsberg. I could have slowed to 60mph and not sure if it would have helped much, lol! By time I got home, stillgot about 19mpg for the home leg, can’t complain especially with all the mtn passes. Stayed in Cle Ellum on way back then direct to the ferry and home the next day. Gas near Seattle was $4.60, kicked myself that I hadn’t gotten it in Cle Ellum where it was under $4. I was surprised how much gas prices varied from exit to exit.

Overall the truck was nearly perfect, and made for a comfy long-trip vehicle. Got a couple weird warning about the parking brake when getting into the truck (I ignored it and no issues with the parking brake) and had a pretty close call, heavy braking in traffic (where the anti-collision warning didn’t say a peep! Does the system actually work??).

A few pictures, hopefully they come out alright. For anyone who hasn’t taken BC ferries before, the larger ones have an upper deck and lower deck; you have to leave your vehicleif it’s on the lower deck which kinda sucks but it’s only 90min.

St Regis had some pretty good stuff, haha!

Great post. Thank you for sharing. Love that t-shirt!

 

[carmigo]

After my initial drive from dealer pickup to home (about 350km/220mi), only had a couple trips near 100mi/160km. For spring break, we had a much longer one planned: Victoria BC to Whitefish, MT: 1100km/680mi.

As a retiree, Whitefish ski resort gives 50% off ski tix (which is amazing!!) and an ID card would also allow the family to stay at Fairchild AFB, just outside Spokane. The problem was: I moved to Canada while on AD and never got a retiree ID. So on our travel day, caught the first (7am) ferry and went down to the Army Reserve Center near Marysville for a family full of ID cards.

From there, across the Snoqualmish pass and across the VERY flat eastern WA.Kept the speeds at or just above speed limit. The drive from Spokane to Kalispell was much better (the back roads from St Regis were incredible); averaged just under 20mpg the whole way with 4 ppl, dog, and probsbly 500lb of stuff (the bed was full).

I was pleasantly surprised by MT. Not quite as in-your-face political that I thought might be the case (I see way morepolitical stickers on the island than anywhere in MT), parking spaces were truck-sized, and I felt like 2/3 of the vehicles were trucks, lol! The ski hill was pretty good - again, half-off for AD or retired military (!), gas was cheap ($3.20!), and food was pretty cheap too. Also got some end-season deals from the local shops - win!

Heading home, had to be pretty creative to fit everything in the bed (it was already full coming out) and still cover it up.Mileage was great at first, probsbly 22mpg…then hit headwinds between Spokane and Ellsberg. I could have slowed to 60mph and not sure if it would have helped much, lol! By time I got home, stillgot about 19mpg for the home leg, can’t complain especially with all the mtn passes. Stayed in Cle Ellum on way back then direct to the ferry and home the next day. Gas near Seattle was $4.60, kicked myself that I hadn’t gotten it in Cle Ellum where it was under $4. I was surprised how much gas prices varied from exit to exit.

Overall the truck was nearly perfect, and made for a comfy long-trip vehicle. Got a couple weird warning about the parking brake when getting into the truck (I ignored it and no issues with the parking brake) and had a pretty close call, heavy braking in traffic (where the anti-collision warning didn’t say a peep! Does the system actually work??).

A few pictures, hopefully they come out alright. For anyone who hasn’t taken BC ferries before, the larger ones have an upper deck and lower deck; you have to leave your vehicleif it’s on the lower deck which kinda sucks but it’s only 90min.

St Regis had some pretty good stuff, haha!

Looks like an amazing trip... those mountains!!

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