I hear through a sleepy haze: It is 2:30 AM. Beep beep beep. It is 2:30 AM. I press the snooze button on my talking phone alarm two times.

The time is now 2:40 AM, and I wiggle myself up from the floor-level bed in the van. Shoes on. Computer and glasses tucked away in my bag. I dig out my thermos and fill it up in the convenience market at the truck stop where I slept only a few hours. Sound sleep is impossible when I know I will be up soon and undertaking an important journey. Get going!

I drive across town to the bus stop in Livingston MT.  I had scoped it out last night and decided the neighborhood was unsafe in terms of sleeping in the van. Like most small-town bus stops, it was on the outskirts – in a small shack with a tiny, bright blue waiting area. When I arrive this morning, I panic because the 3:30  bus is early—a gleaming, sleek, new bus with Wi-Fi. I gather up my bag quickly, secure the thermos, and dash over.

“Where ya going, miss?”

“Spokane!!!”

“That bus won’t be here until 3:25. I am Eastbound.”

A train crawls into town across the street, and my imagination conjures up hoboes out there in the darkness. Back to the imaginary security of the waiting area until 3:25 AM. I check my jacket pocket. Yep, the Taser is there and I run through the steps to activating it. I breathe again when another sleek bus drives up and I settle in near the front. 

Spokane, WA

Heading to Spokane on a bus at 3:30 AM may not sound exciting; however, I am upbeat, even without any coffee yet. I am on a special journey. On August 9, 2016, I left Spokane with Tango and my camper for a 5-month road trip to Florida for a volunteer conservation job. The plan was to return to the north lands for the early spring and summer. After two months on Dauphin Island (AL) and 2 months in Deming (NM), where I established residency, the adventure turned into a 9-month journey. Now, I have a summer job outside Yellowstone. This trip to Spokane, however, completes the circle I started in August. Full circle. Finish what I started. On to something new. 

That, of course, is the minor reason for my early morning travel. I have not seen Kerry or Meghan since that August 9th departure, and I miss them terribly. Some days, my heart aches. And now, Meghan is carrying their first child, my first grandbaby. I hope to feel the baby moving around, and I am bringing a small gift from Yellowstone– a set of blocks with the animals of Yellowstone pictured on each one. Good reason to visit, even without the important full-circle milestone.

I only have 2 days with them this time, but I can take some longer visits this summer. I left Tango at a kennel in Livingston. I feel he is safe in a kennel, but I felt horrible leaving my little buddy. He looked at me with fear and anguish when he figured out what was happening. “I will be back soon, be good sweetie.” 

Riding now through the black night. The bus is dark inside too; only blue circles on the panel above each seat that control the reading lights. No matter that I cannot see a thing. I know this route well: I-90 through Montana. I have driven through this country many times and I can imagine the peaks and rivers that flow through them. Four hours to Missoula, one of my favorite small cities and another 4 hours to Spokane. We will stop in Butte soon, an ancient mining town that is one of my least favorite places.

Butte, MT, where the city snuggles next to a gigantic open pit mine.

We cross the first – minor- pass in the dark on the way to Butte.We will have plenty of daylight when we start climbing steeper passes into the Rockies. I remember the nerve-wracking ride as I pulled my RV through all those passes when I left in August.  On the bus, I can sit back and enjoy!