The adventurous Miss Erin D had already spent the past two summers in the west, and now for 2024 she had done it again.
Her summer engineering co-op job was in south central British Columbia, and this time she would need the use of a vehicle. To top it off she did not have time after her last exam to move out of her place in Ottawa, reorganize at home, and drive west before her first day of work. So, the plan became that she would fly out, and the ever supportive parents booked a week of vacation and planned a car delivery route through the northern United States.
Of our too many vehicles, we decided to go with the 2016 Ford Focus SE 2.0 5-speed. I’d picked it up as a student car bargain a few months before, it had been crashed, written off and repaired but it drove well and had only 84,000 km on it (52,000 miles).
We left bright and early on April 25th. Our mascot for the trip was a laminated photo of Fozzie Bear and Kermit the Frog in their Studebaker from The Muppet Movie.
Moving right along, we left southern Ontario and crossed into the US over the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia. The border guard said “You’re driving that little car to the West Coast? That’s crazy.” but let us in anyway. We counted 45 dead deer at the side of the highway in Michigan, stayed with some great old friends in South Bend, navigated around Chicago and piled on as many miles as we could before the end of day two.
Because that’s where things started to get more interesting. We got off the interstate for a day to visit Walnut Grove Minnesota and De Smet South Dakota, both historical homes to the Ingalls family of the Little House on the Prairie book series. I had re-read all the books to my daughter as bedtime stories some years ago, so this was quite interesting to see the real houses, school and farms where they lived and worked.
One standout thought from that day was how lucky I felt to be able to cover all this ground on a smooth divided highway, and not take weeks or months to do the journey with a wagon and oxen team. No wonder Ma put her foot down and made Pa settle permanently in De Smet after crisscrossing the great plains for a decade.
This highly ironic sign also reminded me that the Ingalls family has no living descendants.
West of Minnesota the speed limit on I-90 was 80mph (70 mph for heavy trucks) which felt a bit frantic in the Focus so we decided to split the difference and cruise at 75. This resulted in just over 3,000 RPM in 5th gear.
It rained all night in Murdo SD, which was bad news for us. At least I got to take in this glorious 1970 Buick Electra, which provided an interesting contrast to the Focus in terms of space utilization. I spoke to the owner at breakfast, he and his partner were rather disgusted with the weather and heading south. I had planned to hike in Badlands National Park that morning, which was not going to work out.
But all was not lost, because Murdo SD is home to Pioneer Auto Show, a museum with over 275 cars, farm implements, and bric a brac including a statue of Jar Jar Binks and a sheep powered washing machine!
That I was able to convince Mrs DougD to do this will tell you how bad the weather actually was. Here we found a suitable Studebaker for Fozzie and Kermit.
I thought about my high school friend Ted here, because the AMC Rebel Machine is basically the high performance version of the 1972 Matador hardtop I had as a teen. The SC/Rambler is a twin to Ted’s high school car, except that both our cars had straight six engines and primer blotches.
The scale of the collection is overwhelming, and I found myself asking “How do you keep all this maintained?” The answer is of course, without a Smithsonian scale budget you don’t, and a veil of decay hung over some of the buildings and cars. Still, a highly recommended side trip especially if it’s just above freezing and raining.
Badlands and bad weather. When it rains here the trails turn to greasy, sticky mud so there was no hiking for us. We bundled up and stuck to the boardwalks and scenic overlooks.
Even with grey skies it’s a spectacular landscape and we resolved to return someday, preferably at sunrise during a period of dry weather.
After Badlands we did Wall Drug of course. This is a store whose first gimmick was free ice water in the 1930s, and it has since morphed into one of those uniquely American tourist traps. Their advertising is ubiquitous for hundreds of miles. (Okay, okay, we’ll go! Just stop with the signs already!) Here Mrs. DougD rides the Jackalope.
And contemplates the quality of the Wall Drug coffee and donut. Truly an interesting diversion, but my tip is don’t get the 5 cent coffee, it’s not worth it.
That evening we still had time to view Mount Rushmore, before continuing on to nearby Hill City. Alas the presidents had their heads in the clouds, and are just out of sight in this photo.
Checking in to Mountainview Lodge we were unexpectedly presented with a couple of free check in beers. We gamely enjoyed them on the front porch, despite the snowflakes flying by. We also had a nice chat with the owner who had relocated from California to South Dakota’s Black Hills. As usual on the entire trip we found Americans to be friendly, eager to talk and interesting to listen to.
The next morning dawned cold but clear, on our pre-breakfast walk I encountered this 1970’s Ford F700 firetruck. It had both a 429 badge on the hood and a FOR SALE sign. After scraping a thick layer of frost from the Focus windows we backtracked and returned to Mount Rushmore.
Now that’s more like it. We had been warned by several people that Rushmore was better in photos than in person, but we were rather impressed. There were perhaps 30 other people there to enjoy the sight with us, and we were often alone walking the pleasant trail that allows you a more close up look. Judging by the amount of parking lots and structures we figured it must be absolutely bonkers busy during high season.
Leaving Mount Rushmore and Hill City I deviated from my pre-prepared route maps and let Google Maps pick a more direct route to our next destination, Devil’s Tower in Wyoming. This began on the delightful Deerfield Road, which eventually turned to gravel. Later we somehow wound up on Flag Mountain Road, which was basically a forest access road. Very scenic, but definitely not the quickest path despite what the app said.
This detour also coated the Focus in a thick layer of fine red clay dust, which resisted several car washes and will be visible in the rest of the trip pictures. Here we are thankfully back on a paved road and approaching Devils Tower, which is as far as we’ll go for today.
I cannot understand why it is an almost universal rule in small cars that highway travel results in 3000+ rpms. One more overdrive gear would do wonders on cars like these. My Honda Fit was the same way, which made for highway MPGs almost as good as those obtained by someone in a larger and more comfy Accord sedan.
That big Buick Electra was a handsome car in its day, and I still think it is. One of those was my paternal grandfather’s last car. I wonder how many of these served that role for other elderly people.
Mrs. DougD’s facial expression at Wall Drug – is it about the quality of the coffee and donut, or is it about a desire to go out to the jackalope again? Or maybe “if we come across another car museum, can we PLEASE not go?” 🙂
Looking forward to the next installment.
It’s because the torque peak on these small but high-output engines is quite high; 4450rpm in the case of this Focus. If you geared it down, it would feel too sluggish when a bit of extra speed was desired or on an upgrade or a headwind. The manufacturers had every incentive to maximize the EPA numbers, which was 36 mpg (highway) without requiring an expensive 6th gear or the need to downshift so often.
The solution was to buy the 6 speed automatic, which had a lower numerical top gear and was rated at 38 mpg (highway).
Or buy the turbocharged ST, which had almost twice the torque but that peaked at a very low 2700 rpm.
The torque peak of my Golf is 2450 rpm, which translates to exactly 120 km/h. Going up Great Bear Hill on the Coquihalla Highway doesn’t even require a downshift to 4th gear. Such is one of the advantages of a turbocharged engine.
The European option used to be a turbo diesel – my 1.6 litre 120bhp @ 3750rpm/236lbft @ 1750rpm Alfa Giulietta does 75mph at 2000 rpm and unsurprisingly handles motorway inclines without issue
120kph in my HDI is just ticking over peak torque is at 1350rpm 2 overdrive gears in the trans, Focus diesels have a PSA/Ford engine bur Ford blew it with their shit herkyjerky oil soluble trans.
Still, that looks surprisingly low geared for 2 liter engine. It is about the same as my (now very infamous) 3 cylinder 1l ecoboost engine (side note – it may have issues with wet belt and whatnot, but the NWH characteristic were impeccable, it was so quiet and balanced that I could rev it to 6000 rpm without even noticing). Anyway, now i am driving a Vitara with 1.4 l turbocharged engine, and it will do 75 Mph at 2400 rpm. Yes, turbocharged engines are different, but still…
Ooo the hatchback. I didn’t enjoy the lack of knee room in the front of m dad’s ’12 Focus sedan, enough that when Dad stopped driving and Mom offered to give me the car, I straight up declined. But for the hatch, I might have learned to tolerate it.
Somebody ought to input into Google Maps whether roads are paved, and have a checkbox for avoiding unpaved roads. I’ve had a couple adventures on back roads thanks to Google Maps, including on an almost one lane wide dirt road with a nasty dropoff in Kentucky.
Part of the issue is that on this generation of Focus, the footwell on the passenger side is much shallower than the one on the driver’s side. I suspect that’s to make room for the catalytic converter–space efficiency is always a challenge in a small car. But it does make that passenger seat much less accommodating than it could be.
Some of us prefer the unpaved routes 😀
Yes, that’s my preference too.
I’ve been window shopping for a replacement for my ’00 Golf. Another Golf would be fine, but I’m not a fan of vinyl seats instead of cloth (in all but base model) nor a turbo (last decade). That a hatchback make it kind of a hen’s teeth search.
The Focus hatch is on my list, though I’ve heard about problems with the powershift transmission. I drive a manual now, but no one in my family can drive my car, so I’m looking for an automatic now, but I’m not sure even the later model years have addressed the problem. My sister has an ’09 Focus sedan (which is different than these) that doesn’t have the powershift, but they didn’t make a hatch for those years, not sure I want to go to mid ’00 models as they’re almost as old as the car I currently have.
These aren’t popular, it seems that only trucks and SUVs sell ..they seem to have multiple sizes of SUVs/crossovers and try to steer former hatchback owners into one, but I’d prefer the car if I could find one I could keep a few years (they aren’t too common) that would be great.
I took a trip from central Texas to South Dakota in Sept ’97…I’m originally from the Northeast but wasn’t expecting to see snow in early September. What I remember was the mud all the way to Custer (they were redoing the road). I drove back through Colorado to visit a friend (owe him another visit, he’s been to see me several times but haven’t reciprocated) and was only on interstate less than 100 miles the whole trip (no north/south interstate going there). Had my ’86 GTi back then…maybe could have used a crossover back then but most of my driving I’d prefer the car version.
I believe that hotel/motel/notaholidayinn in Murdo is the same one we stayed at a few years back where we found the old Bureau of Indian Affairs AMC Concord wagon around back.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/cc-for-sale/cc-for-sale-1980-amc-concord-wagon/
The museum was closed the day we were there but some of the inventory (?) was outside at the defunct gas station with for sale signs on it. We did not partake of any of it but some of it was quite compelling as I recall.
Mt. Rushmore (“The Big Faces” in little-kid speak) was for multiple years somehow an annual pilgrimage for us, it’s quite well done and the walking trail/decking/boardwalk around the whole area is far better than can be described to anyone, i.e. it’s more than just a “stop and take a quick snapshot” kind of place.
Looking forward to more of your westward expansion drive, watch out for dysentery, hopefully you stocked up at Wall Drug with necessities…
Yep, that must be it. Not too many choices in Murdo.
Doug, you’ve brought back a million memories. I visited many of these spots back in ’04, had the same thoughts about the Pioneer Museum, and got to see our presidents enveloped in fog. I even managed to put 120,000 miles on a stick-shift Focus more recently, and it did turn some revs out on the highway. Because of my life with old cars, I just let it rev, and it was happy enough turning 3300 rpm all day. I miss the 38-39 mpg I’d get on those trips. Looking forward to Part II.
So many parallels with my last month it is crazy. I just dropped my daughter off in Whitehorse Yukon for her summer engineering Co-op. Even the first three letters of her name are the same. We took the Fiesta up and I flew back. Quite an interesting trip and I took a lot of pictures of some Yukon CCs. I was willing to trade the buzziness for the small fuel consumption and long range. I get to repeat the trip in reverse in August.
That sounds like a great trip. One of my daughters house mates is a female engineer originally from Whitehorse. So to complete the circle we need a female engineering student from south central BC to get an engineering co-op in Ottawa.
I was wondering when you’d get that additional car. Mustangs can’t count in the snowbelt during the awful thing called winter. But your trip was a great way to make lemonade out of lemons!
Funny how North America kept the Duratec 2.0 litre for the Mk 3.5 Focus,or LZ series,as it is called here in Australia,I have a 2017 Focus with a 1.5 litre Ecoboost turbo petrol engine,at 100 km/h the needle just sits on 2000 rpm,currently,the average fuel consumption is 6.8 litres per 100 kilometres,or almost 42 imperial mpg,
It’s really too bad Ford shit the bed with the automatic transmissions on these cars. With a standard transmission, the Focus is a perfectly nice small car with a good balance between ride & handling, power and fuel economy. Maybe if the PowerShift hadn’t blackened their reputation, Ford might have been able to continue selling them profitably. It’s a crying shame how few choices there are for a compact car right now.
Nice write-up. Oddly, I’ve never been to that part of the US; it’s long overdue to do so.
Great travelouge. I visited Mt. Rushmore in 1980, while on my “Around the Country” month long motorcycle trip. It was mostly a big parking lot with a few benches and an unobstructed view of the Presidents. My Wife and I were there about five years ago and it’s now a big complex, but nice. Did you stop to see the Crazy Horse monument? I saw signs for it back in ’80. There’s been considerable progress since then, with a multi use complex built at the site. We stopped there after Mt. Rushmore, well worth the stop with an incredible back story. Unfortunately we missed the Devils Tower. We made the trip in my F150 which was very comfortable and relaxing. Looking forward to part two.
Great trip!
I find it amusing that the border guard actually had a sense of humor. And I don’t think of the Focus as being so small as to be in “crazy” territory there. Back in the late 1980s, my father and I drove cross-country elbow-to-elbow in a Mazda 323. Now, that was small. And buzzy too… I recall it cruising at 3,000 rpm. At speeds lower than 75.
Too bad about the weather in the Badlands. We were there several years ago, and the hiking (in the morning before the excessive heat) was outstanding. I remember wanting to go to the Murdo museum, but couldn’t convince my wife and kids of it. I also remember that after a particularly hot hike, spending the rest of the afternoon at Wall Drug was a fun (and cool) diversion.
I’m looking forward to hearing about rest of your trip.
Your comment made me do a flashback to my youth in the 80s. I owned a base barebones 323 with a 4 speed (vinyl seats and roll-up windows too). That sucker was loud on the freeway. It didn’t have a tachometer (or clock), so I never knew my actual RPMs, but it sounded like a Singer sewing machine.
Mine was a 5-speed, but it was still loud. It didn’t have cruise control, and I never felt like I needed it because I could keep a steady speed just by listening to the engine and road noise. My next car (a Ford Contour) felt like a Rolls-Royce by comparison.
Years ago in Oregon we had a 1993 Civic. I don’t think that car had any sound deadening at all. I-5 through the Willamette Valley had some very coarse pavement texture, and that Civic was a nightmare of roaring tire noise. That Civic was a fantastic car at speeds up to 50mph; nimble, tactile, sufficiently-powered, low ‘n sporty. Lovely to take to the coast on the winding two-lanes.
Interstate speeds? I wanted to burn it in its own grease. Which I probably could have done given the various seeping seals at that age.
Oh, the border guards definitely have sense of humor. On both sides.
A couple of years ago, crossing into Canada, I was asked “How many guns are you traveling with?” I of course was shocked and replied honestly with “None!” Only later did I determine that this was an off the cuff joke based on my being an American.
We were also asked about guns when we entered crossed over into Niagara Falls, Ontario a couple months back!
Of course one could stop by the Badlands in the summer when temps are up and there is no shade as in 1966. No shade, no hat, and no sunglasses for this 12 year old. Hiking wasn’t on my mind, or anyone else’s even though the place was deserted.
Very cool. I have thought about doing a similar trip (and I mean similar since I am in Kanata) in a couple of years when my kids are a bit older as a change from the usual Hwy 17 to 1 which is a great scenic route as well, but definitely not as much stuff to do (at least on the Ontario end of things) as this run. I definitely want to see Mount Rushmore again as well.
I certainly can’t wait to see Part 2!
If you think 80mph in a 160hp Focus is a bit frantic, you should try 85mph across Idaho in 106hp Yaris. The Ford will feel like a Lincoln after that.
What’s the wind/road noise like in your Focus? My impression was that they were considered fairly well insulated for a compact. Our 2010 Jetta with the 5speed manual turned nearly 3500 rpm as well at an 80-85mph cruise, and it was quiet enough to not be bothersome in the least, but it was a heavy and inefficient car for the class.
Fun travelogue, thanks for posting. Never been up Black Hills way, looks beautiful.
My xB has the Yaris drive train, but the final drive ratio is a bit lower yet (higher numerical). It’s exactly at 4000 rpm at 80. But I hear nothing anymore, as I always put on noise-cancelling Bose headphones due to my tinnitus. I can even drive my ’66 F100 at 70 with the windows open in perfect auditory comfort.
That’s a good solution for highway runs, loud noise is so fatiguing over time. Earlier this year I used noise canceling headphones for the first time on a long haul flight aboard an older 777 (those planes are really loud in the aft cabin) and thought I had found God.
Sorry if I’m stepping on Doug’s toes, but my experience with my 2012 Focus 5-speed was that it had a very acceptable lack of road and wind noise. The only thing at all objectionable was a bit of engine noise when I was driving 80+.
I had thought so, at the very least I was certain they were far quieter than Civic, Corolla, Mazda3.
Same with me although the 2004 with the 2.3L and 5 spd. there isn’t a lot of noise at 80 as the car is barely at 3000 rpm.
Stupendous.
Your border agent conversation reminds me of the time friends drove in their early ’70s Mini from Toronto to Calgary, in wintertime. As it started to snow, somewhere in Manitoba, they noticed fewer and fewer cars on the road until they were all alone driving. Maybe 100 miles later they were stopped by police who asked them what they were doing. Upon informing the officer they were on their way to Calgary, he told them the road had been closed for hours due to the storm. Didn’t stop the Mini.
A good friend of my father’s had an engineering consulting business, and his biggest client was the city of Saskatoon. It was probably in the 70s he was going for a visit. He flew into Regina in the middle of winter and rented a car to drive to Saskatoon. He said that he was surprised that there was no traffic on the highway, until he arrive in Saskatoon and found out the road was closed.
That looks like a great trip. Having been to some of these places a couple of times it is always fun to see someone else’s take on it. You are braver than I in regards to Wall Drug; been there twice and purchased exactly nothing both times.
The creep of decay has sadly been present at the Pioneer Auto Museum for a while; I was last there in 2010 (it’s been a while) and it was making itself known then.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/museum-classics-the-pioneer-auto-show-in-murdo-south-dakota/
Wow. Great article, and I look forward to part 2.
I’ve been adjacent to many L I-W, L H o t P locations, but have never actually been to Walnut Grove or De Smet. In fact, South Dakota and Hawai’i are the only two states I’ve not been to. Oddly, I’ve been to North Dakota several times (but not its southern neighbor). And I currently have 3 work-related projects in Hawai’i, so odds are I’ll get there sooner than I will South Dakota. Anyway, If I eventually manage to make it to South Dakota, I want to see De Smet, and I suppose Mt. Rushmore. (why not…) But more to the point, I am a huge Laura Ingalls-Wilder fan, so I have to see Walnut Grove and De Smet eventually.
Then of course, there’s the Badlands. Probably my favorite movies ever. I should see the real thing.
Looks like Mrs. DougD was in fact having a great time, regardless of the 5 cent coffee. So that’s a win for sure.
There’s nothing better than a good road trip story, except for one’s own good road trip. We drove through some of that area in the summer of 2021 in our then-new van. Mount Rushmore was easy to avoid … an overlook from a nearby road showed an entry line of cars that seemed to stretch for miles. We did get of the highway and cruised through Wall Drug, but didn’t stop; it seemed so busy I’m not even sure there was parking.
Obviously the Transit van with EcoBoost is an effortless high speed cruiser unless one cares about fuel consumption, which I do, but our Golf with the 1.8 turbo and 5 speed is quite relaxed. I don’t know the torque peak or rpm/mph off the top of my head, but since I mostly drive our AT cars, I can go miles in 4th without noticing – until I get a reminder, either from the upshift indicator on the dash or from the spousal upshift prompter in the passenger seat. When in 5th it’s easy to find myself going 80+ mph (in a 65 or 70 zone here in California) without noticing.
Thank you for taking us along .
I last visited Mt. Rushmore in 1969 and yes, in Summer it’s packed .
Interesting about the (IMO) high revving i4 engines, my 2001 Ford Ranger’s 2.5 liter i4 seems really wound up at 75 ~ 80 MPH so I simply don’t drive it that fast .
-Nate