Welcome back, in yesterday’s episode we were in Wyoming approaching Devils Tower.
But, let us pause and discuss the car here. By 2016 Ford was in its 5th year of making the Gen3 Focus, and since we also have a 2013 model at home for comparison we can point out some of the improvements:
Most obvious is the facelifted front styling, which looks Aston Martin-esque and is a big improvement over the catfish-esque original. The rear is slightly changed as well, and importantly eliminates a brittle plastic trim piece that breaks off in your hand when opening the rear hatch in winter.
Inside we see the revised center cluster and Mrs DougD’s 80’s playlist. The small screen now includes a back up camera and the revised heater controls which are harder to read than the old 3 dial setup in our 2013 Focus. Also noteworthy is the more user friendly SYNC system, which easily connected to our cell phones without the blasphemous struggle of 2013. What you don’t see here is the door unlock button. Our 2013 has only one button, highly annoyingly located below the hazard light button in the centre of the dash. The 2016 has them moved back to the doors, it’s amazing how much of a relief that is.
I’d mentioned that our Focus was a write-off repair, I know the bumper and one fender were replaced. By the marks on every panel of the rest of the car and the amount of dirt stuck in the undercarriage, I think this car had an off road excursion through a stand of small trees. Some of the gaps in the front are a bit wonky, and I have been replacing hardware store screws as I find them.
The driving experience is much the same as our older Focus, although the 2016 now has an anti-rollback on the clutch. This feels a little weird compared to our older car but it will surely be appreciated by our daughter in mountainous terrain. The 5 speed is essential on these cars since the auto box was the infamously unreliable and expensive to repair PowerShift dual clutch transmission. All in all pretty good for an eight year old cheap student car, now back to our trip:
Devils Tower National Monument was the high point of the trip for me. It’s a volcanic butte that fractured into hexagonal columns as it cooled 60 million years ago, and is famous for its appearance in the film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind“. Photos of this thing really do no justice to its magnificence. Once again we were nearly alone as we walked the 3 km trail around the base.
We ended a spectacular day with a disappointment. Little Bighorn Battlefield is the site where General Custer’s arrogant underestimation of the opposing indigenous warriors cost him and 262 other members of the 7th Cavalry their lives. We arrived too late in the day, here the Focus faces away from the locked gate.
If only Custer had been able to hang on until 4:30PM, the place would have closed and everyone would have to go home. The monument site was just visible from the gate and has a commanding view over the surrounding terrain. By this point, Custer would have been fully aware of just how badly he had miscalculated.
We had better luck the next day walking on the Continental Divide Scenic Trail where it crossed the Interstate, and at these higher elevations started encountering snow by the roadside.
When I bought the Focus it came equipped with brand new cheap Chinese Rockblade 515 summer tires. We were not keen to test them in winter conditions.
We stayed in downtown Missoula Montana, and after Wall Drug the guys at Morning Birds Bakery restored Mrs DougD’s faith in American coffee and baked goods. Missoula has a great downtown with lots of heritage buildings, we wished that we’d had an extra day or two here.
Our vehicle seemed to be on the small size for long distance trips. Here in the hotel parking lot, the Ontario Focus is dwarfed by the California plated Expedition and the Tahoe from Florida.
Paul N had suggested we check out the Pulaski Tunnel Trail, which was near the Interstate in the very pretty town of Wallace Idaho. This was quite an enjoyable half day hike. If you’ve not heard of Edward Pulaski and the forest fires of 1910 you can learn more at this link. Kermit and Fozzie came along, but without the Studebaker.
Arriving in Spokane we had a few hours to kill before meeting Erin at the airport. Near our hotel I found this stripped out 1963 Mercury Comet. As a salt belt resident, I was impressed by the rust free condition of the remains.
Checking FB marketplace just now there is a thoroughly rusted out 1963 Comet local to me for only $500, just think of the possibilities! Sadly for me I’ve got enough trouble dealing with my current projects.
Miss Erin D arrived on her Toronto – Minneapolis – Spokane flight, and in the morning the two engineers sorted out the 3-D puzzle of how to fit everything into the Focus. Erin had arrived with an unexpected 2nd suitcase which made it a little more of a challenge. As you can see there is very little room left for her, but there is still some visibility out the back window. At the Canadian border the guard said “You drove all the way here just to pick your daughter up at the airport??“
And so we arrived at our destination, and had a very nice couple of days getting Erin and Focus settled in the mining town/ski town that will be her home for the next few months.
Kelowna airport, 4am on May 5th. Our adventure with the Focus ends here, but Erin’s is just beginning. We did 4,804 km and the Focus averaged 6.0 liters per hundred kilometers (39 MPG) and gave us no trouble. At the beginning of the trip we figured we’d only want to do this once, but at some point the car will have to come back to Ontario. A different return route might be fun, we did miss Yellowstone and Grand Teton. Hmmm….
Doug – I agree with your comment in part one: the five speeds just aren’t enough to keep the revs comfortable at 80+ on a western freeway.
I had a ’12 Focus five speed (same color as yours) that I bought new. And we used it for road trips in the west. I felt it always needed a sixth; 5 just felt like it wore out at 70 mph or so. Other than that the Focus was just fine.
When I later got similar hatchback for this kind of driving it was a six speed Corolla and that solved the 80+ cruising issue quite well. I think the manual is no longer available in a new Corolla.
Yes, I feel it’s ridiculous that we get a yellow light telling us to upshift at 2500 rpm but then wind it up to 3000-3500 all day on the highway.
Our Scion tC has a 6-speed, but the final drive ratio is the same which is even more ridiculous. We usually skip 5th and shift 4th-6th.
Custer’s memorial is quite the eerie place, even when open on a sunny day. My one and only visit was about a decade ago; the whole general area (i.e. hundreds of miles), seems even less populated now than what it likely was back then (Custer’s time, not my visit, I mean). I recall being quite surprised at seeing it while on I-90 heading to Glacier National Park at the time; while I recall learning about it and the general gist in maybe 8th grade (?) somehow I had always thought it was in the Southeast of the US, not the Northwest. Good thing I never got on Jeopardy! I guess. But now I know and of course we stopped and took a good look around. It’s, uh, far different from Mt. Rushmore etc for example as there are no racks of T-shirts, no ice cream, and no large crowds of people. Far more somber, obviously and a very good place to think about supposed invincibility and arrogance.
39mpg is an excellent result for an eight year old decently sized vehicle pounding across the northern plains, even at 3000-3500 rpm. Had they added a 6th or raised 5th, no doubt there’d be equal complaints from many about how it “can’t hold top on even a moderate incline”, constant downshifting etc. Can’t win that one but 39mpg goes far to making the point, removing the rpm gauge would probably do even more especially since the sound deadening seems fine. I just did 2400 miles in a 2008 Outback with automatic over the last week and the display is showing 28mpg average…
I’m glad you enjoyed your trip along the northern-ish border and that Erin is settled, it’s nice that she seems very willing to check out other parts of her country.
The 39 mpg was US gallons, and thanks to you and Paul for the pre-trip planning consultation.
Erin doesn’t have to be back in school until Sept 2025, so I’ll have to check with JOGRAD on the STEM daughter opportunities in Whitehorse. She plans to take a few months to travel as well, which did not occur to me when I was that age.
Devils Tower is one of those places that impressed me more than I thought it would. First, the tower itself was indescribable. But also the perimeter trail was awesome too. We hiked the Red Beds trail, which is a longer trail around the tower – we arrived first thing in the morning, and even in summer had the trail virtually all to ourselves. When we returned to the tower, it was amazing how crowded the place is.
Too bad about Little Bighorn. Western US battlefields are interesting since terrain and surroundings have barely changed over the years. There are many lesser-known battlefield sites that are also very interesting – one of them that’s fairly close to Little Bighorn is Rosebud Battlefield State Park in Montana. Keep it in mind for the next time you’re in the area!
I’ve never heard of the Pulaski Tunnel Trail, so I’ll add that one to my list for I’m next in Montana.
Glad the logistics of the trip worked, and you were able to get Erin to her destination. I enjoyed reading about this trip, and I’m anxious to see how you handle the return journey in a few months!
Missoula is a great combination of being both a mountain and a college town. If only the winters weren’t so…wintry.
39 mpg; that’s US gallons, not Imperial ones, right? If so, that is excellent.
Missoula is also ‘famous’ as the home of Adventure Cycling, who produce large numbers (121 and counting!) of highly detailed maps of the most popular long distance bike touring routes all across the US. Truly inspirational. 🙂
And a finish in Rossland! Without a mountain bike? Which was a casualty of our Whitehorse trip as well. No room for a bike in the Fiesta.
The classics around Spokane are pretty fantastic with the dry climate.
I carry a Pulaski in my truck all the time. Handiest tool ever.
Mountain bike and kayak were not able to go along, but her house mates know of ones that can be borrowed.
I’ve swung quite a few Pulaski’s ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulaski_(tool) ) as a volunteer trail builder but never knew about the man or the tunnel. I’ll put it on my list of places to go. I’ve never been to Devil;s Tower but the hexagonal columns seem similar to those at Devil’s Postpile in California and in Miles Canyon in Whitehorse in the Yukon. DougD, you can fly out to meet your daughter at the end of the summer and return via Whitehorse. A few km out of the way but a wonderful route. Maybe fit more winter-worthy tires …
I have never ventured that far west by car, so am enjoying this vicariously. I am happy that you finally found some decent coffee and pastries.
We have all experienced The Great Luggage Cram at one time or another. And yes, it would have been a terrible result to call on an Uber after coming just for this purpose.
I graduated from high school in Wallace; there were still those living who talked about the great 1910 fire and Pulaski. Seems like every family had at least one of the tools.
In 2019, I drove my ’17 Subaru Crosstrek from coast to coast and back, trying to stay on non-Interstate highways (I started on Hwy 2 in Washington). I thought by the end of the trip I’d hate the car, but I still have it and would say it’s perfect for my needs. My conclusion was
everyone should do a cross-country trip at least once in their lifetime!
Glad you had a fun and safe trip. I read a very good book about President Theodore Roosevelt and the formation of the Forestry Service. It also details early wildfire fighting and Mr. Pulaski and other brave firefighters. Quite eye opening.
The Mann Gulch fire also was in that part of the world. The lessons learned from the fantastically named firefighter Wag Dodge about not trying to outrun a forest fire and back burn instead is one I always keep in the back of my head though I am past the days of using a Pulaski professionally.
Tom Petty and Bronski Beat – Mrs DougD has great taste in music. 🙂
Great story DougD, and with all 3 of our kids either owning or owned multiple Focuses (Foci?) I’m a believer in those cars. Great scenery on the drive and as the owner and long time user of multiple Pulaskis I have never known the origin of the name. Very cool!
I was at the same airport, the same time of day 24 hours after you went through as well but headed south instead of east.
Very nice read, and a lovely family!
With respect to Devils Tower, my father who grew up in Cincinnati, and lived in Louisville Where I am from, developed an almost religious fascination with i when driving out to a home I had in Bigfork, Montana.
As such it is quite a special place to me.
Dave
Interesting to see a mention of fuel economy. In the past, my Golf averaged 7.7 L/100 km in regular city driving on ethanol free fuel. Well lo and behold, both levels of government have mandated all fuels have at least 7.5% ethanol. I still use Chevron 94 octane, which now contains 10% alcohol, which has roughly half the energy of gasoline.
I now average 8.1 L/100 km, which is pretty much exactly 5% more consumption. It therefore doesn’t make much sense to me to mandate ethanol in fuel.
Finally, the APR performance tune of my car hasn’t affected fuel economy at all.
What a great road trip! I would love to check out that Devils Tower National Monument one day. Your daughter is lucky to have such great parents.
Wallace Idaho is the one place on this trip i have been, but we were there for the Trail of the Couer d’Alene and to tour the abandoned mine. We’ll have to check out the Pulaski Tunnel the next time we venture north.
Like the shout-outs to Wallace. My late sister in law lived there, in a house built the year after the Great Fire. Railroad buffs would enjoy a side trip to Avery, driving over the abandoned Milwaukee Road roadbed and tunnels. The depot is now a nice museum.
We first traveled to the Spokane-North Idaho area 35 years ago and I was amazed by all the OLD trucks still in daily use at the time.
My wife’s uncle (US Forest Service) swung a Pulaski many times. Apparently there is a lake, road and bridge named after him somewhere in north central Montana.
Didn’t they use to call it ‘The Devil’s Postpile’ ? .
Thank you for taking us long, these pix make it look very inviting .
I’ve often wondered how it is that almost every body shop manages to replace at least one screw with a wood screw .
Where the heck does a BODY SHOP get wood screws ?! .
My first thought on looking at that stripped Comet is “that’s a nice builder” .
The Canadian border guards seem a pretty humorless bunch ~ the young one at the border when I drove up in my ’59 Nash Metropolitan tried to refuse us entry saying we obviously couldn’t have driven it from Los Angeles to Canada…..
As far as Custer’s lunacy, most Military leaders will tell you “no plan survives first contact with the enemy” .
Missoula still looks nice, it’s been thirty years since I was there .
Best of wishes to Erin .
-Nate