Autumn in the American West

WEST GLACIER, MONTANA – Greetings from Glacier National Park…

My family and I are on an epic summer road trip around America.

For the past four and a half months, we’ve made our way from Florida, up to and around the Great Lakes, down to New Mexico, and then up to the Canadian border at the top of Idaho.

We’ve driven 11,000 miles and visited the 22 states that make up America’s Heartland. We haven’t used any interstates. Only backroads… many of them dirt roads.

Our trip is coming to an end now. It’s too cold to be living in a tent… and we have road fatigue. So we’ve rented an apartment in a small ski town called Driggs, Idaho, population 1,660.

We’re going to hunker down there for the winter and learn how to ski.

We move into our new apartment in three days. We’re all so excited to have a comfortable place to stay, beds, hot showers, and laundry machines, we’re counting down the days until we get there.

In the meantime, we still have two more campsites, nine hours of driving, and several more fast-food menus to navigate until we get there…

Getting Dark and Cold in the Forest

I’m writing to you now from a picnic table in our new campsite in Glacier. The sun has just set… it’s starting to get dark… and cold… and Kate’s warming up some hot soup…

Last night, we slept next to the train tracks at the county fairgrounds in Bonners Ferry. This morning, we got up, made a pot of coffee, packed up the tent, and hit the road.

The gas station was our first stop. We ate breakfast sandwiches and hash browns I found under a heat lamp in a glass box on the gas station’s counter. We used the gas station’s bathroom to wash up. Then we drove east…

To get to Glacier, we had to drive across two mountain ranges.

We chose the backcountry route… on national forest roads (old logging routes)… that took us deep into the Yaak River wilderness… right up to the Canadian border… and down to Lake Koocanusa, which we crossed on a long metal bridge.

It was beautiful up there on that road… We hardly saw another car in three hours.

We climbed high enough that the clouds were below us, lingering in the folds and creases of the mountains. We also saw some snow and ice by the side of the road at the top of the pass. This is grizzly bear country.

Hoping It Stays Above Freezing Tonight

I haven’t changed my clothes in five days. I sleep in them at night. Then I wear them during the day. Last night was so cold, I slept in my sleeping bag while wearing my puffer jacket as well as my jeans and sweatshirt.

We also use a propane heater to warm the tent in the morning and in the evenings.

The temperature only got down to about 37 degrees last night at the county fairgrounds in Bonners Ferry, but when you’re sleeping in a tent with no insulation, you feel the cold much more acutely.

Here are the kids this morning. Glacier is colder than Bonners Ferry. Tonight might be even colder. We’re hoping it stays above freezing. We’ll see…

– Tom Dyson

P.S. Holed up in a hotel room a few weeks ago, I recorded this urgent video briefing. America is at a tipping point from which it may never recover. Saving your retirement and your family is the single best thing you can do right now. How? Watch this.

Like what you’re reading? Send your thoughts to [email protected].

Readers extend more hospitality invitations to the Dyson family… share their own love of Driggs (the city where Tom plans to spend the winter)… and one even suggests a U.K. road trip…

Reader question: I’ve been enjoying the heck out of your travelogues, and I’ve been getting many vicarious thrills from your writing. I wish I had the guts to do what you did when my kids were that age (they’re 29 and 30 now).

Two things for you. 1. My wife and I live in Jackson, Wyoming, just over Teton Pass from Driggs. If you’re interested, I’d love to meet you and buy you a beer (or dinner for the family). 2. A little while ago, you were writing quite a bit about tanker stocks. Whatever happened to those trades? I’ve been loosely tracking them and it looks like they are range bound. Good luck this winter!

Tom’s response: We’d love to meet you for a beer! About the tanker stocks, I’m still holding! Their stock prices have not done well but the thesis is still completely intact. I’m patiently waiting for the payoff.

Reader comment: We love Driggs and are booking our trip for next year. You’re in for a ferocious winter. Driggs is a great place to locate. It’s easy to get to over the pass to Jackson for fun and Snake River rafting. It’s a 3-hour ride to West Yellowstone and Old Faithful. Enjoy your time in a beautiful place with a wonderful family.

Reader comment: Driggs is one of my favorite places in the west! Spent a few weeks there soaring gliders up in the Tetons and then some time playing tourist in the Tetons and Yellowstone, operating out of a local Airbnb. Not sure if Teton Aviation still offers glider rides in the mountains, but if they do, well worth the experience! The place gets really cold in winter, so prepare accordingly. Great community! Grew up in the west (Colorado, Wyoming, Montana) and now live in Tennessee. I have really enjoyed your family’s adventures and impressions! Keep up the great work and writing! Also, agree with your gold thesis!

Reader comment: Hey Tom and family, it’s been fun to follow along with your adventure and investing wisdom. If you’re coming through Boise, feel free to drop me a line. We have a guest suite in the basement, along with space for the camper, grilling, and s’mores. And we are in the Highlands area, so close to downtown but right next to the mountains and hiking trails! My wife is a great cook, and our two small boys would enjoy the company as well!

Reader comment: Tom, have you read the geologic history of Lake Pend Oreille? It is fascinating!

Reader comment: Following your journey is a real treat! Kudos to you and Kate for setting out on your nomadic family adventure. My reason for writing is that you should talk to my friend who has an amazing success story with his dad’s Parkinson’s. He was at the stage where most days he did not know who his son was, could not take care of himself, was bent over, and just shuffled a few inches at a time. He eventually was doing two-hour power walks and fully engaged in his social world. Best wishes and happy travels to you and your family.

Reader comment: Hi to Tom and family. You are missing a wonderful part of the country if you don’t venture to the West Coast of Washington, Oregon, and Northern California. The winters are very mild along the coast. Have followed you through China and this U.S. trip. Am signed up with Tom’s Portfolio, but haven’t done much with it yet as this is a busy work season for me. Thanks for the adventures.

Reader comment: There are so many beautiful places to visit in your homeland of England! It could be a great opportunity for the children and Kate to see where you were brought up! You could still incorporate traveling, just in an order you hadn’t thought of! Seemed some of the journey you were on was quite random anyway, so just a different venue! P.S. I wish you the very best of luck for all the future!

Reader comment: I’ve been enjoying reading about your travels with your family as my husband and I were full-time RVers and visited most of the places you described visiting. America is truly a beautiful and diverse country and everyone should be able to experience this beauty.

Hint: The best way to do this in a limited time is with a motorhome and a “toad” – towed vehicle, but your rig works well also. You can buy a used motorhome or trailer, clean it up and improve it a bit, and sell it for close to what you paid for it when you are done traveling. An RV dealer we met who owned the shop we visited for warranty work on our new fifth-wheel trailer, told us, “You folks who buy new RVs are financing my wife and my trip, which we are starting tomorrow, to Alaska.”

He went on to say, “I buy a used motorhome with less than 20,000 miles on it, and sell it at the 40,000 mile mark. I get the best use because all the bugs are worked out of the motorhome, and I don’t have the big expenses like tires, engine, transmission, or air conditioner work.”

Reader comment: Pleased to see that at least some of the kids were sometimes wearing life vests (aka PFDs) on the boat on Priest Lake. As a Coast Guard officer, I was involved in testing PFDs for USCG official approval. The hazards of junky PFDs, or worse, not wearing them at all, are severe, sometimes fatal, for both kids and adults.

Meanwhile, another reader would be happy to spend his older years with his family, as Tom has said he will do with his mother…

Reader comment: I am closing in on 80 years. I have been thinking about how I would feel if my two sons came to live with me if I was sick. It would make me happy. I know Tom’s mother would be happy to have her family there with her. All our mothers devoted their lives to us. We owe them.

Tom’s note: Please keep writing us at [email protected]. We love hearing from you and read every note you send us.