Raton, NM to Sioux Falls, SD...AND Back - 36 Hours

Between moving across country and shifting to a mobile lifestyle, some things get overlooked.

One of those things is our trailer registration.

About ten days ago we realized we wouldn't be able to rely on our mail forwarding service to handle our new trailer registration.

Now, before I go on I will state that this was not the fault of the mail forwarding service. This was our fault for not addressing the situation immediately.

Knowing that our temporary tags expire on 11/24 we began the process of completing paperwork to allow our mail forwarding service to handle our trailer registration only to discover this time of year is busy for them; the earliest appointment available was 11/19 - 5 days prior to expiration of temporary tags. Ugh...this won't work.

What to do?!?

After weighing options we decided to take matters into our own hands; rent a car and make a road trip - Smokey and the Bandit style!! LOL!! Hope I'm not dating myself with that reference!!

8:30 am on 11/11, with a winter storm brewing, I picked up a 2019 Ford Escape and dropped the hammer (apologies for the Days of Thunder reference) to drive back to Sioux Falls...only to be pulled over 5 miles into the trip. Apparently, during my adjustment to learn where all the buttons are and what they do I crossed the center-line a few times...so much for Smokey and the Bandit style :-). The New Mexico highway patrol was understanding and let me go with a verbal warning. Thank you!!

I anticipated bad road conditions due to the storm and planned to drive to Lincoln, NE and stay the night but, upon arrival, the roads were fine and a full moon was out so I made the decision to forge ahead to Sioux Falls - another 3.5 hours. After driving 941 miles, I arrived in Sioux Falls about 11:30 PM CST and grabbed a hotel for the night.

Recall from previous posts about bringing too much stuff? Well, what a perfect time to return this stuff to permanent storage. The day prior to venturing to SD we reassessed our inventory and what was truly needed. What was deemed unnecessary found its way into the Escape. So, the following morning I dropped off this extra stuff at our storage unit and went to the vehicle registration office. Within 20 minutes I was in and out with our plates and back on the road by 8:30 AM CST. Very efficient Sioux Falls!!!

After an uneventful 941 miles I returned 'home' to Dana and Raton, NM at 9 PM MST

1882 miles and a 36 hour turnaround....MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!