We drove 6600 Miles through Canada & The USA to Attend Ponies In The Smokies (PITS) 2025
It started like most of our big automotive adventures as a family do: in a whirlwind of trailer loading, last-minute snacks in a bag, and the quiet hum of excitement that only a good road trip can stir. We had mapped it out — sort of — and had a loose plan to drive from Canada down to the soulful streets of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This loose plan would end up with some alterations but at least we had a direction to point the truck and trailer towards. It would take us through snowstorms, sunshine, time zones, and truck stops and create a lifetime worth of memories and stories.
Day 1: Tequila & Tired Eyes
We left our house Thursday (March 20th 2025) evening with the mindset of getting a jump on the trip. We live approximately 1.5 hours from the United States border. We crossed the border around 7pm and made our first stop at our favourite Mexican restaurant, where the food is always good and the staff and service are wonderful. Our lovely server surprised us with a couple of complimentary celebratory tequila shots for Mom & Dad — a proper “cheers” to the journey ahead. We rolled into Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, well after midnight and checked into the Days Inn. Clean, comfy, and free breakfast — just how we like it. We were so exhausted we didn’t even unpack our bags from the trailer, we just crawled into bed and passed out for the night.
Continental breakfast at the Days Inn Coeur d’Alene, Idaho
Day 2 (March 21st 2025): White Knuckles & Windstorms
08:00 am - Leaving Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in the wind and rain, we hit heavy snow in the first of many mountain passes we needed to cross. The first time change came and went with barely a yawn. Montana greeted us with dry skies but relentless wind that had our F-150 5.0 drinking gas like it was going out of style. We made a pit stop in Missoula, Montana, at a little drive-thru grab and go coffee hut and pushed on hoping to beat the storm warnings. We stopped at Subway for lunch in Butte,Montana and tried to order the kids their favourite sub: “The Great Canadian Club” — only to discover the obvious that it’s not called the the great Canadian Club in The USA, it’s called “The Great American Club!” We all had a good laugh and the kids settled for the American version. By the time we reached the city of Billings, we were tired but still going. Then came Wyoming and those terrible road divots that made us think we’d popped a tire. (Spoiler: we hadn’t.) We finally rolled into Rockerville, South Dakota at 1:45am; wrestled with a stubborn cabin key that didn’t want to unlock our room, and huddled into our chilly little room for the night.
Snowy conditions in a Montana mountain pass
2:30 am at the Rockerville Lodge & Cabins Mount Rushmore SD
Day 3 (March 22nd 2025): Monuments & Pancakes
We slept in until about 9:30am, barely made it to the continental breakfast, and then unloaded the Mustang and made the short drive up to Mount Rushmore. I almost didn’t unload the car due to the lack of sleep I was under, and the thought of driving another 2300 miles to reach our destination. I am sure glad I did though because the view is incredible, and I would most definitely regret not taking the opportunity to get a few pictures with that impressive monument in the back ground. Pulling up, we were in absolute awe. The monument is truly incredible and a must see if you are ever in the area. South Dakota brought more wind, and with more wind came more fuel stops, and yet another time change. The landscape was vast and flat, and by nightfall, we were driving past the lights of Omaha, Nebraska, while trying to reach Kansas City, MO, but the wind slowed us down, and we called it a night in St. Joseph, Missouri at around 1:30am. The Fairfield Marriott was very cozy, and we finally felt a bit of that southern hospitality we had been waiting for!!
Day 4 (March 23rd 2025): Southern Charm & Stormy Skies
9:00am: Continental breakfast again and an extra “y’all be safe now” as we checked out. We hit the road again under red flag warnings for high winds and possible fires in Kansas City. In St. Louis, we crossed the Mississippi River under gloomy skies and heavy traffic; then made our way into Illinois, across the Ohio River, and into Kentucky. We finally pulled into NW Tennessee around 8:30PM. Tennessee rolled out the welcome mat with a full-on downpour - to which our windshield wipers couldn’t even keep up to - and a tornado watch. Visibility was near zero, and we missed our exit in Nashville. A few wrong turns later, and almost getting the trailer stuck down some jenky back alley side road, we pulled into our Airbnb around 10:00pm only to realize we never got the door lock code from the hosts…. This was “quickly” rectified and we settled in for the night.
Tennessee Days: Music, Moonshine & Memories
(March 24th 2025 - March 26th 2025) Once settled, we spent a few glorious days soaking up the southern charm of Franklin, Leiper’s Fork, Columbia, and Broadway Downtown Nashville. We visited with the locals, listened to live music, and explored every charming corner of Western Tennessee. We have often thought that Tennessee would be a great place to move to one day so much of our time spent in the Nashville area was spent checking things out and getting a feel for the area.
March 26th 2025: We left Nashville around 10:00am and 3 short hours later, we arrived in Sevierville TN. We stayed four nights in a beautiful house where the BBQ was always hot, the fridge was full, the beer was cold, and the memories were countless. The kids went wild in Pigeon Forge’s upside-down house while the grownups sipped moonshine, talked cars and swapped old war stories. The car show was incredible. Thousands of Mustangs from 1964.5 to 2025 filled the streets of Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. All you could hear through out that amazing valley was the sounds of Mustangs everywhere. We cruised the main streets, we cruised the back roads, and even organized some Foxbody specific cruises where we all met at the Hardrock Cafe, among all of the other Mustangs (that could find parking). Next up was the car show (Friday & Saturday). We had been invited to join the boys from the Five0 Asylum in their Foxbody specific area that had been sectioned off outside from the rest of the cars on display. We were not the only foxbodys in attendance, but were the only Foxbody specific area that gathered around 60 of some of the most beautiful 79-93 Mustangs I had ever seen! Friday was an absolutely stunning day - temps in the mid 80’s, beautiful cars, great people, and lots of car chat. We ended that day with a quick run to Dick’s Last Resort for a bite to eat, and then over to Ole’ Smokey Moonshine distillery for a tasting… Saturday was a little cloudy but the slightly cooler temps were welcomed after Fridays sun. We finished off the day with the PITS award ceremony where we actually took home some porcelain hardware: “Furthest Travelled” at 3300 miles one way, and “PITS Staff pick favourite Car.” I figured the furthest travel award was pretty much a gimme with the ridiculous amount of miles we drove to make this car show a reality, but we were absolutely stunned and flattered by the PITS Staff Pick award!!! The night was like any last night following a great week with friends: All the guys get busy loading up their cars , while the gals tidy up the Airbnb, all of whom are just trying their best to avoid the inevitable “good byes.”
The Long Haul Home: Detours, Cheese, and One Very Bald Tire
March 30th 2025 6:30am: With tornado watches sweeping through Missouri, we decided to take the safer and slightly longer route home which meant heading North towards Chicago , Illinois before transitioning West. Kentucky’s rolling hills were a sight to see, but Indiana? Let’s just say... the driving there was interesting. We drove through a lot of Indiana and let’s just say, we were very surprised at some of the driving tactics. Lots of “break pedal touching” for absolutely no reason and no intent in slowing down which always led to overall traffic slow downs. We also counted 5 full blown accidents during our time on the interstate in Indiana. Maybe we just caught everyone on a bad day?
We pulled into Madison, Wisconsin for the night around 1:30am, where we gained an hour and lost $22 on some fancy old cheddar cheese from a little gas station - however the cheese was absolutely incredible!
March 31st 2025: We woke up to snow flurries the following morning — a far cry from the sun we left in Tennessee, but with no time to spare, we carried on. Minnesota brought beautiful lakes, crystal clear rivers and rolling hills, and Fargo, North Dakota brought flat lands and an awkwardly balding trailer tire which we still can’t quite figure out the cause of; but we decided to take advantage of the lit up parking lot of a local gas station and flip it out for a spare before it was too late. We powered through the remainder of North Dakota and hit Montana around 2:30am, where we napped briefly at a truck stop before finally crashing at a little ma & pa hotel for the night.
The Final Push
April 1st 2025: The last stretch of the journey was a blur of gas stations, bad fuel mileage (hello 6.4 mpg!), and every kind of weather Montana could throw at us — snow, sun, wind, and rain - all within minutes of each other at times.
Dinner in Missoula at Five Guys was the perfect final “treat meal” for the kids. Surrounded by mountains, we took a deep breath and soaked in the moment. A non-stop streak through the pan handle of Idaho and the corner of Washington found us back at the US-Canada border with an arrival time of 2:45am. The Canadian border guard was great (which is not typically the case), he ran us through the typical questions: “Where have you been?” “What are you bringing into the country?” etc. and he even allowed the kids to stay sleeping which is NEVER the case. An hour and a half later, we pulled into the driveway at 4:15am and crawled into our beds for some much needed rest.
KASL Customs