Yes, I believe that there is a possibility that he drove to RV strictly to see AM. No other motive fits and the time line doesn't allow for much else. She was the most recent or most well known woman in his romantic life. With locating a wife as one of his two primary goals, I think that it is entirely possible that he may have still been holding out hope for his relationship with AM or that he needed to find closure from the relationship. His early morning departure for a relatively secretive13 hr round trip drive rings more of a decision of emotion, not logic.
SK's missionary days may have been behind him, but the habits and/or lifestyle he had learned from those days were not. He was not living a life greatly advanced or removed from the missionary lifestyle. He didn't have strong ties to his current residence in St. G besides his involvement in his church. His employment was a door to door job which is very similar to missionary work.
And, missionaries do not have a great deal of money and live in a very frugal manner. Missionaries will frequently only have one or two suits and five shirts that they wash and re-use each week. He would be accustomed to making journeys or trips and packing very little in the way of clothing. Additionally, traveling to Sacramento would not be daunting to someone who lived for 2 yrs in Brazil while serving a mission. Foreign or new places would not present the same to SK as it would to someone who had not lived in a foreign country when they were age 19-21.
Not to mention, missionaries do not use the internet, phones, or e-mail on a daily basis. Their access to communication devices and computers is very limited and is restricted to a single e-mail session on their "P" day (Personal day). He would be very accustomed to a more face to face style of communication and making arrangements through in-person conversations.
Simply look at his cell phone usage before he disappeared. It would be considered rather sparse when compared to your average user. If he was more reliant on technology and cell phones, he would have left a greater call record, more text messages, and had more e-mail contact. But, the records just don't support that.
SK was living more of a missionary lifestyle than he was of your typical all American 30 yr old, established, adult single man. When examining his actions and making conjectures about his decisions prior to his disappearance, I think that recognizing how his life really hadn't progressed since he was a missionary could be very useful to understanding him.
In doing so, his actions become more reasonable if we factor in his strong desire to be a typical 30 yr man with a wife and a steady job, completely independent from his family. That was his focus and that would have been driving his decision making.
