We made it!

Monday July 27 I was ready to get to Oak Harbor, WA on Whidbey Island to see our friends and when I got up, I knew it was going to be a long day in the saddle. After playing in the dunes yesterday, we drove into Boise and stopped at the Camping World to get a new screen door latch and a few other goodies. The store was closed because as one employee put it, "The owner is a good Mormon."
We stayed overnight in the Camping World parking lot because they had dedicated spots with electric, the first we had seen with electric. Plus its free to stay overnight in the CW parking lots. In the morning, I got the trailer ready to go quickly and ran into the store to get a few goodies. I came back and Becky went in because I did not get what was on her list. When she came back we said goodbye to our neighbors, the Evans. That took about two hours as Dave and I talked about solar panels and rigging the trailers for power and the ladies chatted away. Patrick was bored. 

The day was windy, we had to stand out of it to be comfortable and talk.

The Evans' trailer. They bought it brand new but were waiting for parts that were supposed to be installed before they got it. The CW store forgot to order the part and they have been there two weeks now waiting.

The flag ripples in the breeze.

We got on the road but first a quick stop to see Marvin the Martian's Rocket from the old Looney Tunes comics. I like to get on a site called Roadside America. It has unique places to stop and see. Patrick wanted to see Marvin so we made a quick stop.

 We left Boise without seeing the blue Boise State football field but we were alright with that. Time for the super slab. Big views, farming and sagebrush.

More hay.

We crossed the border and ran north along the Snake River once again.

 I saw a sign that said scenic overlook of a historic bridge so we diverted off the highway and took a short drive. We missed the overlook..drove over the bridge..and we ended up on this one lane road. There was a little sign that said no outlet. I couldn't turn around anywhere so we ended up going all the way to the end of the road where it was gated. The GPS said that we could turn on an adjoining road but there was only a small dirt two track.

 This was the historic bridge that we could view on the way back. It is on the Oregon Trail and old US Route 30 which we played tag with all across Idaho and Oregon. The bridge was built as part of the "Get Oregon Out of the Mud" campaign.  It would be a neat drive to go from one side of the country to the other on 30. For now we were content to be on and off of it.

Climbed out of the valley and the beautiful fur trees back to desolate scrub. I don't know haw the emigrates made it across the country or made repeated trips along the Oregon Trail.

 On I-84 the road makes a squiggle all over the map as it climbs a massive mountain. Its a steep grade and the road makes several switchbacks. It was a pretty cool feat of engineering with spectacular views all around that can't be captured by the camera. 

 We stopped for gas in Kennewick, WA and I looked for a place to stay the night that might be free but Becky said I could push on through if I wanted to and I did thinking that traffic would be better around Seattle in the dead of night. But first we drover through Yakima River valley where there were so many grape vines that it amazed me. I have never seen so many vines in one place. Most of the vines are wine grapes and there were lots of wineries along the road. Becky was salivating.

We spotted these vines and they were everywhere. I don't know if it was a different way of growing grapes or it was a different vegetable/fruit.

Snoquaime Pass was shut down for an hour for blasting and clean up. We sat for a half and hour before we could go through. It was a beautiful sunset as we drove through the mountains into the pass. The left headlight was out on the Tahoe making night driving a little weak.

A shaky view of the buildings at the I90 and I5 interchange.

I thought that traffic would be lighter going through Seattle at night and it was but not by much. Coming from s small town it doesn't take much traffic to make it seem like rush hour. But it was less that that hot mess Atlanta so I was thankful. It was midnight when we pulled into Tom and Kathy's driveway and we parked up hoping Richie had given us the right address.
In the morning, Richie, Tara and the girls stopped by to see us before they ran up to Whistler for a few days to ride mountain bikes. We pumped out the trailer, helped Tom clean up and parked the trailer in a semi permanent spot and got settled in. If it was warmer here I wouldn't mind staying but I have had a sweat shirt on everyday and I just don't like that in August. Love being around good friends and catching up. Kathy is keeping us well fed and packing on the weight with her constant cooking and its always delicious! So glad we made it out to Washington and half the trip is over.