On a ferry bound for Vancouver Island, Canada.
It’s a gray, chilly day, with occasional spits of rain. But we are warm and cozy in a lounge on the top floor of the ferry. By luck (and early arrival) we were one of the first rigs loaded on the ferry, so we’re comfortable inside while they get everyone else loaded.
Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, but we’ve been pretty busy. We left Indiana on April 20th, 3 days later than we had hoped, so that cut 3 days out of our travel time to Bellingham, WA, to see Greg and Diana. They were headed back to Indiana on May 9th and we wanted to spend some time with them.
Normally we follow the rule of 2’s: no more than 200 miles a day, at least 2 nights in any place we stop and cocktails by 2 pm. We don’t drink, but the last item means that we’re set up and in place by 2, leaving most of the day for sightseeing, chores or relaxing. But for the trip to Bellingham, we traveled up to 300 miles a day, 3 days in a row, and then took a day off.
I prefer the rule of 2’s, but we had a fun trip. On our second night, we managed to meet up with a former roommate, Jeremy, who graduated with his master’s last spring and is now working for John Deere in Des Moines, Iowa. We also got to admire his award for a patent, which is a lovely small sculpture that sits on his mantel. (Jeremy is not the only one of our “kids” with a patent. We have a talented bunch!)
The rest stop near Tiffin, Iowa had some unique features. It was themed around books. Quite lovely.
The landscape across the country varies quite a bit. The first leg of our journey was flat fields and pastures, which morphed into rolling hills, where the road seemed lined with redbud trees. We came around one curve and crossed a bridge into an area of hills that resembled a lumpy comforter, after Sophie and Baxter (our long ago dogs) had arranged it for a nap.
Later, we came through some hills and burst onto the Great Plains, an enormous flat area between Midwest hills and the Rocky Mountains. It was easy to imagine a glacier moving slowly along, flattening everything in its path.
We took a short cut between two highways and were in the middle of nowhere on a two lane road. It was fairly flat and very little traffic. And, of course, no cell phone service. The towns were small enough that if you blinked, you really did miss them. And cell phone service lasted about a minute.
But we saw a lot of prong horns along this route and maybe some wild horses. Prong horns are related to antelope and look a bit like deer.
The highway we were on roughly followed the path of Lewis and Clark. While there are farms and fences and the prairie grasses have been tamed, it’s still not hard to imagine them paddling their canoes on the streams that cross the prairie. It takes a bit more imagination to see the thousands of buffalo that once roamed the area. I’ve seen hundreds of buffalo together in Yellowstone National Park and that was pretty awe-inspiring.
The plaque below told of Sacajawea leading Captain Clark through the Bozeman Pass on their return east. Note the snow in the background. Luckily, there was no snow on the roads.
The rise into the Rockies was gradual and Steve didn’t really think we were there until I pointed out that the statue in Butte, Montana, of the Madonna of the Rockies was on the continental divide. Then we were seriously in the mountains with some twisty roads and great views.
We stayed overnight in Wallace, Idaho, a small mountain town that mostly existed in a valley under the interstate. Our camp for the night was an RV park run by the local brewpub. They were a little confused when we didn’t order any beer with our dinner. The town looks like it has successfully made the switch from mining town to tourist destination.
See the flying saucer on the corner in front of the Stardust Motel in the next photo:
The train station, now a museum.
The view out our back window:
When we hit the Cascade Mountains, which run down the western part of Washington, the road seemed to be lined with forsythia. It turns out that it’s an invasive species called Scotch Broom. The naturalists don’t like it, but it made the drive through the mountains pretty.
We finally made it to Diana and Greg’s, where we kicked back and recovered from our “dash” across country. Their house is the most relaxing place I know that’s not a massage table. I kept falling asleep.
We celebrated our 44th wedding anniversary on May 6th with Diana and Greg and then watched the political news. It was, as Yogi Berra is supposed to have said, “Déjà vu all over again.” 44 years ago as we traveled on our honeymoon, we watched the Watergate hearings. Life repeats itself.
Greg and Steve made several trips to Hardware Sales to get materials for various projects. Diana and I went to get pedicures and talked a lot when I wasn’t sleeping.
This blog entry is getting way too long, so I’ll break off and try and get this posted.
I’ll try and post again soon!
Deb
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