Saturday, October 2, 2010
Chilliwack, B.C. to Lacey, Wa
Tonight we are in Lacey, Washington. A small, a very small, town just south of Tacoma. Why here? Because it had the only Quality Inn between us and Kelso, Washington at the time.
We didn't leave home until 1:45 this afternoon, after some last minute wheel adjustments on the car followed by packing, etc. Finally underway, at a leisurely pace, headed down Vye road to the border - and hoping that we would miss a huge border lineup. Nice try, didn't happen. ONE AND A HALF FREAKING HOURS LATER, we were finally cleared by a surly border guard that had seriously arched eyebrows at our intention to drive the little yellow TR6 all the way to LA, then east and south from there to Tucson, Arizona. He just didn't believe us. It must have seemed odd to him, such a long journey in this old car, but I never gave any ground on our intention so eventually, his eyes rolling in his head, he passed us on down to the land of the free and the home of the brave.
I followed up the border incident by getting seriously lost and having to follow Guide Meridian Road all the way from Sumas to Bellingham, hard by Bellis Fair shopping center. Smack in the center of what seemed like a jail-break of crazed shoppers exiting the mall at 5:00 pm with their treasures, all of them hyped up on Starbucks coffee, all of them late for their next event, and all driving like fools bent on destruction. Jan and I just held our course, kept our heads down, didn't make eye contact, and held on for the I-5 junction which MUST be just ahead. Finally it was, and after one last driver cut into line just ahead of us and then drifted around the south-bound on ramp, it was our turn and we settled down for a steady run. Steady it was, 70 miles an hour, steady, all the way to Seattle. There, the express lanes closed, it was stop and go from just before Northgate all the way to Boeing Field. Then just high speed congestion from there.
We exited for a salad dinner, then south again in the deepening twilight, dusk, and then dark. Steady 65 to 70 mph, not too crowded, on a beautiful and well lit freeway. Decision time - get to Portland or quit early. Quit won out, as the only timing that matters is to get to the Redwoods in daylight, say Monday morning. That means one more night on the road before Grants Pass before we take the Hwy 199 branch west from there toward Crescent City, California.
So stop now, get a good night's sleep, and go for it tomorrow. Done.
Just never forget the truism, Men plan and the Gods laugh.
