Made it to Idaho today

We left Portland today & traveled a historic and scenic Highway  30 that was built in 1915.  The first stop was Vista House built in 1917. A lady there told us that during WWI, they used to watch for subs on the Columbia River from there. We drove on the road past four waterfalls, parking the car and walking to most of them. We are lucky that the former land owners had the foresight to donate the scenic areas to the state of Oregon. The falls were: Latourell, Multnomah, Bridal Veil, & Horse Tail Falls. I found it interesting that we had viewed Bridal Veil & Horse Tail Falls just outside of Valez, AK. After seventeen miles and several hours, it was time to get on the interstate. We went on I-84 and for an interstate, it was very scenic. We saw tugboats, barges, dams and a paddle boat, following the Columbia River. At the start of I-84, there was a sign warning us of wind gusts and strong crosswinds. We were lucky that we experienced very little of either one.

The terrain started to change to a desert like appearance. After we got on Highway 730, it changed again, looking like Midwestern farm country. We followed the Columbia River until after lunch when we followed US12. US12 is part of the Lewis & Clark Trail that we followed earlier in our trip.  When we went past Waitsburg, there were rolling hills again. Traveling through farm country, I saw some interesting names like Pie Plant Road and Lower Hog Eye Road (I never saw Upper Hog Eye Road.) The only animals cited today was quail. They would run to the edge of the road as we rode by.

Today was the first day in about 4 weeks that we drove with all of the windows open. Ray felt something on his leg & brushed it off on me. It was a wasp. We quickly stopped and got rid of it before either of us got stung. A little while later, a bumble bee flew in hit the back of Ray's head. It was dead on impact. No bee stings then either but somehow lots of little tiny, I think aphids? were all over us. Again we stopped and got rid of the bugs.  Hopefully that is the end of the bees!

The cars ran well today. We will spend the night in Lewiston, Idaho and continue on to Montana tomorrow.

Mt. St. Helen and Mt. Hood

This morning we left around 8:30 and drove toward Mt. St. Helen.  It was a 50+ miles out of our way but well worth the trip.  It was impressive watching the videos of the eruption and looking at the before and after pictures.  The personal comments from people who were in the area when the eruption started were very moving. There are remains of many trees still on the ground.  It was a reminder of how brutal nature can be. When we were stopped at an overlook. a man came to us and said "In Switzerland we have mountains like these  but we don't have cars like yours."

Close to the bottom of the mountain, we stopped at Patty's Place for a late lunch. This restaurant is known for its french fries & homemade cobbler. The fries are thin cut & dipped in a beer batter. Yum! After having a sandwich, Ray & I opted to have cobbler with ice cream, for dessert. I can personally vouch for how good the peach cobbler was. Ray said the apple was good too.  Rose and Jim did not have dessert. I decided that the cobbler was also my dinner. We continued down I-5 to Portland, Oregon.  We saw some great views of Mt. Hood as we got close to Portland. The skies have been clear allowing us to see both Mt. Ranier & Mt. Hood. Our mileage today was 284 miles.

Tomorrow we plan to drive along the Columbia River Gouge.  (We know that it will be windy.) Then cross over onto Washington state on Hwy. 14.We should be in Idaho tomorrow night. The "A's" are performing well.

Another day in Seattle

This morning we left the hotel around 10:30AM. Since it worked out so well yesterday, we decided to use the transit system again.  Our first stop was the Space Needle. It was another clear day with blue skies. It seemed that everyone in Seattle was here because of the nice weather. We had to wait about 30 minutes for tickets and then almost an hour to get inside. We could have avoided the wait if we wanted to pay double. We would have gotten the VIP treatment. The view was spectacular. Walking around the top, we were able to see all around the area. 

We left the Space Needle by tram and then walked to the waterfront, passing through Pike Fish Market to look for a place for lunch. I chose The Crab Pot. It was a good choice. Ray & I had a meal that was like a crab boil but it had crabs, shrimp, mussels, & clams in addition to the other stuff that is usually in it. The server spread the paper, brought us a mallet & melted butter. Then he dumped our dinner on the paper. It was s-o-o-o delicious. Jim had some halibut that he said was very good. Rose doesn't like fish so she had some chicken that she liked. After our meal, we walked around a little and then climbed the 105 steps (Jim counted them) to the top of University Street to get our train back to the hotel. Tomorrow we will head down I-5 going south.

A short day on the road

Jim left the hotel early this morning to get his tires mounted. Whoo-Hoo!  That means no more baloney skins for tires!  We left Everette around 11AM this morning and drove about 30 miles south. We are in Seatak for two days!  The first stop was to buy some necessities like soft drinks and snacks etc.  We decided to give our cars a rest and ride public transit into Seattle this afternoon. Mt. Ranier was visible today. I posted a picture. We were told that it is only visible about 70 days a year so we were lucky. Our first stop was the water front. It is fun to walk around a just soak up the atmosphere.  After that, we went to the Pike's Place Fish Company. I have heard about this for years. They really do throw the fish and have a lot of fun working. I was surprised at how reasonably priced the fish and seafood were. In a booth close by,  I saw some of the biggest prawns that I have ever seen. It probably only took 3 or 4 to make a pound. Yum! There was a huge brass pig by the Fish Market that we had to pose for pictures while sitting on it.And the bouquets of flowers were gorgeous and inexpensive. Next we headed back to the water front to The Fisherman's.(a restaurant) It was so nice to sit outside and sip on a glass of wine and soak up some sunshine. The guys drank a beer & Rose had raspberry tea. Then it was time to board the boat for our cruise to Blake Island. There we had a nice dinner of baked salmon. When we arrived, we were able to see the salmon cooking over the open fire. The Tillicum Native Americans put on a show about their customs and told some folklore type of stories. We left around 9:30PM for a 45 minute ride back to Seattle. The skyline at night was beautiful.
Tomorrow we plan to see the Space Needle and some other area attractions.

PS: To Tammy from Kentucky: We went to a Mejers store. A man approached me in the parking lot & said that he had friends that did a similar trip last summer. I asked if they were from Kentucky & he said they were. He also wanted to know if we were pulling campers or camping. I told him that we agreed right from the first plan that we would not pull trailers or camp.   Tammy, you may know this guy but I never got his name.

Back in the USA

The ride today was uneventful as far as car issues go.  We awoke to windy but sunny conditions. We drove down Canada Highway 1 South. You know it is windy when you are going down a 6% slope and you are having to accelerate!  We stopped at a particularly scenic rest area and a man said something to Ray & I about Peachtree City. We of course talked to him and his wife. It turns out that it was Bill & Lynne Jacobs. Lynn is the sister of Bob Smith from the Peachtree City Running Club that Ray & I are members of. They were looking for us because Bob had told them about our trip.  In fact, they saw us go by several days ago when we were in Whittier AK. Bill had passed us several miles earlier. They were ready with a tripod & camera to take our picture as we went by. It was a bonus when we unexpectedly stopped.              

We followed the Thompson River for a while today. It is very scenic, with white water rushing along and train tracks on both sides. We also crossed over Jackass mountain today. It was extremely windy and included 7 tunnels. I thought the name was interesting.  We ate lunch in Hope, BC. They had a lot of chainsaw carvings in this little town. Crossing the border was easy. It just took a few minutes mainly because there was a line.  Tonight we are in Everett, Washington, about 20 miles north of Seattle.

Today when we checked into the Hotel we noticed a gentleman behind us waiting.  When Ray walked out the man followed him. He was another car guy.  His name is Jim Hendry  and was driving a Model A Phaeton Replicar.  It is his daily driver rain or shine and has had it for quite a few years.  He is a local attorney, he reminded Ray of our own local banker/lawyer. 

Tomorrow we plan to do some site seeing. I think our total mileage is a little under 8,500 miles.                                                                                        

A Rainy Windy Driving Day

The guys did some maintenance this morning before the rain started. Ray noticed grease dripping from the hub cap. He checked out the bearings and decided to put a new outer bearing on.He repacked everything. Teri assisted. Jim retorqued the cylinder head on his car. Rose supervised. After a late breakfast, we were ready to go. It was sunny when we left but that changed quickly. Ray pulled into a rest area to find a rattle in our car. It was the tailpipe but he couldn't tighten it then. That had to wait until we stopped for the day.  It rained on and off for most of the day. Then the winds came. There were 40 mph cross winds. We were glad that we were only going 270 miles today. We are spending the night in Cache Creek. If things go as planned, we will be in Bellingham, Washington tomorrow. We have gone over 8,000 miles now.

Finally back on track

We left around 8:30AM and went through customs again. No problem. We went on our way towards Prince George. It is a long ride between fuel stops. We filled up before we left town. Three hours later we stopped at a rest area. A young woman there begged us for some gas. Jim gave her the two gallons he was carrying and he wouldn't take any money for it. We continued on to the next town, which was an Indian Village, Kitwancool. It had a lot of totem poles and was known to its collection. There were two gas pumps: status and non status. The Indians had a status card and got a better rate. We knew that the restaurants were rare on our routes so we bought some snacks for lunch. Lunch was chips with candy bars for dessert.

The countryside continues to be beautiful but it is overcast today and occasionally there are sprinkles of rain. East of East Hazleton, the landscape started to change. It was farmland and the only animals that we saw were horses and cows. Mountains were still a nice back drop. We have started driving through some small towns. It is as if we are back into modern civilization again.

Sixty miles from Prince George, Jim's car broke down. It was a blown head gasket. It took about an hour to fix it. While they were working on it, three cars stopped. Two of them were people offering to help and they owned Model A's. One of the guys took us to their house. He has three A's, 1928 Special Coupe, 1931pick up, and a 1931 Sport Coupe. They are beautifully restored. The pick up was recently judged and got 960 out of 1,000 possible points. We wanted to stay later but there were not any rooms in their town so we had to go to Prince George.  It started raining and and it was dark. It was very hard to see but we made it to our hotel. To our new "A" friends in British Columbia are: Bud, Lin, Dave & Susan. Thanks for your hospitality!