Pendleton to Spokane
Out at 8:30... The latest start of the trip... Today will be The shortest day... 200 miles and 3 hours if Google is correct.
Since I had some time, I visit the Pendleton woolen mill, explore town, get cash at a handy Wells Fargo ATM, then head out of town... Picking up Hwy 395 before getting on the freeway.
10:05. Columbia River, state of Washington... Paused to visit McNary dam & lock... You can look but you can't get close, for this is U. S. Government property and there are fences topped with bobbed wire and signs, saying "No Trespassing"
Out at 8:30... The latest start of the trip... Today will be The shortest day... 200 miles and 3 hours if Google is correct.
Since I had some time, I visit the Pendleton woolen mill, explore town, get cash at a handy Wells Fargo ATM, then head out of town... Picking up Hwy 395 before getting on the freeway.
10:05. Columbia River, state of Washington... Paused to visit McNary dam & lock... You can look but you can't get close, for this is U. S. Government property and there are fences topped with bobbed wire and signs, saying "No Trespassing"
A little while later I cross the Columbia again at
Pasco/Richland… this time from Washington to Washington…
The drive north is through farming land... Dry wheat, and irrigated hay... A sigh in Lind announces a "combine demolition derby" ... This is a sight I may need to see… something to add to the bucket list… I might say “you are not in Kansas anymore” but Kansas, being grain country might have combine demolition derbys… A quick web search located a YouTube video… badly pixilated, but it suggests a spectacle of spectacular proportions… In slow motion (too slow to do as much damage as expected) and in the case of at least one entrant includes an inflatable penguin. The closest thing in my experience might be the Hippo ballet sequence from Disney’s Fantasia, only with cotton candy instead of classical music.
The smoke is getting worse as I head north... The fires are not close, but they are inescapable...
In to Spokane a bit after 1:00... I get gas on my way in, near the airport, across from the motel... Then into town, where I find the main library, and its North West history room... I look at photos, at city directories, at a couple of subject files, and books... I move on to a targeted search of newspapers, and for a 1890 magazine... I find stuff. The archivist asks if the smoke is still bad.
After 4 hours of research, I called it quits, walked along the river, gawking at the falls that define this place, wandered into a bookstore then drove back towards the airport and my motel... I checked in, hauled the luggage inside, including Tina's suit case... Then check email and such, only to see Tina's flight out of SFO is running late, and she will likely miss her connection from Seattle to Spokane...
After more than one phone call, and several web searches, the lovely Tina gives up and drives to the airport to catch her flight and beg for accommodation or for ???... In the end, she will take her original, now very late flight to Seattle, where after a 6 hour layover she can fly here, to Spokane... Arriving at 8:00 am.... A bit more than 8 hours late... I suspect she will be tired.
I haul her suitcase back downstairs, and pack it away in the jeep...
I am off to dinner at a local Bar-B-Que place... The locals are string at the sunset and talking about smoke...
I will post this, upload a today's photos and go to bed...
The drive north is through farming land... Dry wheat, and irrigated hay... A sigh in Lind announces a "combine demolition derby" ... This is a sight I may need to see… something to add to the bucket list… I might say “you are not in Kansas anymore” but Kansas, being grain country might have combine demolition derbys… A quick web search located a YouTube video… badly pixilated, but it suggests a spectacle of spectacular proportions… In slow motion (too slow to do as much damage as expected) and in the case of at least one entrant includes an inflatable penguin. The closest thing in my experience might be the Hippo ballet sequence from Disney’s Fantasia, only with cotton candy instead of classical music.
The smoke is getting worse as I head north... The fires are not close, but they are inescapable...
In to Spokane a bit after 1:00... I get gas on my way in, near the airport, across from the motel... Then into town, where I find the main library, and its North West history room... I look at photos, at city directories, at a couple of subject files, and books... I move on to a targeted search of newspapers, and for a 1890 magazine... I find stuff. The archivist asks if the smoke is still bad.
After 4 hours of research, I called it quits, walked along the river, gawking at the falls that define this place, wandered into a bookstore then drove back towards the airport and my motel... I checked in, hauled the luggage inside, including Tina's suit case... Then check email and such, only to see Tina's flight out of SFO is running late, and she will likely miss her connection from Seattle to Spokane...
After more than one phone call, and several web searches, the lovely Tina gives up and drives to the airport to catch her flight and beg for accommodation or for ???... In the end, she will take her original, now very late flight to Seattle, where after a 6 hour layover she can fly here, to Spokane... Arriving at 8:00 am.... A bit more than 8 hours late... I suspect she will be tired.
I haul her suitcase back downstairs, and pack it away in the jeep...
I am off to dinner at a local Bar-B-Que place... The locals are string at the sunset and talking about smoke...
I will post this, upload a today's photos and go to bed...
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