I left McCall Idaho in the morning on Tuesday (8/30) so I could get to Seattle before sunset. I’m thinking easy drive, since it should be mostly downhill going from over 5,000 feet to near sea-level, right? Of course not.
Had to take some back-country highways to get out of Idaho. Cool scenery, but more climbing over mountain passes. Very twisty route too. And friggin windy! Took me about 10 hours total to drive.
Driving through Washington was interesting. As I got on Interstate 90, there were more and more windfarms with lots of turbines. They are all facing west. That means wind is from the west. And obviously they wouldn’t put these turbines in places where there isn’t any wind. I just happen to be driving west. Washington is a big state too. And the wind was fucking HOWLING! I don’t mean like 15-20mph, I mean like 40+ mph CONSISTENT head wind.
I could barely do 50mph. I didn’t think I was going to make it. I just imagined this being my last leg of the trip and catastrophe striking. One of my straps holding the roof rack tight came loose. I thought my Jeep was going to get blown over at some point. This went on for about 3 hours of the drive…I think I lost a few years off my life.
It was cool getting closer to Seattle and seeing a convoy of military vehicles, mostly with soldiers sitting on the back. There were dozens of vehicles, all following one another. Everyone was waving and giving thumbs up to those guys (and gals). Me too.
Finally got into Seattle about 6:30 PM. Traffic sucks here. Glad I like riding my bike and that there’s bike lanes everywhere and good public transportation systems. Pulled into our house about 7:30 PM and finally got to see my sweetie! Unpacked my Jeep, ate, and went to bed.
Damn it feels good to be here. Temps are in the 50′s at night, and sleeping with the windows open was awesome. My road trip ended at 62,093 miles on the odometer. Starting from 59,735…that’s a 2,358 mile road trip. In a Jeep. Loaded redneck style. Nice.
Got to take a casual bike ride around West Seattle with Sandie after she got done work today (8/31). It was cloudy in the morning…I was never so happy to NOT see the damn sun! Sun came out in the afternoon though, and got a little warm (70′s…hahahaha). Our bike ride took us down to Alki Beach. There’s people biking on almost every street we’re on. And drivers are yielding to us. This is fucking awesome.
