day three

june 26, the potholes in eastern washington to ogden, utah, 662 miles:
here are some random babblings from the road. ... i started talking to myself this afternoon. wonder what that says about the remaining 27 days of this trip. i think it was more a result of today being an intentional mile-eater, plus baristas for some reason not being interested in just chatting for an hour or so. it was a just-get-on-the-road-and-go day. four states -- washington, oregon, idaho, utah -- and more than a few coffee stops. ... said goodbye to mount rainier this morning. there are nice views of it from the road between moses lake and the tri cities. said goodbye to the columbia river as well. played woodie guthrie's "roll on columbia" to mark the occasion. the lyrics to roll on columbia are fairly dated, and rhapsodizing about dams and power plants doesn't go over well these days, but it would sure be a better state song than whatever washington currently has. anyone know the lyrics to the state song? any state song? ... crossed the 48th parallel, meaning i was halfway between the north pole and the equator for an instant. ... one of the nicest surprises of the trip so far was when i hit idaho and saw my first 75 mph speed limit sign. passed an idaho state trooper at one point, and he eased in behind me and paced me for 20 miles or so, but then he dropped back. guess he got tired of trying to keep up. ... if you're ever traveling along interstate 84 in idaho between mountain home and twin falls, you have to stop at the rest area. amazing. it has a lobby. you go through a set of doors into the lobby, where there are maps and pop machines and other things, and then through more doors to the real reason for a rest area. nicely air-conditioned, too. has someone written a book about rest areas? ... my uncle mel is feeling better, enough so that he called my mom to say he might fly to miami and rent a car so he could still beat me to key west. hmmm. wonder what the speed limit is in texas. ... the highlight of today's drive was a new CD i played. hey, when you're driving 600 miles and you start talking to yourself, CDs come in handy. and this is a good one. it was put together by jean from lake forest park, washington. it's time i introduced all of you to jean. she has practiced medicine in africa and the alaskan outback and other places. i can never be her patient because then we'd have to stop dating for four years. she was a driving force behind creating a foundation in her community to enhance the environment and create more and better habitat for birds and critters and fish as well as educate folks to better take care of their part of the environment. it's very cool. i have a great deal of respect for the things she has done, and continues to do, to improve the world around her. so, family and friends, meet jean. jean, meet the friends and family. more about jean later, after you've all gotten to know each other. i suspect that by the end of this trip, i'll have told enough stories about all of you -- yes, that includes jean, mike stanton and everyone else -- so you'll all know each other fairly well. speaking of mike, he's one of my former bosses at the seattle times who never knew whether to laugh or cry about the things i did. i mention him because all of you should know that mike and others still at or recently detached from the times are reading this, as well as other friends and a number of family members past and present, not to mention folks around the world who just google something and get lucky. tomorrow: ogden to monticello or blanding or somewhere in the southeastern part of utah. it may hit 100 in some of these places. might be a good day to put the top down and gather some heatstroke or sunstroke data for jean. good night family, good night friends, good night jean...