road rage

of all the states i traveled through -- washington, oregon, idaho, utah, arizona, new mexico, colorado, wyoming, texas, arkansas, tennessee, alabama, florida, georgia, south carolina, north carolina, virginia, west virginia, pennsylvania, ohio, missouri, kansas, nebraska and montana, as well as the d. of c., washington state by far has the poorest highway system, particularly from the standpoint of maintenance. it also has, by far, the worst drivers. in other states, i'd see the occasional driver who forced everyone else to adjust to him or her, but in washington they're everywhere. and there seem to be more now than when i left a month ago...

a wow moment

while olivia and i were at the fairly new museum of the american indian in washington, d.c., and looking at the displays, she spotted what looked remarkably like a sculpture i have at home. after looking at it for a while, we were both certain it was the same. i wrote down the artist's name, amos wallace, and took a look at mine when i got home. same artist. same sculpture. now the question is, does the museum have the original or do i? either way, it was pretty cool to see something displayed that prominently in the museum that i also have at home...

day 29

the potholes in eastern washington to home in woodinville, washington; 209 miles.
i guess that's it. end of the road. home again.
the last leg was nice, crossing the columbia river at vantage, seeing mount rainier come into view -- big and snowy -- as i reached the ryegrass summit west of vantage. as i approached the cascades, the cloud bank spilling across the mountains was thick and swollen with moisture. looked ominous. looked good. looked like i was back home.
when i left just about a month ago, it was cloudy; fittingly, it was again when i returned home. i'm told there was sun while i was gone.
now it's time to be normal for a while.
in the next few days, i'll probably put together some observations and post them.
thanks to everyone who joined me on the road, either from their homes or in person at various points. it was a good ride. we'll have to do it again some time. good night, everyone...
tomorrow:

day 28

billings, montana, to the potholes in eastern washington via idaho; 672 miles.
yes, i'll drive this far for mom's home cooking. and her washer and dryer. feels good to be back in washington, though the stretch between spokane and moses lake isn't much to write about. crossed the continental divide just east of butte, montana, at 6,393 feet. that's almost three times as the eastern continental divide back in maryland or west virginia. also saw my first skull tree today somewhere in montana. someone had taken bleached skulls of critters and nailed them to a tree in their front yard. i wonder why more people around the country don't do that. didn't stray far from the interstate today, once to find decent coffee in livingston, montana, which led me to a park with a really nice statue of sacajawea and her kid on a horse. also drove through anaconda, montana, to see all of its dead trees. decades of mining and smelting had killed most of the trees in the area. there are still some dead ones visible, but i think they maybe cut down and burned most of the bad ones. the key to the day was arriving at mom's, where i had spent the first night of the trip, so now i've closed the loop. good night, mom; good night, linda and george; good night, olivia.
tomorrow: the potholes to woodinville to wrap up this trip and start planning the next one.

day 27

north platte, nebraska, to billings, montana; 657 miles.
today was humbling. first by the weather, which to this point had been perfect, so long as you like hot and humid. today dawned cloudy, down-to-the-ground cloudy that didn't seem to want to let the sun in. i had decided earlier that chimney rock in western nebraska would be a key marker on the trip, that everything west of it would be the west, and everything east the rest. i had visited the rock with judy blake a few decades ago and wanted to see if it impressed me as much this time. it did. and the clouds lifted just in time for me to see it off in the distance. the second humbling was courtesy of don from tulsa. we had arrived at the chimney rock visitors center a little before it opened, so we started talking. he was on his way home to conclude a road trip on his bike. don had gone to the northeast corner of maine to start his trip, then motorcycled across the country to lapush, washington. gulp. but i figured my trip from cape flattery to key west was at least the equal of his, so i was feeling pretty good. but then he mentioned casually that a few years ago he went from key west to prudhoe bay, alaska. and before that, he and some friends had biked down to argentina. i was more than humbled by his trips; i think my jaw scraped the pavement. we were both humbled, though, by the fact that we were driving comfortably around the country while the first folks who had crossed through here to get to oregon or california or utah -- all wagon train routes to the west passed chimney rock -- had endured hardships we couldn't imagine. there's a cemetery near chimney rock where some of them are buried. after chimney rock, i decided to go due north to the agate fossil beds national monument. there i met arthur short bull, a member of the lakota nation who was painting some watercolor scenes. you can see his work at www.dawnhawk.org. had a nice talk with him, about cultures and perspectives and other things. he's planning a series of paintings related to big tourist spots like chimney rock that will view the scene from the native american perspective and what it was like for them watching the white migration to the west. after talking with him, it was time to find an interstate and pile up some miles. there also were a couple of significant things that happened today: 1) i saw mountains, real mountains, with snow, and 2) i merged onto interstate 90. i could just stay on i-90 all the way home. we'll see. good night, don; have a safe trip home. good night, arthur, and thanks for the drawing you did of me as i sat down to talk with you (the drawing is of me as a wind horse, which fits with driving the mustang and flying down the roads). good night, jean, i'll see you soon...
tomorrow: billings maybe all the way to the potholes in eastern washington to see mom on the return trip home.