Just East of Eden

Wednesday, June 2, 2021

HELLO, OLD FRIEND

I had to make another run into Centralia today – so I went again, after exercise class.

On my way out the door this morning, I grabbed the book I started reading late last night; and took it for the ride, with me. I was already half through its 472 pages, and I wanted to read more while I ate lunch 😊

New Read; Dean Koontz books are old friends.

I didn’t mind the drive after my workout (1) I like to do the scenic backroads country drive (2) the repeat return trip was close enough to the last trip, that the route was still fresh in my mind (3) I’m learning to be calmer in citified environments.

I returned the items I couldn’t use.

I did not panic during rush hour traffic.

I bought two dozen books – I’ve been reading through 1 book every 24 hours.

Books are very reliable old friends.

I ate again at the Country Cousin Restaurant … and ran into an old friend, who was also there 😊

Carl has not changed: he is still a flirtatious riot. An unapologetic riotous ham with jokes and flatteries. An unapologetic safe flirt, as he is happily married. And he knows my heart/fidelity will always be Bob’s. We hugged, chatted for about 45 minutes in the parking lot (he was leaving the restaurant, and I was entering) – and found out we had both recently been in the same places; just missed each other in passing: 185^th & Union last week/around the Olympic Peninsula this weekend/Centralia, twice since last Friday.

It’s a small world 😉

The day’s undertakings in Centralia wrapped up, we said goodbye and made plans to get together again: and Becky (Carl’s wife) and I talked a bit on the phone tonight, around Suppertime.

Old friends are comfortable friends.

After Carl left, I went inside and ordered my lunch … and started reading another chapter of another twisted Koontz tale.

Seated in a different area of the restaurant today ...

The stained-glass booth header today.

Lunch; a BLT, fries, and Dean Koontz. LOL

On my way home, I spotted my majestic old friend, Mt. Rainier, poking his clefted head up over the foothills that surround his majestic, sparkling, glaciated self.

I miss visiting him.

Mt. Rainier seen from Napavine vantage roadside sighting.

Facts About The History Of Mount Rainier National Park

1. Size of Mount Rainier National Park: 378 square miles.

2. Age of Mount Rainier National Park: 100 years.

3. Mount Rainier's real age: 500,000 to 1 million years.

4. Mountain's height above sea level: 14,411 feet.

5. Number of miles from the summit to Tacoma City Hall: 54.

6. The year it was christened Mount Rainier: 1792.

7. Whom it's named after: Rear Admiral Peter Rainier, a friend of Capt. George Vancouver, the British naval officer who explored and charted the Northwest in the late 1700s.

8. Number of times Peter Rainier saw his namesake: zero.

9. Height of Vancouver's namesake, Mount Vancouver on the Alaska-Yukon border: 15,979 feet.

10. Number of quakes that have been recorded on Mount Rainier in the past two decades: 800.

11. Rank of Rainier among the most popular of Cascade volcanoes: first.

12. Rank of Rainier among the most active of Cascade volcanoes: second.

13. Most active Cascade volcano: Mount St. Helens.

14. Rank of Rainier among the nation's most dangerous volcanoes: first.

15. Estimated number of explosive eruptions from Mount Rainier in past 10,000 years: 11.

16. Number of people living on former volcanic mud flows from Rainier: 100,000-plus.

17. Odds that a person living in that area will have a home damaged by fire vs. another mud flow: even.

18. Frequency with which Puyallup can expect a volcanic mud flow to reach the city limits: once every 100 to 500 years.

19. Speed with which a volcanic mud flow from Rainier can reach the Puget Sound lowlands: 30 minutes to two hours.

20. Last time a gas station operated in the park: 1994.

21. The year Dr. William Tolmie, a Scottish physician at nearby Fort Nisqually, ventured into the park guided by five Native Americans: 1833.

22. First recorded attempt to climb Mount Rainier: Aug. 21, 1852.

23. Number of feet shy of the summit at which the party was forced to give up: 400.

24. First recorded successful climb of Mount Rainier: Aug. 17, 1870, by Hazard Stevens and Philemon Van Trump.

25. Age of James Longmire, who climbed to the summit in 1883: 63.

26. The year naturalist John Muir climbed Rainier: 1888.

27. What he said: "Of all the fire mountains which, like beacons, once blazed along the Pacific Coast, Mount Rainier is the noblest."

28. Rank of Rainier among the most glaciated mountains in the lower 48 states: first.

29. Number of people who try to climb Mount Rainier each year: 10,000.

30. Number who make it: 5,000.

31. The first woman who climbed the mountain: Fay Fuller, a teacher, in 1890.

32. Gender given by Indian tribes to Mount Rainier: male or female, depending on the tribe.

33. Number of North American peaks taller than Rainier: 32.

34. Tallest of them all: Mount McKinley (20,320 feet).

35. Two common names given to Rainier by Indian tribes: "Takhonia," "Tahoma," meaning "high mountain."

36. Number of names for Rainier cataloged by Bruce Barcott in "The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier": 47.

37. City that would most like to see Mount Rainier's name changed: Tacoma.

38. Number of people who visit Mount Rainier each year: 2 million.

39. Year in which the mountain was first encircled by a trail, the Wonderland Trail: 1916.

40. Length of the Wonderland Trail: 93 miles.

41. Number of maintained trail miles today: 240.

42. Spot on the trail that has the most mosquitoes and bugs: Mystic Lake.

43. Spot with the hungriest bugs: Stevens Canyon.

44. Number of named glaciers: 27.

45. Volume of permanent snow and ice on Mount Rainier: 1 cubic mile.

46. Number of years Seattle could drink and bathe from the water locked up in Rainier's snow and ice: 200.

47. Number of camp sites at the park: more than 500.

48. Park entrance fee in 1932: $1.

49. Park entrance fee today: $10 per car.

50. Cost of a private room with bath at the National Park Inn at Longmire in 1932: $4.

51. Cost of a private room with bath at the National Park Inn now: $101.56.

52. Year the park logged its 1 billionth visitor: 1962.

53. His nationality: Canadian.

54. The real reason he had come to the area: to see the Seattle World's Fair.

55. What he said: "I suppose this is my first and only one-in-a-billion shot. I rather think I would have preferred to have had it on an Irish Sweepstakes ticket."

56. Number of presidents to visit the mountain: three.

57. President who signed into law the creation of Mount Rainier National Park: William McKinley.

58. President who played the piano inside the National Park Inn: Harry Truman.

59. First president to visit Mount Rainier National Park: Theodore Roosevelt in 1910.

60. Number of meals President Harry Truman ate in the park when he visited in 1945: one, lunch.

61. Most decorated World War II soldier to visit Mount Rainier: Audie Murphy.

62. Most famous Spokane-born crooner to visit Mount Rainier: Bing Crosby.

63. Most famous "Peter Pan" actress to visit Mount Rainier: Mary Martin.

64. Year in which Helen Holmes became the third woman to reach the summit of Mount Rainier: 1894.

65. Her age: 15.

66. Most snowfall recorded in one winter at the mountain: 1,122 inches in 1971-72 at Paradise, a world record.

67. Likelihood that the record will be broken this year: good.

68. Minimum snowfall recorded at the mountain: 313 inches, in the winter of 1939-40 at Paradise.

69. Number of mammal species to be found in the park: 54.

70. Number of plant species: 787.

71. Number of plant species that are non-native: 107.

72. Age at which Jim Whittaker, 70, first climbed Rainier: 15.

73. Frequency with which Whittaker now climbs it: once a year.

74. Number of guide services authorized by the National Park Service to lead climbs to the summit last summer: five.

75. Elevation of the solar toilet on the mountain: at Camp Muir, 10,188 feet.

76. Average time to climb the mountain: two days.

77. Fastest climb documented to the summit, round trip: just over five hours.

78. Name of the climber: Chad Kellogg, a park ranger.

79. Oldest person to summit: Jack Borgenicht, 81, of Long Valley, N.J., from Aug. 28 to Aug. 30, 1992.

80. Youngest climber to summit: 7-year-old Laura Ann Johnson of Tacoma.

81. The number of times record-holder George Dunn of Fall City has summitted the mountain: 390.

82. Most climbers killed in a single accident on Mount Rainier: 11 in 1981.

83. Date of most recent major climbing accident on Mount Rainier: June 11, 1998.

84. Cost to climb Mount Rainier through a guided program: about $500 for a three-day program.

85. Date when the term "flying saucer" was coined at the mountain: June 24, 1947.

86. What pilot Kenneth Arnold saw to coin the term: flashing blue lights.

87. The biggest mammal ever seen near summit of the mountain: a 200-pound bear on Aug. 17, 1990.

88. Ingredients used to make the commemorative 200-pound Mount Rainier birthday cake to be unveiled today: 100 pounds of cake mix; 126 eggs; 120 pounds of icing.

89. Number of people it could feed: 1,200.

90. Number of books listed by Amazon.com with Mount Rainier in the title: 54.

91. Number of pages used by Bette Filley to fill "The Big Fact Book About Mount Rainier" (Dunamis House, $17.95 softcover, $26.95 hardback): 468.

92. Number of times "Mount Rainier" is mentioned in The Seattle Times since 1984, according to its database of electronically archived stories: 6,507.

93. Most questionable metaphor used by The Times to describe Rainier's cap of snow: yarmulke.

94. Population of Rainier, Thurston County: 1,560.

95. Number of businesses in the Seattle White Pages that begin with Rainier: 150.

96. Number of items with the name "Rainier" available at www.rei.com: 19.

97. Most expensive REI item with the name "Rainier": Marmot Rainier windstopper pants, $199.

98. Number of schools in the United States with "Rainier" in their name: eight.

99. Number places in the United States with "Rainier" in their name: 21.

100. Number of places called "Mount Rainier": one.

Compiled by Seattle Times staff reporters Eric Sorensen and Florangela Davila.

**Sources: American Park Network; National Park Service; George Dunn; U.S. Geological Survey; U.S. Department of Interior; "Climbing Mount Rainier: The Essential Guide" by Alex Van Steen; "The Challenge of Rainier" by Dee Molenaar (1971, The Mountaineers); "The Big Fact Book About Mount Rainier: Fascinating Facts, Records, Lists, Topics, Characters & Stories" by Bette E. Filley (1996, Dunamis House); and "The Measure of a Mountain: Beauty and Terror on Mount Rainier" by Bruce Barcott (1997, Sasquatch Books)**

The Puyallup Indian Tribe is trying to get the State to rename the mountain ‘Mt. Tahoma’ – but whatever people call him, he will always be magnificent 😉

https://www.kiro7.com/news/local/changing-name-mount-rainier-new-effort-washington-tribes/RZ7STJVYDNFMLGPNCHZY62CRWI/#:~:text=The%20new%20effort%20from%20Washington%20tribes,-Subtitle%20Settings&text=The%20Puyallup%20Tribe%20is%20launching,t%C9%99q%CA%B7u%CA%94m%C9%99%CA%94%20%E2%80%94%20pronounced%20%E2%80%9CTaquoma.%E2%80%9D

Passing through Winlock, I chuckled when I saw that their iconic rooster mascot had been repainted with new colors in iridescent purples that sparkle when brilliant sunrays hit on it.

This old friend had become a shimmering cock-of-the-walk 😉

Winlock's iconic rooster mascot has been repainted in iridescent colors for their upcoming 'Egg Day' festivities.

I was temporarily held up by another old friend in Vader.

A slight train delay in Vader.

And beckoned by a tempestuous old friend on the other side of the tracks.

Mt. St. Helens seen from Vader vantage roadside sighting.

Interesting Facts About Mt. St. Helens: (https://www.tripsavvy.com/interesting-facts-about-mount-st-helens-4110237)

I noticed that the car's warning icon started blinking in the Highlander, telling me maintenance was required … so, when I touched down in Longview, I drove to Dick Hannah’s in Kelso and asked to be scheduled for a checkup appointment.

The Highlander is scheduled for Friday morning; one tire is a concern with wear starting to show: and I am not surprised – I have literally been burning the road up for about a year, now. Truth be told, I’m surprised the tires have not been a concern before now.

And I’m thankful they held up on my Sunday~Funday drive around the Olympic Peninsula Loop Drive.

So, I may need to have the tires switched out – thank the Lord I have $$$$ in savings to cover that expense. Tires are not cheap, and I have to have all four switched out at the same time if one needs to be replaced (to keep the SUV traction system balanced).

These tires are the original tires that were on the Highlander when we bought it the Fall of 2017: they’re due.

The Highlander has been a constant friend to me these past 29 months.

I want to treat my old friend right, just like Bob would. Bob would make his vehicles last for decades: and I will too, so help me, God.

And I’m thinking I should probably do the Lincoln City Daytrip adventure sooner, rather than later; wildfire season is already here.

There is an out-of-control Level 3 Wildfire raging on the Oregon side of the Columbia Gorge – started by a dumbass; with people being evacuated.

I am glad the Highlander is getting a thorough checkout Friday morning. I’m thinking as soon as the tires are fitted, I’m bugging out and heading south before I can’t safely leave the house – every summer the wildfire haze from canada, eastern washington, oregon, and calimexarabia gets worse.

I want to cram as much living into my life as I can before my body expires and my spirit takes flight: life on Earth only happens once – nothing on Earth will be repeated in the next life. Everything to be experienced on Earth can only be experienced on Earth.

I want to make that drive to Lincoln City.

Just because.

I have made that drive numerous times with Bob; but I want the solo lobo experience.

And I want my old friend, the Highlander to be up to snuff when I hit the road 😉

But, right now – tonight, I am going to settle myself all comfy-cozy in bed, and finish up an old friend’s twisted tale of a weird winter moon.

Monday, May 31, 2021

SUNDAY~FUNDAY #22/Olympic Peninsula Loop Drive

Sunday morning, I woke up thinking I’d like to make the Olympic Peninsula Loop Drive: so, I did 😊

Olympic Loop Drive; mini version in mind – I planned to drive a shorter ‘solo lobo’ route than Bob and I normally enjoyed. I made the revisions on purpose: I wanted no tears to fall today.

Bob and I had made this loop drive several times since we first did it in 1988, with Alex and Stacey.

This solo lobo trip, I would be shaving Neah Bay & Sequim off: I did not want to dissolve into ‘memory tears’ at any point along the route.

We did the Loop several times with Alyna …. All the way to the tip of Neah Bay to visit the Makah Museum when we drove that way – and for the last time together with our little grandson Azariah, in June of 2108; before all of our lives were forever changed by Heron Pointe morons, in August 2018.

Punching GPS recognized destination points into the GPS, and leaving Heron Pointe behind to eat my dust; I saw the paddle wheeler cruising slowly up the Columbia, around Oak Point – and as usual, when it comes this way, there is no where to pull over and snag a picture of it. At least, not when I happen to be driving that stretch of highway.

It really is quite an eye-catcher when it slowly makes it way up river.

American Empress Paddle-wheeler: (https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/travel/cruises/2014/04/03/riverboat-tours-american-queen-steamboat-companys-american-empress/7254425/)

I had 3/4^th’s tank of gas, and I held off topping the tank until I reached Cosmopolis.

Forks, WA from Heron Pointe; via WA-4 W & US-101 N - 4 hr.17 min.

Left Aberdeen & Hoquiam ... the rest of the road will be new to me, solo lobo.

There wasn’t much to see driving through Hoquiam, Axford, or Humptulips – this stretch of the road is pretty much just cutting through forest, with marshy places both sides of the highway.

It was peaceful, though: traffic was sparce 😊

I tired not to think about the congestion of Port Angeles, when I reached that mile marker – I determined not to overthink what lay ahead; I brought my thoughts to heel, and shifted into ‘this is your day: own it’ frame of mind.

A peaceful, easy feeling; Port Angeles may be a little heartburn. LOL

At Neilton, I was entering inland Quinault Reservation Land (Reservation Land begins at Moclips, along the coastal route; Bob & I went clam digging there). From Neilton to Forks, little communities with gas stations and casinos, dotted the landscape.

But traffic was still light.

And I still had plenty of gas.

But I sopped in Quinault to wash the bug guts off the windshield.

Quinault is open-graze land, so I kept my eyes peeled for wandering animals. I never did see any.

At Kalaloch – in the rain forest region of the Olympic National Park (there was no rainfall; not even a misting), I nipped in at the Ranger Station, to stretch my legs and ask about the Hoh Rain Forest. It had been decades since I visited the rainforest, and since I was up that way, I thought I’d go through it again.

It was a ‘no-go’.

The Hoh Rainforest: (https://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/visiting-the-hoh.htm)

Kalaloch Ranger Station in the Olympic National Park.

The Hoh Rainforest was a 'no-go' this trip.

A little further up 101, is Ruby Beach.

My youngest sister, Carla, talks about Ruby Beach all the time: and she goes there a lot.

So, I thought I’d check it out while I was in that neck of the woods.

I don’t think I will be visiting it: ever.

The parking lot is a little tiny ‘pocket’ parking lot … and the beach access is straight down cliffsides and a steep mile hike to reach the beach: NO. No, no, no.

I did a straight-down-the cliff hike to the Graysriver Falls (up Fossil Creek, in Graysriver) one year with Bob; Alyna was with us (she was about 9 years old, then). I was 17 years younger than I am today – and that hike was very difficult to get back up; with my weak lungs, I wasn’t sure I would make it back to the car. And Bob, Alyna, and my wolf Precious, were struggling uphill, too.

2005; Fossil Creek Graysriver Falls – Bean & Precious.

I feel no need to repeat that harrowing experience, at 64; at Ruby Beach – I am quite content to view the ocean from my lofty 101 pullover viewpoint 😉

Ruby Beach, in the Olympic National Park.

Just a bit up the road, I nipped into the Hoh Oxbow Campground for a quick pit stop, and my eyes were regaled with the beautiful hued color of the Hoh River.

I was never here with Bob – this is a new experience.

Beautiful emerald-hued water of the Hoh River; Hoh Oxbow Campground.

The sparkling emerald colored water reminded me of the waters in Skagit Valley, just out of Seattle; that Bob and I enjoyed on our way to the colorful Bavarian town of Leavenworth, WA in the Cascade Range.

Forks is a small-town-city … kinda like Chehalis.

I was really enjoying myself 😊

101 was easy to drive, and the “cities” so far, were easy to navigate 😉

US Highway 101: (https://wsdot.wa.gov/environment/protecting/history-archaeology-culture/historic-highway-us-101)

The weather … except for the brief drizzle leaving Hoquiam … was a perfect ‘summer kickoff day’: not too warm, not too chilly – just right.

Since I pulled out of the carport, back home, I have been anticipating Supper at the Hungry Bear Café.

MAP Hungry Bear Cafe in Sappho, WA from Forks, WA; via US-101 N - 16 mins.

I like it here.

Bob and I, with Alex and Stacey, had stopped here in 1988 on our first loop trip … and then Bob and I, with both Alyna and Azariah, too, in the following decades: the food is good, the ambiance is comfy, and the staff is friendly. It’s an enjoyable stop along the route.

At this point, GPS gutted out; so, I had to rely on the smart phone’s google maps app. It did fine – for a while.

I do have paper maps; and I do know how to read them, but paper maps do not say, “turn left ahead … turn right in about half a mile: these verbal directions are important to know with a road virgin in the driver’s seat 😉

nug Harbor from Hungry Bear Cafe, Sappho; via US-101 E - 35 mins.

Between The Hungry Bear and Snug Harbor, Lake Crescent lies. It is very pretty, and runs quite a distance along the highway.

Crescent Lake.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Crescent)

Nearing Port Angeles, my heart squeezed when I passed a road sign that said ‘Mora and La Push’ with an arrow pointing to the left. I also noticed a road sign stating that the Makah Cultural and Research Center Museum, in Neah Bay, was closed. I like the Museum, and I like to take the grandkids to the Game Farm to see the exotic animals: we always included both, in the trips we made this way.

Makah Museum: (https://makahmuseum.com/about/ozette-archaeological-site/)

Whale skeleton in the Makah Museum.

Giant 'sea stack' sentinels in the waters of La Push.

Olympic Game farm in Sequim: (https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/olympic-game-farm)

Memory of Us with Aza at the Olympic Game Farm.

The last time Bob and I had driven this route (June 5^th, 2018) with our grandson, we were driving home from Neah Bay – and had included La Push in that overnight road trip, because Bob had wanted to see it; and we had never made the time to do it. June of 2018 I suggested we make the time: we did, and I am forever thankful Bob finally got his La Push ‘fix’: Bob stepped off Earth, the middle of December 2018.

I felt the hard heart-squeeze, and the mental memory jab … but thankfully, I did not cry.

When I reached Port Angeles, I was surprised at how easy it was for me to get around!

(((THANK YOU, LORD!)))

The Coffee Box, Port Angeles from Snug Harbor; via US-101 E - 19 min.

Longview actually is more densely populated, and a little larger in area than Port Angeles. I had always thought it to be larger, more difficult to drive than it actually was 😊

I found a gas station and topped the tank there; and washed more bug guts off the windshield … noticing that gas price was steeper here, than elsewhere along the route.

Gas prices pretty high in Port Angeles.

None of the gas stations had public restrooms (that were open), so I had to find restrooms in Campgrounds, or stores – like the Walmart in Shelton.

When I came out of Walmart, a break in the cloud cover had highlighted the mountain peaks in a bright white spotlight, gilding them with the brilliance of a fading sun as it began its night slide over the horizon.

But, by the time traffic had slowed down enough to allow me a descent picture frame … the clouds had closed that brief widow, and twilight was descending: the “oh!” moment had passed ☹

And a chill was arriving with the dusky shadows.

Walmart parking lot in Shelton; peaks of the Olympic Mt Range in the background.

Shelton is also a small-town-city: I was really liking this route!

Port Angeles & Shelton were really easy to navigate.

And I was glad I chose this route to leap into a seriously long Daytrip venture. The Olympic Mountain Range is half as tall as the Cascade Mountain Range; but there is still lingering snow among the peaks.

Everything was going smoothy … I was practically whistling with confidence and accomplishment as I blended in with traffic on SR-108.

WA-108 Bypass Highway. Snafu!

SR108 McCleary Junction off US101: (https://wsdot.wa.gov/sites/default/files/2018/02/23/CSS306-SR108-SR8JctMcCleary-US101JctKamilche.pdf)

THEN a serious snafu struck.

Driving along the McCleary State Route 108, and following GPS commands – something went suddenly off-course, and I found myself waaaaay off the trail: I didn’t need GPS to tell me that. I could see that things were not as they should be.

I surprised myself by not engaging in panic mode.

The drive suddenly became a messy quagmire.

Both GPS apps (car and phone) took me waaaaaay afield of where I needed to be.

Snafu in Elma with GPS coordinates. What a mess!

And GPS kept me on a hamster wheel for an interesting half hour.

I had intended to drive home via the 101-108 McCleary junction; and on to Artic via 12 through Montesano … but GPS went wonky somewhere around Elma, and led me a merry chase through Littlerock and Old Highway 99 SW by Tenino, leading me over an overpass … quarter past 9 PM.

GPS reroute over an overpass to Old Highway 99 SW. Frustrated, but not panicked.

I refused to be panicked.

I couldn’t afford to be panicked.

Getting home was all on me now – there was no one else. I had to chill out, tough it out, and get out of the endless rounding reroutes the aimless GPS commands were leading me into, before I ran out of gas in Littlerock.

Where the hell was Littlerock, anyway?

Bob would know.

But Bob is no longer here.

I kept my eyes peeled for a familiar town name that I could aim for.

About quarter to 10 PM, I realized I was in Centralia: (((HAPPY))) to finally be in familiar territory!

The wild GPS goose-chase finally stopped. And another concern was being faced.

But, it was still tricky: I haven’t been comfortable with night driving in years: long before the hospital nightmare. I studiously avoided driving nights, for any reason. And, I hadn’t done any night driving at all (and even at that, it was only about a 10-minute zip), since October 2018 – when I decided to camp in Bob’s hospital rooms 24-7; by then, Bob and I both knew I was sitting death watch. I did not want him to leave Earth alone.

So, last night, was another leap forward: in regards to night driving. Even with antireflective tint on my eyeglasses, the glare from freeway headlights play havoc with night vision.

So, I really, really avoid night time driving.

Maybe I’ll talk to Dr. Tack about that …

I have not done night driving in a very long time.

As always, I stuck to the backroads.

Driving the backroads last night; cocooned in the vehicle with darkness all around, the only light being a dim glow from the dashboard area – and a few feet of headlight in front of the vehicle … tapped memories of the early months of marriage with Bob, when we’d go dancing and drive home over the backroads from Stella – ALL those backroads used to come together at some point for a continuous drive home without touching the blacktop except at Ralph Rodahl’s Store, where we’d exit the Spruce Creek logging road behind Ralph’s Skyline Golf Course; those were fun times. When I close my eyes now, and think of those roads, I can clearly see every tree, fern, and turn of the curve: we were on them so much 😊

Now, those past back roads are gated off, and in some cases … no longer utilized at all.

And the present backroads, blessedly, had very little traffic on them.

At 11:30 PM, I washed bug guts off the windshield and topped the gas tank off one last time, at Gee Cee’s Truck Stop in Toledo – it’s a thing that is ingrained in my brain cells: Bob always made sure our vehicles had a full tank of gas and a clean windshield before he parked it for the night. I make sure I carry on with the ritual.

The 10 hour drive had gone into 13 hours totaled.

All in all, the day was a smashing success; even with the SR-104 snafu.

I’ll definitely be doing this loop drive again 😉

I’m glad I woke up Sunday with the desire to do it … and the determination to do it, ‘no matter what’.

I wouldn’t change a thing.