On The Road - Vancouver to Yakima

I came over to Vancouver on Saturday to hang out with Krystal and her boyfriend Marc in their new condo.  Krystal and I went to an interactive Halloween play on Saturday nite.  It wasn't as good as past years according to her and even thou it was local theatre, it was still a little corny for my tastes.  Some of the performers were pretty good thou.  We spent the start of Sunday waiting on Len to arrive with the furniture from her Great Gran, then after he left I took her shopping for some things they needed.  When we got back, I helped her build a few things that I had ordered for her and then got ready to go.

Krystal suggested that I might want to consider leaving this evening due to Monday morning rush hour traffic.  So I figured WTH, I could get a jump on the long days I was going to be putting in to get to the Mexico border.

It took me 30 minutes to get from her place to the boarder and I have to say, I LOVE MY NEXUS CARD!!  No line up in the Nexus line, showed the camera my card, drove up to the agent.  All he asked is if I had anything to declare!!  I said no, he said okay and that was the end of the crossing.  Didnt ask for the CDC form for the dog, nothing!  I had to call my mother as I started down the I5 cause she is having a panic about what hoops they may have to jump thru to go to their place in Florida.

So I crossed the boarder right around 6pm and it was fairly uneventful until south of Bellingham.  Then the rain started and of course its getting dark now and well, I hate driving thru Seattle, even more so then Vancouver.  So of course I'm a little on edge watching for my exit to highway 90, found it and off I went.  I had multiple messages coming in from folks that are watching my location but just kept going.  I stopped in Issaquah to stretch my aching legs and give the dog a chance to do the same and have a potty break.  Well she wasn't to keen on the rain so it was a short stop.  I responded quickly to the messages that came in and then got back on the road.  If I had of known what was ahead of me, I think I would have stayed there.

I have a love hate for the highways here, at least around Seattle.  Sure you can do a buck 20 legally or 70mph but they are rough and I find them narrow.  Anyways, I left Issaquah and head for Yakima, it should have been about another 2 hours ..... well that got extended due to down pouring rain, with lots of pooling and of course as we got closer to the summit the rain turned into sleet, with a dusting of snow/slush on the road.  Everyone started slowing down.  By the time we reached the summit it was a total whiteout!!!  I think there were a few places we were under 20mph and all the cars were following each other and a semi.  I threw it into 4 just to have some extra traction but still took it easy.  Not being overly familiar with the highway, it being night and piss poor weather, I decided to just behave.  Not like home when we have a snow storm.  I was starting to have second thoughts about leaving early.  I would have preferred to drive thru the snow in the daytime and not at night when it is like flying the Millennium Falcon thru the stars.  Think I passed by about 4 crashes on the way.

Anyways finally got down the pass and into the flat lands.  The rain stopped and I kicked it into gear.  I contemplated stopping in Ellensburg but it was only another half hour to Yakima, so I just kept going.

Kahlua was an absolute angel.  She slept pretty much the whole way, except for a few times when she heard the slush kicking up under the Jeep or the rain pounding on the roof.

We are now safe and sound in our room and will head out for day 2 tomorrow.  The original stop was Twin Falls, Idaho but since I have already drove 4 hours, then I may push a bit further.  I will check the map and see in the morning as for now I just need to rest.

One day closer to the sun!!!