Montana to Oak Harbor, WA

Thursday, 15 May 2008

Well, we made it! After 3509 miles and six days, we arrived in Oak Harbor just in time for an excellent spaghetti dinner with Sharon and the kids, and Butch and his wife, Kathy.

After hitting the deer in Wyoming, the greatest inconvenience has been crawling in and out of the Pathfinder from the passenger side.

Butch and I left Missoula, Montana after a nice breakfast at the hotel, and stopped at the 10,000 Silver Dollar Saloon in Lincoln, Montana. They started collecting silver dollars from patrons in 1952, and now have almost 51,000 of them mounted on the walls of the bar as well as in the top of the bar itself. The rest of the building houses a rather large souvenir shop, and I got some great deals on some Montana sweatshirts for the kids.

We drove through Idaho (only about 60 miles wide along I-90), and then into Eastern Washington. Just prior to crossing over the Cascade Mountains and into Puget Sound, we stopped at the Columbia River Gorge in Vantage, Washington. I remember flying both the A-6 and the EA-6B through that gorge many times and popping out of the gorge just prior to the Vantage bridge to fly over the wild horse sculptures. We stayed at the gorge for a while looking for jets, but none came by. I’ve always wanted to look down on one as they flew by in the gorge below.

Thank you Butch, for hanging out with me these past few days and for sharing the driving. We saw a lot, and I really enjoyed the trip (all except the deer hit, that is). It is, however, great to be back home with Sharon and the kids after 6 weeks. Sharon has done a phenomenal job unpacking and making the house back into our home again.

Incase you are wondering, my insurance company did total the truck. I guess a 1991 Pathfinder with almost 134,000 miles on it is no match for a deer. The truck has been fantastic these past 17 years and a lot of memories go with it. The truck has served us well on both coasts as well as three years in Spain. I will miss it.

-- Bill