I'll open with the honest-to-goodness truth -- today was boring. Criminally
boring. We basically had 1,000 miles to cover to reach Canada and begin
the trip, so aside from a snack shopping trip to Wal-Mart, two traffic
accidents and the actual jump into Canada from Washington along Interstate
5, nothing interesting happened. Honest.
A bit later than the 4am itinerary
departure, but all in all par for the course for my departures.
4:48am
A stop at the nearest 24-hour Wal-Mart yielded us a loss of 23 minutes,
$48, and the realization that one more stop, for ice, would be needed.
6:24am
We watched the sun rise over the eastern
horizon as we stopped in Dunnigan, California for ice.
7:56am
Potty-break, 23 miles south of Redding. I'm a small bird, and have
a small bladder. Pepsi goes right through me.
9:00am
A stop at the Dunsmuir Rest Area,
again, small bladder, lots of Pepsi.
10:01am
We arrive in Yreka, wander around the town a bit, and get nearly
$60 in gas ($2.28 a gallon). I put it on my bill, and then was told
to stop being silly, and pay for the gas. I did as was suggested,
but resented being told what to do.
10:34am
The first big leap was made as we
crossed from California and into Oregon. We're a tad behind schedule,
but I'm down with things thus far.
1:08pm
We wander around Roseburg for a bit, before Tubby concluding finding
a FedEx drop point, or a Krispy Kreme doughnut, was not going to happen,
and we returned to the interstate and again headed north.
3:41pm
We topped just south of Portland to
pick up snacking options, and at the last minute, Tubby spied not
just a FedEx
drop point, but the
entire office. Yea!
3:59pm
We crossed over from Oregon to Washington at 60 miles an hour, as
Tubby prepared a turkey and cheese sandwich for himself, and not a
damn thing for me. Selfish turd.
5:20pm
We stopped in Olympus -- the state
capitol of Washington -- to feed the beast. $48.18 and 25.4 gallons
later, we were again on the road. (Yes, fuel here is the cheap price
of $1.90 a gallon.)
5:49pm
South of Seattle, we were held up by an accident... but not nearly
as bad as the driver of the
red car.
7:56pm
The moment we've been waiting for
-- Canada!
And of course, the Immigration
check-point. We were allowed to pass without search after telling
the officer our home state, purpose of our visit (twice), and confirm
we didn't have any alcohol or tobacco in the car. A cinch!
8:08pm
Sunsets
are pretty much a universally lovely thing to behold, regardless of
political boundaries.
8:12pm
They have accidents here, too, but
the flashing
lights look a little different.
9:01pm
After three failed attempts, we landed ourselves in a Days Inn for
the night, and then bypassed the usual Wendys and Pizza Hut for an
IHOP.
10:11pm
I settled back into the room to post
what turned out to be a weak entry for the day, and that's that. But
the real trip begins tomorrow, 6:30am. Until then, g'night.
