Sat, Oct 4... Washington

This morning seemed to start early... but I'm either 2 or 3 hours behind my body clock... so I really don't know what time my eyes opened. Trapper was already up and around and it is cold and raining!

Montana is even pretty in the rain. The terrain changes so much. You'll be in desert like terrain to mountains and quick too. We don't have to kill ourselves today driving. We have about 300 miles left of this trip so we'll probably take it easy.

A couple of hours later... we are taking it easy. We've stopped 3 times already! We stopped at a rest area in the mountains of Montana. We're getting close to the Idaho border. As soon as you stepped out of the truck... the scent of pine was the first thing you recognized. The trees are like nothing I've ever seen. They are a color green that we just don't have in NC.

The next stop was at Lookout Pass (Exit 0). This was where I saw the "Mountain Man" emerge out of Trapper. You could see it in his face. It's still drizzling and we were talking to another driver here that said we just missed the snow!

After seeing all the "chain up area" and "check your brakes" signs, not to mention the (what I call) "snow sticks" that are 7' tall... maybe I'm glad we missed the snow.

We reached Idaho... what an interesting history. The town of Wallace, ID was the city they used in the movie Dante's Peak. It was also home to the last red light on I-90 which enabled you to travel non-stop, coast to coast, on I-90 and the city had enough perseverance to have their entire downtown area listed in the National Registry of Historic Places to preserve the town prior to the construction of I-90 in this area.

Trucking, at times, can even be educational!! I've learned things about places that I would have never thought of before.

Driving on through Idaho and in to Washington, we had the opportunity to cross over the Columbia River. Absolutely beautiful. That's all that can be said about it. Spokane was next on the map... this town is full of old and new... side by side.

We drove on to the other side of Spokane and stopped at a medium sized truck stop for the night. We decided it was time for showers and dinner. With all that behind us... Trapper decides to go on to bed and I'm so confused on time there's no telling what time I'll turn in. After all, this time last week we were in Maine... 7 days later.... Washington state. I deserve to be confused!