September 1
Before we left this morning we spent a little more quality time with the boys. I folded up the bed we'd slept on the past several nights and I buried the boys under the bedding I threw in their direction. They tumbled together in a concealed heap and hid that way under the blankets, with only an errant ankle exposed and lots of giggles emanating from within this heap. Then came the cackled chant from another quarter, "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble..." from Razelle, seated at the dining room table. The boys did their best imitation of her voice from under the bedding, then, joined her for breakfast. Throughout breakfast they asked her to "do it again" several times.
Today marked one month since we picked up this van and started driving it around this vast country. We had driven it a vast distance, to be sure, but here we were this morning, still on the Pacific coast of the United States, with the rest of the continent to drive across. New Jersey, technically speaking, could be reached within a few days of intense driving, but, based on our proposed itinerary, it should be many weeks before we get there. With that thought in mind, at this point in our itinerary, a decision was made to not drive into Vancouver. This meant no Banff National Park, either. It was decided that Toronto would suffice for a Canadian city (and I have friends to see there, but none in Vancouver) and that we would see enough mountains and national parks on our crowded itinerary, as it was, so these destinations could be deleted without depriving us of some of the same elsewhere. I know this isn't true, but that was the decision, nonetheless. Instead, we set out in an easterly direction from Seattle, after a nice breakfast with the boys, and a plaintive plea from Yossi that we not leave, and pointed the van toward the rising sun on the eastern horizon.
We drove east along Interstate 90, a highway that I mentioned to Razelle passes Toledo on its way to Boston at its opposite terminus. Here in the state of Washington it labored up and down mountains in the Cascade Ranges. Towering mountains surrounded us as we negotiated our way through picturesque passes, dark with dense stands of conifers. Along the way we pulled off the interstate and visited the town of Roslyn, as Sarah had suggested. The disadvantage of starting out so early is that attractions are not yet open when you get there. The town was attractive at all hours, though. It was rustic enough in appearance to be used as the setting for a TV series set in Alaska, called "Northern Exposure." I could see why it had been chosen.
Continuing east, we came to the flat and arid part of Washington. Out this way we needed a break and found it convenient to stop in George, Washington for gas at a 76 gas station. There was a bust of the "father of our country", the original George Washington, here at the
We came next to Idaho, our tenth state on this trip. In Coeur d'Alene we pulled into the empty parking lot of a restaurant Razelle has been asking for. The GPS had guided me here since George, where I'd programmed it to surprise her. The surprise backfired. This restaurant wouldn't be open until evening, We searched Coeur d'Alene for other suitable eateries (I'd had my heart set on eating a baked potato in Idaho) and settled for less than we'd hoped for. The consolation was the very large refilled cup of root beer I took back to the van, which lasted well into Montana. Idaho was the first state we'd been to that we didn't sleep in. We did eat here, and Razelle made a point to speak with someone here (the person who took her order), but Idaho was behind us in short order and Montana lay in front of us. We entered it the moment we crossed a sharp ridge in the mountains that serves as the frontier between these two states.
The descent into Montana, our eleventh state, was rugged and awe-inspiring. We picked a KOA in Butte, Montana as our targeted destination and called ahead to reserve a slot. We drove as the sky reddened at sunset and then became the deep purple of nightfall. We reached Butte in darkness, with a glowing light high above the city in evidence. We weren't sure if it was a planet in the firmament above Butte. It wasn't where a planet that bright should be. I intended to learn more about that mystery light later. It was late enough by now to go to sleep. We curled up together on the bed in our van. It was cold out there and we (I more than Razelle) felt the cold seeping into the van. The day had been long as had been the road here, to Butte.
No comments:
Post a Comment