Ellensburg, Washington

Left Missoula, MT in the fog this morning, and the further west I drove, the brighter it seemed.

After snaking upward again, through steep-forested slopes, I was on the outside of several trucks struggling up the incline, when at the top of the mountain, the road (still I-90) curved around to the right, as gently as possible for a 75mph highway, and dead ahead, was a bright blue sign on the precipice of a deep, forested valley that read WELCOME TO IDAHO.   The trip across Idaho on I-90 did not last long that far north, but it was never-endingly pleasant…the pine trees only stopped intermittently for a building here and there along the interstate.

Further along I-90, into Washington, the road busied again after Spokane…but, it is a sunny, warm Labor Day weekend.  Near the end of the day’s travel, 30 miles to the east of Ellensburg, there was a scenic overlook for the Gorge Amphitheatre.

I was ahead of schedule, so I stopped to take a picture to share on the blog.  According to the informative plaque, the far side of the Columbia River “pool” is the result of a geologic uplift of volcanic basalt (or something like that) and this phenomenon, like so many others, has to have a place on the list of things that make me feel trivial, in the grand scheme of natural things.  Anyway, after a brief respite in the gusty wind conditions, the route continued down I-90 and crossed the Columbia River a few miles to the left from this picture, then up the other side into a windmill farm with scores of whirring sentinels that were generating electricity from the same gusts that blew me about on the other side of then chasm.

This was a really, really nice day.  Tomorrow is extra special:  I will pick up my SUPPORT DRIVER for the first-ever, Lions White Cane Scooter Cannonball Rally, William Jr., in Seattle when he arrives from Norfolk.

Now, however, it is time to do laundry…bummer.

BillyComeLately

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