Finally heading out! Kasha handover to kind friend Annette – who is doing interim caregiver duties until Sunday – completed and I don’t think Kasha even noticed I was gone with her two buddies Rose and Koa and another favourite human there to divert her…
Quick breeze through the border with no hassle and no wait. The border guard looked surprised at my response to “what food are you taking for that long journey?” (oatcakes, cheese and boiled eggs – I guess not normal fare?) Sadly had to leave all the garden produce behind due to border restrictions. As I was congratulating myself for hitting fairly empty roads and having lots of time to stop at rest stops and stretch the knee, I hit what would be the worst traffic of the day – a crawl for miles in North Bellingham thanks to a road accident which blocked off one lane. 40 mins later, as I finally got by, the damage seemed unimpressive – and people complain about Delta police keeping the roads closed too long! Apart from a few accordions south of Tacoma and Olympia due to volume, the I5 was otherwise kind and I flew through Seattle though the folk going north sure weren’t moving fast.
Off the I5 just before Portland with a weird diversion through a part of the city to connect up with the Mt. Hood Highway. It was deadly slow at first, reminded me of going through Peachland but eventually headed into the Mt. Hood National Forest and was quite lovely with little traffic. Unlikely to be going back that way as it went up to the ski resorts and back down again so the roads in Dec. aren’t likely going to be easy there, but a pretty drive and some of that would make great cycling (wide shoulders, undulating, along a stream, not solid traffic). Suddenly though we were spit out into grasslands/prairie, all brown of course at this point and what a contrast. Crooked River Grasslands Park looks interesting and the road went up and down a couple of canyons before releasing us at Prineville, the first stop of this trip. Picked for its’ distance, it was surprisingly busy with bumper to bumper traffic along the main street for kilometers. The gas station attendant told me that deer hunting season has just opened, so these are mostly visiting hunters…. not much chance for the deer in this locale, no trees to hide in 🙁
Lots of good music to accompany the journey, and some stretching on a yoga matt in the hotel room (not a great place to walk around here) – hope to get an early start tomorrow, should be easy with my insomnia!