17 August 2010
AB and GK have arrived at JR’s in Bellevue, Washington early to coffee up, load up the Dodge Durango, and raise everyone’s excitement level for the 2010 adventure. AM rolls in at 0529 (after all we were scheduled to meet at 0530) – we load up the remaining gear, refresh our thermos coffee, check odometers, and head out at 0545 onto Interstate 90 heading eastward!
This year MS will leave from his home in Spokane and meet us at the Deadman’s Pass Rest Stop just past Umatilla, OR on the way to Pocatello, Idaho – our first planned overnight stop after a 760 mile drive. We will transfer gear between the two vehicles to take some of the load off of the Durango.
As always, the early discussions on these trips take some interesting twists – perhaps most notably on this one, we discussed the virtues of having a "Texas Air" Airline – where everyone getting on the airplane is carrying a gun. If you don’t have a gun for the flight, they would issue you one as you board. We’re pretty sure no terrorist would want to get on that airplane! (Not sure that I would either but that’s another story….)
JR had just returned from Nebraska for his son Ian’s wedding to Andrea (congrats you two) – lots of great stories about the heartlands although the theme kept recurring of high humidity and high temperatures – a wonderful combination!! But of course those are offset by the winters with the combination of cold and colder weathers…..Why do people live in places like that?
Heading over Snoqualmie Pass at 0630, it looks to be another day in paradise for those loved ones we are leaving behind in Seattle. We made our first stop at Indian John Hill at 0700 where JR opened up the packet of cinnamon roll frosting (which allegedly had a cinnamon bun somewhere in the packet!) along with some fresh Cantaloupe and Strawberries – it was the kind of morning food that had some healthy stuff in it – although the cinnamon rolls appeared to be the kind likely designed by under-employed cardiologists. We all admired GK new tires….yeah, it’s kind of guy thing with tires….
Heading eastward, AB regaled us with stories from this year’s Alaska trip where he brought home about 100 pounds of filets of salmon, halibut, and black bass – great fishing trip although it involves saltwater runs. I am actually OK with pitching and rolling of boats as the years have shown me to be pretty resistant to getting seasick – however, I find the allure of streams and rivers so much more attractive that with the little time allocated to this wonderful avocation of fishing, that my interest in saltwater fishing is very low. While our group overall is pretty experienced in all kinds of fishing modes, we all generally find streams and rivers to be our preferences. Now built into this discussion is the assumption that we will be catching fish……in the absence of catching, I would expect to see softening of this selectivity of a specific water type and more focus on finding catchable fish – where ever we might find them!!
Heading over toward Yakima off of I-90, we catch early morning views of Mount Rainier and Mount Adams. Now I don’t know if it is the effect of the pesticides used in the orchards by Yakima or what…..but we started somehow on the punch lines of Jeff Dunham, who does a routine – Achmed the Dead Terrorist ( you can see it on youtube if you choose http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uwOL4rB-go -there are several such videos out there I think) – the punch line of "Silence!.....I keeel you!" seemed to occupy the CB airwaves for quite a while – I had not heard of this guy before but he does have pretty funny stuff!
We reached the Oregon border about 9:55 and passed the Umatilla Munition facility shortly thereafter and finally reached the infamous "Deadman’s Pass" (elev. 3615’) at 10:50 (just over 300 miles into the foray), the temperature is 104-degrees - (The name, "Deadman’s Pass", was the result of an accident during the Bannock War when a teamster driving a wagon through the pass was killed by renegade Indians from the nearby Indian agency. Several other violent deaths in the pass reinforced the name over the years. http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/CS/SSB/Oregon_Trail_19-36.shtml )
MS showed up a little later in his Ford mega-truck and we re-sorted the gear between the trucks, shuffled coolers, etc. and were back on the road a little before noon. We stopped for both fuel and lunch at Sumpter Junction Restaurant in Baker City, Oregon. JR and AM were able to take advantage of a "twofer" lunch special that day – sometimes the stars do shine on you! Swapping drivers we kept moving forward – took a break at a rest stop in Idaho – AB was surprised at the cost of a carton of cigarettes - $44 here versus $75 back in Seattle. We wondered about the business opportunity of funding future trips…..but it is hard to get much of a back-cast from a prison cell.
JR shows all his new Brodin ghost net he and AB installed in his favorite Orvis "Catch & Release" frame. (see JR’s notes on its performance in the YG Product Review section)
We reached our destination of a Motel 6 (big spenders that we are!) in Pocatello, Idaho a few minutes after 9pm. A quick dinner at Denny’s and then crash after a long day of driving.
