Day 18 – Randle to Moses Lake WA, the hitchhiker
Yet another beautiful drive! This time along the edge of the National Park and along a river with a very large lake.
Per my (L) request, we stopped at a wide spot in the road where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the highway. We’ve both been on a few areas of the Continental Divide Trail, and I’ve been on the Appalachia. I wanted to at least “put my feet” on the PCT, too. As we approached the trail head, a hiker told us she was great, but that the guy across from her needed a ride to an urgent care about an hour’s drive east. We needed to go right through there, anyway. We chatted about it, considered our health and safety, and decided to offer him a ride. Trail folk are especially kind and take care of one another, so we wanted to help someone in need.
We explained that we just needed to jump on the trail for a few seconds and we’d be right back. At the trail head, there were some Angels with a massive propane cooker and tons of fresh fruit for the hikers. They just work for donations and want to help out. See? Kind!
S was the nicest guy despite not feeling well. He was nice to get to know and quite grateful. I made sure to tell him about Kate’s hostel on the CDT and her YouTube. Once he felt comfortable, he called ahead and knew which urgent care could see him. Then, he told us how this was his first long through hike and described the immense change of seasons he’s experienced. We dropped him off at the clinic, wishing him the best. Then, we re-routed ourselves back to the highway and kept going on our route.
After lunch, we saw another Miami Hurricane on the road. What is the draw to this area, I wonder? There were also quite a few jerks on the road today, including some punk-ass kids driving in a too-tight grouping “bound” for some party or something. (And no, they were not going to Burning Man, not unless they were lost.) grrrr.
Day 19 – Jeepin’ Around Moses Lake
E found us some points of interest. There are sand dunes south of town. They seem to have their own culture of people who go out there for the day or for a weekend. There are even a few who seem to live out there. We also saw the Wildlife Management Area and a National Natural Landmark of sagebrush. It’s a very desert area, but there are little lakes all over the place.
We went back to town for some tacos and to freshen up. Then we looked for happy hour and evening fun. Our first bar had a darts machine where two guys were able to play with a friend in another town and also a random player at some other bar. He said he’s even played with a guy who used to live in Moses Lake and frequent that bar, so then all the regulars would squeeze in to say hi. It was like facetime for games. We tried another bar that was closed (but we saw it open later, so we think someone didn’t show up for their shift.)
At the third bar, we made new friends. W & T are best gal pals. W met J there that night and there were some sparks. T was too drunk to realize they needed some space. So, when we all moved on to the next bar, I started a game of pool to keep T occupied. The looks I got from J were priceless. He told E several times how lucky we were. awwwww.
Day 20 – the one with the smoke
We were going to drive to the Dry Falls area. Our new friends told us it was pretty. The minute we stepped outside, we could see and smell smoke from the nearby wildfires. We drove about half way there and stopped at a Soap Lake, but it wasn’t more clear there, so we had lunch and came back to the rig with a quick stop at Baskin Robbins. It’s too bad since the Dry Falls would have taken us up to another area of the Columbia that we haven’t seen.
12noon in solar time
foreground: sundial sculpture erected by the small town garden club
Our second night on the town wasn’t nearly as much fun. The “Outlaws” were playing the “Stealhawks”, and everyone–save for one Cowboy–was a Seattle fan focused on the game.
Day 21 – Moses Lake WA to Saint Regis MT, #NewState day for us both
Map points: (previous) Soap Lake north of Moses Lake; the detour to get us safely around the Gray fire; the rest of our route from Washington, through Idaho, and into #NewState Montana to Saint Regis; and (future) the route to Wye for the One Thousand Buddas.
Don’t be this asshole:
or this guy (covered up brake lights):
Day 22 – all the rains
We stayed in all day. The rain never stopped.
The area needed it, but unfortunately this storm didn’t dump enough water on any of the fires to make them smaller.
Day 23 – One Thousand Buddas
We drove out to see the garden of One Thousand Buddas. It was lovely and so peaceful.
