Trip part 2

So…Saturday afternoon Bob comes over and says we need to go back to Spokane and turn in the rental car. So back over the mountains we go on Sunday, still not knowing what is wrong with the car. At first he wanted to take both vehicles, but Sunday Morning I talked him out of that! Cooler heads do prevail! He would get heat stroke in that truck, and why pay for TWO cars full of gas when We could always send him back on amtrac if there was something really really wrong with the car.

We piled Sadie and the luggage back into the Jeep Laredo rental car and headed back over the top. This time on I-90. The scenery going over was wall to wall traffic! I could not believe that there were that many vehicles on the road on a Sunday evening in July! It was in the 90’s in Seattle, and since there was a thermometer in the car, we watched the heat go up higher and higher. As we dropped down into the Columbia River Gorge, the temperature was reading 113 degrees, and then right after I snapped this picture, it read 114!!! WHOA!! This is Washington State fer Chris sake! This is a very fuzzy picture, but you can see the temps!


hot

This is the Columbia River. Cut into solid basalt millions of years ago. It is so Impressive driving along through high desert, looking out at rolling hills of rock and sage brush, then coming down off Rye Grass Summit into this gorge!


columbia

As you climb back up the other side there is this sculpture way up on the ridge!

“Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies.” The horses are made of 1-inch thick tempered steel by sculptor David Govedare and placed on the Wanapum Vista Overlook in 1989 for the Washington State Centennial Celebration. The monument overlooks the Columbia River and can be seen for many miles from the highway in any direction. Access to the monument is located off the Eastbound lanes of I-90. I found out the monument is not yet complete. The sculptor, Govedare, wants to add three more horses and a 13-ton, 36-foot diameter metal basket adorned with symbols of “land, water, sky and human spirit.” The horses would appear to be running out of the tilted basket. The sculpture depicts the Indian legend of The Great Spirit’s gift of horses to Earth and man.


horses


horses


horses


It is so awesome to see that and then let your mind wander back into the era when the Indians were the only people populating this part of the country. The Indians here were hunter gatherers and a very peaceful group.

We climbed back up on to the plateau, where there were miles and miles of wheat fields growing.


fields

These pictures just do not do the vastness of this state justice. It goes on for Hundreds of miles. This is the part of the state called the Paloose.

Soon we go from wheat fields into the foothills of the Selkirk Mountains, and trees start appearing.


trees

And then Spokane.

We got a room at the Super eight in Four Lakes, and Monday morning at 8:00 we called and told Eli that we were back in Spokane. He said he would call when he had an answer for me. Eventually he did call, and we were told that it would be three days for parts…So Bob said, we are going down there and do a face to face. Which we did, and the service person told us that it was several things. 1. a fuel filter full of water.. 2. a fuel pump that needed a new sock.. 3. A gas tank with a broken baffle up against the fuel pump.

We talked some more and decided that we would have them change the fuel filter, and we would keep the tank topped off, turn in the rental, and head back over.

We did that and it felt so good to be back home. We came back over the top and dropped back into the Puget Sound area right at rush hour. We got on the ferry with no waiting, and let out a BIG sigh of relief


home!

A very cool layer of Marine Air blew in last night and cooled the place down to a really comfortable 58 degrees AHHHHHHHHHHH!

I’m home…my babies all slept with me, and life is good once again.