Day 3 on the road: The Flat Bits are Boring or Don't eat all the donuts.

Ooof. I'm so full.

It had been a long day, so I ordered in some Eggplant Rolatini, salad & some little fresh cinnamon doughnuts for dessert. Well, when it came the order was wrong, but being hungry I ate the doughnuts. When the replacement order arrived, they brought a second order of complimentary doughnuts in apology. What can I say? I didn't want them to go to waste! And so they will go to waist.

I got up freaking early and got the hell out of dodge- or rather the El Dorado Motel in Baker City. We were on the road by 6:30am, and up into the rolling hills of eastern Oregon.

I'd just like to say, if you are ever in north eastern Oregon, and happen to get a flat tire or something, don't walk to the nearest house- don't even get out of your car. And lock the doors. And pray. I could be wrong (it's possible, I hear it can happen) but I'm pretty sure that part of Oregon is entirely populated by serial killers. How do I know this? Well, when I drove through it today there were miles and miles and miles of hills and open space, not a town in sight... then there would be one solitary, run-down trailer with a sinister old pick-up truck and a ramshackle shed.  This pattern would repeat for hundreds of miles. Who else would live like that?

The drive through the mountains was easy as the road builders must have been lazy and built the road around the base instead of over the summit. We passed into Idaho, and down into Boise. I don't know why anyone would ever want to go to Boise, let alone live there. It's butt-ugly, and smells of potatoes frying in old oil. I did see a prairie dog though! (Highlight of my day.)

Stopped for lunch in Twin Falls, ID and got some nice shots of Snake River. Some of the best scenery all day.

 The drive into Utah was more interesting than Idaho. Lots of pretty snow covered mountains. But otherwise, today's drive was pretty dull. The cats didn't even make a peep!

Point of interest; if any of you are wondering why Charlie Sheen is in the news media so much, it`s because at any time of any day, you can find at least one episode of 2 & 1/2 Men on TV. There's absolutely no getting away from it.


Today's drive: 690kms in 7 hrs.
Starting point; Baker City, OR.
Terminus; Ogden, UT. (Just outside of Salt Lake City)

Playlist:

Audiobooks:The Hatchling (Guardians of Ga'hoole, Book 7), B is for Burglar (Kinsey Millhone Alphabet Mysteries, No. 2)

Albums: Hands All Over, Sigh No More, Lungs

Day 2 on the Road, or Stonehenge to Bethlehem

Today was a really long day of driving, but the scenery was so nice it just flew by! And to make things even better, Max & Leo seem to have adjusted to travelling and were good as can be! I think they miaowed maybe 10 times in 9 hours and no accidents! I know I'm using a lot of exclamation marks, but this is very good news!!!!

We were on the road by 7am, and charged along I-5 to the 205, then on to the I-84. The I-84 starts at Portland, and follows the Columbia river east across Oregon. .

The first section of the Columbia river gorge was beautiful and fascinating. You can tell that there had been a lot of geological processes at play to create such a complex landscape. It looked like driving past mossy castles. I vaguely remember bits and pieces from a Geology course in university, but not enough to quench my curiosity. I think I'll have to read up when I get home.

Wind farms were neat to see all along the gorge. I can't remember ever seeing one before, and they were much bigger than I expected. It was a good place for them too as it was quite windy! My first experience with wind shear, and good practise for the long prairie stretched ahead.

About 300 kms into my trip, I was presented with a unique side-trip that I couldn't pass up. At a place called Maryhill I crossed the Columbia back into Washington state, and drove 15 minutes up a narrow, windy road.

I parked, got out of the car, and strolled towards...

Stonehenge!!! What the hell? Yes, someone actually build a scale replica of Stonehenge in the freaking middle of nowhere, Maryhill (pop. 98... I'm not even kidding). I took the opportunity to stretch my legs, and take a few pictures.

 

Towards the end of my meanderings, I came across a plaque dedicating the monument to fallen soldiers. I don't quite get it, but what the heck. The tomb of the builder was also nearby (creepy!)

I decided since I was getting to stretch my legs, maybe the boys would like to as well! I took them out one at a time on leashes, and after about 3 minutes of wilderness (in the form of a grassy field and bird sounds) they both decided they'd had enough of the wild! They jumped back in the crate as quick as I could open the door! They are definitely house cats!

The last picture is of a cute little town called Arlington that I drove through, that for some reason has a giant rocket shaped glyph marked into the hills above town. With an eleven in it. What does it mean? I have no idea, but I did think it was interesting.





There was lots more driving today, but no more pictures as I was driving through the blue mountains. The roads were nice and dry, and the sun was shining (occasionally). There were long stretches of nothing but mountains and hills between one gas-station outposts. I stopped for lunch in Boardman (which my Mom has since told me is home to a bomb testing range) at a little First-Nations run cafe and had a great tuna sandwich. I've taken to planning my hotel stops at lunch time, so I looked at my maps and coordinated with my GPS, deciding I could make it to Baker City by 4pm (my nightly cut-off). There weren't any other towns to stop in for 50 miles before or 70 miles after, but since there were lots of hotels in town, I didn't think there would be a problem.

I was wrong. Apparently, Baker City hosts a huge regional basketball tournament this weekend and almost everyone was full! The Super 8 I'd planned to stay at had a room, but their "pet friendly" policy did not extend to cats, which was very frustrating after a long drive. After  half an hour of calling a dozen different places, I finally found somewhere with a room that would take all three of us, so no manger tonight. Though, a manger might be cleaner. Unfortunately, it's not the nicest of places. All I can say, is there is NO way I'm letting this comforter come anywhere near my face. Oh well, it seems safe, and it's just one sleepless night. Thank god there's a Starbucks in town.

Today's drive: 670kms in 9 hrs.
Starting point; Olympia, WA.
Terminus; Baker City, OR.

Playlist: 

Audiobooks: 1st to Die, The Hatchling (Guardians of Ga'hoole, Book 7)

Albums: Yer Favourites, The Suburbs

Day 1 on the Road or "JAILBREAK!"

Our first day on the road started out very well. I picked up the cats from the cat hotel, gave them their sedatives, and away we went!

In no time we were at the border crossing, and after a short wait, it was our turn at the booth. I expected to have to pull over and go through customs inside, complete with cargo & pet inspection. I had my passport, the cats' immunization records & international bills of health, paperwork to import the car, supplemental paperwork from the initial visa application, and a manifest of everything in the car. This, I'd been led to believe by a number of sources, was what I'd need to present. I also expected to possibly pay duty on the car.

I pulled up to the booth and handed the guard my passport. He looked at it and asked; 

"Where's home?"

"Currently? Baltimore." I replied.

"Where are you coming from?" he inquired.

"Delta." I responded (I've been staying at my parents' place being nursed back to health and eating their food for the past 3 days)

"What do you have with you?"

"Two cats and my personal effects"

"How much currency coming with you?"

"$300 cash"

"Okay, have a nice day."

Whaaaaaaat? Well, he didn't have to tell me twice! I sped away before he could change his mind, grabbed gas and was on the road again by 10am.

Unfortunately, this is where my luck ran out today.

By 10:15am, Leo had figured out how to open the zipper of his travel carrier. I pulled over, put him back in the carrier, and secured the zipper. Off we go again!

By 10:30am, Leo had chewed a hole in his carrier big enough to escape through & he was loose!

For the first hour, I let him roam the car and get acclimatized to his surroundings. He climbed all over me, the car, and the luggage, trying to find the best view. This became problematic as he decided the best view was from the dash.

*Don't worry, in the first picture we're parked!

Step two was to harness up. This worked for awhile, until he discovered that the leash stretched enough to let him play at horizontal bungee jumping. 

This might be a good time to mention that while the sedative I gave the cats (actually, I ended up giving them a dose and a half after 30 minutes of no results) worked a little on Max, it had no effect on Leo. Actually, that would be a lie. While it didn't calm him down, it made him very stoned. Who knows, maybe to him his carrier was made of marshmallows and he couldn't resist chowing his way through. Leo does love marshmallows.

Nearing Seattle, traffic was getting more congested, and Leo was getting more agitated. I pulled into a Walmart and pulled out a credit card.

30 minutes later I'd successfully assembled a crate big enough to hold a poodle (or a 5yr old, in a pinch). The crate went into the car, the cats went into the crate, and I went in to the washroom.

Apart from the occasional mewl or hiss, the rest of the trip went very smoothly. And to tell you the truth, if it hadn't, at that point I would have just turned up my audiobook.

Today's drive: 290kms in 6 hrs. 

Starting point; Delta, BC, Canada. 

Terminus; Olympia, WA, USA.