Third Time's a Charm

Day 1 on the road was a few hours more than anticipated.

We got everything packed, including sandwiches for lunch, and were on the road by 9:45. We headed up the Columbia Gorge Scenic Byway in cloudy, but dry weather. Since Kim hadn't been through the Gorge, we took a short detour through Mosier up to Rowena Crest.

Dad and Kim at the Crest

We came down through the Rowena Loops, and got back on I-84 continuing East.

We passed through The Dalles, past Rufus, and Biggs Junction. Not too far past Biggs, Dad hollers out, "Oh Damn! I forgot my Passport!" As we are now on a stretch of road with no exit, we spent the time trying to think of a way to get his Passport. As we come to the Phillippi Canyon exit, we realized we would just have to go back to Vancouver and get it. So, I turned around and back we went. We'd been on the road for about two hours. I texted Annette telling her we would be about 4 hours later than we anticipated. 

We rolled back into Vancouver at about 2:15, stopped and refilled the gas tank (at the same gas station we had stopped at on the way out of town), and went back to the house. We decided to just go ahead and eat our lunch at the house (so, basically, we took the sandwiches for a 260 mile ride). By about 3:00 we were back on the road (Passport firmly in shirt pocket--checked and double-checked). The weather had changed from relatively nice, to rain, but once we got further up the Gorge (for the third time) the rain stopped. We even saw a rainbow.

We made pretty good time as I was pushing the speed limit just a bit. We made it past the turn around point, on through Boardman to the turnoff to Umatilla and Hermiston. From there we turned north through Kennewick and Pasco. From the second time we left Vancouver, we did not stop until we were not too far out of Spokane at the last rest stop. There, we pulled off for a quick potty break.

We pulled into Annette and John's place about 8:45, tired and hungry (as Kim said, those sandwiches were long gone!). John and Annette had a delicious dinner of lasagna, garlic bread, and watermelon waiting. After some visiting, we all hit the sack!

Tomorrow shouldn't be so long. The Passport is already in the car.

Thanks John and Annette for hosting us!