Day 15 - 06/16/2008

I got a lot of text messages last night and this morning, one from my friend Daniel. He recently moved to Idaho, and we were hoping to meet up. We made plans to meet for lunch, and then I started with my morning.

I have been here so long that I had been leaving my shampoo and stuff in the shower here. Today made me keenly aware that my time in Spokane was ending as I packed it all back up.

I went upstairs for breakfast, and spent it with Roxie, Grayson and Kayla. We had English Muffins, yogurt, and fruit. I had a chance to talk with Roxie and tell her that my parents had some books on missionaries that we had used, offering to send them up to her. We talked for a little while about their homeschooling, and Grayson happened to mention that Abraham Lincoln was a hero of his, something we have in common. Grayson and Kayla played me some more songs on their fiddles. The first was Ashokan Farewell, a Civil War tune that brought tears to my eyes. It had such a sorrowful melody that echoed the travesty of lives lost in that war.

I spent some time blogging, trying to catch up on my journals. My time here has been so filled with activities that I have fallen a few days behind. I got to my cut-off time to get ready to leave, and shut down the computer to start packing. I packed the car up again, said my good-byes (giving Grayson my address and having him try some of Grandma’s rhubarb sauce that had almost forgotten to take), and hit the road bound for Idaho.

As I left the freeway in Coeur d’Alene to meet Daniel, I was shocked to gas for only $3.67/gallon. I was disappointed that I had only used little more than a gallon of my filled tank. I met Daniel and his friend Louie, in whose basement Daniel is currently staying. We walked over to this burger joint, and had one of the best cheeseburgers I have ever consumed. The cook had a pan full of raw hamburger meat, and would just pull out meat to form patties as he cooked. It was a small establishment, with only a wrap-around counter for seating, but we managed to find three seats together. We talked about Daniel’s move up here, and the triathlon they’re both training for (something to shoot for one day after my marathon).

After lunch I got back on the road headed for Vancouver, WA. I needed to get to Sherman and Harriet’s tonight because we were going to spend the next day together. I had wanted to spend more time with them on my way up, but was crunched for time.

Today I started my first book on CD that I had brought with me, Confessions of a Jane Austin Addict. It’s about a modern-day woman whose life is in emotional turmoil, which somehow causes a body swap with a 19th century woman in comparable emotional predicaments. The premise seemed brilliant and promising, but so far it is only mildly living up to expectations. I only keep listening to find out how the heroine gets back to her own time and life. I passed the halfway mark of the 7.5 hours during my driving today.

I was headed west on the 70, and Amy had sent me a message prior to my trip, saying that I needed to stop in a town called Ritzville, that there was some place there where I needed to try their amazing ice cream and see their restroom. She didn’t give me the name of the place, but just the address.

It took a lot of wrong turns to finally narrow down where it was, because few streets are actually marked. I finally found Killian’s Country Creamery and went inside. I walked inside and there were two very bored-looking high school girls behind the counter. I bought an ice cream cone, and started walking around the store. There was a photo booth with pictures taped all over the exterior. A sign was posted asking patrons to donate one of the photos printed to the wall, saying that tape and scissors were available at the counter. I had a thought, and started scouring the photos. Sure enough, I found a picture of Amy and her coworkers from a stop they had made there.

Then it was time to try this bathroom. I had no idea what to expect, but was guessing a huge cow statue or something. Nothing could have prompted me to guess what I’d see: the rest of the store. I walked in to the first bathroom, only to discover that I could see the entire store through a one-way mirror covering an entire wall. It was absolutely freaky. I hadn’t looked at this wall from the outside, but thought it was a mirror from the outside. It was too weird to think of going to the bathroom in there because even if you don’t have an audience, you feel as though you do because you can see them. So I ducked into the next one, which was thankfully without such a wall. Upon leaving I sent Amy a text message thanking her for the surprise.

As it turned out, Ritzville was the city for my turn-off from I-90 to state highway 395. I was following the sign for it, but became absorbed in my book. It was 40 miles later before I realized that I had stayed on I-90. Thankfully, I figured it out just in time to find that the upcoming state highway 17 would also take me south and meet up with the 395. So I wasn’t entirely efficient in my travels, but at least I didn’t have to backtrack. I despise backtracking.

Sherman had told me on my last visit to stop in Kettleman City for cheap gas, but $4.17/gallon didn’t seem cheap compared to what I had seen in Idaho earlier this morning. And then I almost got lost trying to get back on the freeway, because I had pulled off at a juncture of three or four freeways/highways.

I pressed on, and soon took a break from my book to call Dad and wish him a belated Father’s Day. Mom had helped me take care of a gift we knew he’d like, so at least that was on time. Because of my cell phone dying on my hike yesterday, I hadn’t been able to call him after my hike. I then called Sherman to confirm my arrival at his and Harriet’s house tonight. We figured that I’d be arriving about 9 or 10 p.m.

I wanted to get over to Vancouver, but the scenery was so gorgeous that I couldn’t help pulling over at designated View Points to take several pictures. This is such a beautiful drive. As I continued on, I called my friend Joanna to catch up. She’s in the process of moving, and had an unusual problem to deal with: ducks had settled in her pool. As I laughed over this, she also gave me a lecture about eating peanut butter while driving.

Along my trip, I’ve been scanning for local radio stations. I have frequently found KLove, a Christian music station that I have access to in Fresno. But I was very surprised to find “The Fish” radio station while surfing through stations today on break from my book. That one is in Orange County, and I hadn’t come across it before in any of my travels outside of Southern California. That was a memory of home.

As I took Exit 3 off of Highway 14 as Sherman had instructed, I found myself lost. I called Sherman, and after a lot of U-turns, we realized I just hadn’t gone far enough on the road I was originally on. I thought I had gone too far because I passed another entrance to highway 14.

I finally arrived and carried my stuff inside. Harriet put together a snack for us, and Sherman insisted I drink all the milk left in the carton. I told him I’d finish it in the morning with breakfast. We made some basic plans for tomorrow, and headed to bed. After typing for awhile (still trying to catch up), I collapsed, exhausted from today.