I need to get out to Washington more often than every 8 years or so. ...and I will. I think of changing my annual goal from "visit the ocean" to "visit the ocean and my relatives in Washington state".
I figured I wouldn't get an early start for my drive back to Montana, and I didn't. I spent the previous evening with my Uncle Rick and his girlfriend and we were up past 2 am this morning. As they had furnished almost two bottles of wine during our conversation, I spent the night on their couch next to their pellet stove. Rick drank beer; April drank non-or-low alcoholic drinks; and other than Rick's adult daughter drinking a glass or so of wine, I had the rest.
Still, I woke up around 7:30 am. I woke Rick up before 8 am to say 'good-bye', and after a "*snort!* Huh?! What?! Umm.. what? You're leaving?", he got up out of bed and we ended up talking until almost 10:30 am. We never did finish the previous evening's chess game. I hadn't seen Rick since the early 90s as I didn't see him when Tina and I visited the area and some of the relatives back in '98. We had lots to catch up on.
I left Puyallup around 1 pm, Pacific time. Yes... later than even I expected.
The drive went well and I made good time as I covered the 537 miles in 8 hours and arrived home just after 10 pm, Montana time.
As I slowed down to enter Paradise, MT I saw a brief flash of flashing blue lights. Guess the local sherriff was warning me the speed limit was lower through town. How low, I don't know as his brief flash of lights distracted me from the speed limit sign. So I drove 25 mph until I saw a 45 mph speed limit sign.
Once I got into the mountains of Montana the sun had set and it was dark. With the mountains all around - really dark! Sometimes I could see lighter gray night sky above the mountain tops; other times the mountains rose higher than my front windshield view.
When there were no trees near the road, and the road was a narrow two-lane road - so narrow the state couldn't paint white border lines - all I saw was the yellow center dashed lines and the dark pavement in my car's headlights. Other than when I came down the one mountain into the extinct volcano and saw property lights scattered below, I rarely even saw lights from nearby buildings or ranches. Yup, it was dark out.
Once I reached Flathead Lake there were more lights along the shoreline. The moon tried to make an appearance but it was brief as there was only a small gap between the Swan Mountain range and some clouds.
While I really enjoyed my time in Washington, I don't miss the traffic out there. After I turned off I-90, and drove the final 120 miles or so, I only saw a few dozen cars until I reached Kalispell. Even then I didn't see much traffic as I probably only seen a few dozen more cars on the drive through the center of town. Kalispell seems so quiet - and nice - after the hussle and bustle of Washington. I think my relatives would be bored out of their mind driving through Kalispell. It turned 10 pm before I drove past the final few stoplights and some of them were now flashing their nightly red & yellow instead of operating.
Naturally it was dark when I got home so I haven't a clue what-is-what outside. A little chilly outside the house at 37 F, and 52 F in the house. Too late to light the wood stove so I guess I'll jump into a cold bed and hopefully warm up in the morning.
'night.
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