Moses Lake to Lakewood

Wednesday the 2nd

Woke up during the night to the sound of rain on the roof. Then again at 6:30 AM, still raining. Got up and took a shower, letting Tina sleep a little longer. After getting dressed, the kids and I went out fo a walk. No rain! We still needed to use the towel on their paws though.

Once Tina was up and had her shower we ate, cleaned up and by 9:00 AM we were back on I-90 headed for Mom Jarvis place in Lakewood. We stopped for fuel and to check on the tow dolly axle just before George. Then we dropped into the Columbia Gorge at Vantage and crossed the Columbia River. The rain had quit and the sun was out. Absolutely Gorgeous!!

Then we started up the Vantage Hill, ten miles of a 4-5% grade up to the plateau at the west side of the river. Amazingly we made it up averaging about 55mph, hitting 65mph in a couple of places. Once at the top we pretty much cruised all the way to Ellensburg before it started raining again. From Ellensburg to Elk Heights, then on to Easton and through the one lane road construction areas all the way to the top of Snoqualmie Pass it rained heavily making the driving treacherous.

Reaching the top of Snoqualmie I kicked in the engine breaking to keep our speed down to 55mph as the rain continued to pour down. Semi's were passing us regularly but we maintained our pace and got down to North Bend in one piece. Ten miles later we too the Hwy 18 exit to go up over Tiger Mountain. I never liked this drive and in the rain, with semi's coming at us and pushing us from behind we ground our way to the top and down the other side.

Having successfully negotiated the dreaded Hwy 18 we dropped into Auburn and found the exit to the Valley Freeway (167) to Puyallup. We made our way south through the valley and into Puyallup and up south hill to Hwy 512 where the rain quit again. Safely at the top we scooted along until it was time to negotiate the entrance to I-5 south. Oooopppps! Emergency stop!!! Somebody about four or five cars up decided to slow down and it brought everybody behind them to a screeching halt. Five cars back a big semi nearly jackknifed. We stopped three feet from the guy ahead of us. Wheeeeew!! Over 8,000 miles and 5 miles from our final stop and we nearly bought the farm.

We made it onto the freeway, got off at Gravely Lake, made the turn down Veterans drive, then turned onto Newgrove and parked in front of Shanda's house (right next to Mom's house). We went in and said our hellos then grabbed some lunch. After lunch, we unloaded the fridge, disconnected the car and tow dolly and parked the rig in Mom's driveway. After some creative use of wood blocks I got the rig reasonably level for sleeping.

During the afternoon Tina made stew for our dinner. Shanda got home from work and joined us. After dinner we watched a little TV with Mom then called it a night.

No photos today.

Distance for this leg, 199 miles. Total for the trip so far, 8,512 miles.

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