Day 8: Drive to Seattle

Day 8 Stats:
Miles: 300-ish
Highway Patrol: 3
Tolls: 0
Hitchhikers: 2 (there was a sign on the highway that said "Hitchhiking Permitted"....but no one was there)

I didn't really expect it to take almost 6 hours to drive across the state of Washington, but it did...those dirt roads leaving the winery took a while.

During the drive I was somewhat surprised about the landscape of central Washington, it was almost desert-like, and the scenery reminded me somewhat of Lake Havasu in Arizona! And I found what I call a "mini-me" Grand Canyon - it is about 1/10 of the one in Arizona and not as colorful, but other than that a dead ringer.

Once I got about 100 miles outside of Seattle something expected occurred: rain. Throughout the trip I have been blessed with blue skies and sunshine, with only about 5 minutes or rain in Montana, but then again Seattle isn't the rain capital of the US for nothing (I don't really know if it is true or not, but it sure seems like it).

Normally rain isn't a big deal to me, but as I drove down some very steep mountains on some very windy roads adding rain to the mix is a recipe for disaster. Thank you state of Washington for having guard rails...there tends to be a family history of windy mountainous roads, absent guard rails and disasters....

By the time I got into downtown Seattle I was ready to check into my hotel - a very cool former early-20th century gentlemen's club (not a strip club, but a place were actual "gentlemen" socialized) - but my room wasn't ready, so I hung out in the Polar Club bar.

Next stop: touring Seattle....