Day 13 – Thursday, Oct. 14

Overcast. And still cool. In the 30’s. Up early. Loaded up with coffee. Got the blog out.

Going sightseeing. Headed out a little after 9a. Found the road that parallels the east side of the Columbia River / Roosevelt Lake. Headed south. The lake is created by the Grand Coulee Dam which is over 150 miles long. We drove south about an hour. Again fantastic scenery. Albeit still low clouds. We have the road to ourselves and almost all boat ramps, campgrounds etc. Empty

We found a free state run ferry about an hour or two in. Had to wait for it to come over. Load. Wait for more cars. Then go. Maybe 3 or 4 cars each trip. We were deposited on the west side of the river.

Decided to go see the Grand Coulee Dam. The 2^nd largest in the world. We needed to get over to a state highway 40 or 50 miles west, over a few mountains, then head south. We were in the middle of nowhere. On an Indian Reservation. Road signs did not really exist. Found a BIA road shown on a map but unlabeled (just a gray squiggly line) and no signs on the road. Not sure it was the right one. A leap of faith. Not a bad road. Narrow. Few turn offs. In some areas, not a good road either. We followed it for about 50-60 miles over a group of mountains. Again beautiful scenery. Still low clouds. A sigh at the top of the pass indicated about 5,500’ or something.

We were unceremoniously deposited on the state highway on the other side. On this side, the sun was out. Nice. Trees were gone.

Headed south and in less that an hour, there it was. Big.

Visitor center. Pictures. Enough dams on this trip. Did I mention how big it was. Only one bigger I guess is that one in China. Another useless factoid. Tried to find a place for lunch. Many closed. One was full of charter bus types. We decided to head north to Washington Route 20. About and hour to an hour and a half north. That will take us west to the Seattle metro area. Still a few hundred miles away but we would like to pull in there tomorrow.

Again, smooth driving. On the 12 federated tribes reservation almost the whole way. Sun still out. Nice.  Passing through apple country. Stopped now and then to stretch our legs.

Decided to head up the road about 100 miles and look for a room for the night.  That will put us about 150 miles out of the Seattle metro area and be able to roll in when Jon gets off work..  Headed to Mazama.  Found a nice property.  No one in the office.  Sign says if not check the corral or call.  No one in the corral.  Called.  Look for Sonny.  She should be stacking wood by the barn. MIA.  We did that game for a little bit and decided to dial for motels.  Found one in Twisp.  We passed through Twisp about a half an hour ago.

Nice little kitchenette unit.  Cute little town.  Unloaded and went to look for food.  Wasn’t drawn by local offerings.  Decided to go to local grocery store and check out their deli.. All good.

A few drinks.  Ate.  Watched ME TV for a bit and we were ready to call it a day.  We are near the western most point on our trip.  We have logged about 3,500 miles so far. Tomorrow will be 2 weeks on the road.  It will be nice to see Jon and Ally.

Life is good..