Day 18 – Tuesday, October 19
Time to leave. Let the kid’s have their space. We did take our time though. Finally rolled out 1130ish. Some hugs, final goodbyes. 
Headed south on I-5. Not looking forward to the Seattle traffic. Actually it wasn’t too bad. Moving at speed most of the time. Took the I-405, then I-90 over the Snoqualmie pass, heading to Yakima. Nice day. Lots of traffic. Especially trucks. Turned onto I-82 towards Yakima. Turned onto a nice 2 laner for about the final 30 miles that followed the Yakima River into town. Fly fishermen and river boats abound. Very pretty. Just a gorgeous drive.
Made it into Yakima. Toured the fair city a bit and decided to head to Walla Walla. Never been. Supposed to be nice. Lots of onion farms. Lots.
Arrived in due course. Nice downtown. A couple of colleges in town. Student influence apparent. Did our motel thing. Stopped for a drink in a local establishment that turned out to be quite pricey. Found a quite inexpensive place that was clean. Unloaded and went to dinner. A Greek place called Yamas right downtown. Meh.
Back to our room. We were both pooped. Asleep early..
Day 19 – Wednesday, October 20
Problem with going asleep too early is you get up too early. This time it was up 330a. On the road a little after 4. Well as long as we were up decided to put some miles on. Let’s go to Boise. Rainy. Plugged in the google maps thingy. Our course was set. Had no idea where it was taking us. It only shows the next turn. In the middle of nowhere. No lights. Very, very dark. And raining. Crossed into Oregon in short order. Found a gas station open. They still pump your gas for you there. Wow. Wasn’t expecting that. Took a while to get on an interstate. Maybe an hour? Still couldn’t see crap. Had the heated seats on. Small comfort.
Apparently we were passing through a mountain range. Curves. More Curves. Slow down. Still raining. Dark. No light what so ever. Signs for scenic over looks. Signs marking summits etc.
By the time we came down on the east side, the sun was coming up and it was starting to clear. When we crossed into Idaho, the speed limit went to 80mph. Way to go Idaho! It took us about 4-5 hours, plus losing an hour crossing back into mountain time. Got to Boise about 930-10a their time.
I had texted a friend from Farmers, Paul Jackson who met us downtown for coffee. It was great to catch up. Thanks Paul!
Back on the road. Decided to head to Idaho Falls. Set us up for the Tetons and Yellowstone tomorrow. Another 250 or so miles. Easy. With the help of Mr. Jackson, found a nice 2 lane road that would take us the whole way. Beautiful day.
Expansive beautiful country. Oregon Trail. Goodall’s cutoff. Lewis and Clark. Lots of history here. No traffic. Road to ourselves. Speed limit 65 most of the way. Meant I was cruising at 70mph. Best of all, no trucks.
Happened upon the ‘Craters of the Moon’ National monument. Ancient lava flows. As far as the eye can see. 750,000 acres. Eerie. Did the visitor center and drove their loop. Worth the time.
Passed through the town of Arco. It seems its a tradition for the graduating class to mark their accomplishment.
Lots of government nuclear sites and laboratories out in the desert. Disposal sites. Made it clear they did not want you trying to get a ‘look see’.
Idaho Falls about 4p. Nice town. Clean. Well laid out. Found a local pub. Found a room at a local Hilton. This time a suite type hotel. Had to make up for Travel Lodge debacle the night before… You know what I mean.
Dinner across the parking lot at Stockmans. It was OK. Nothing I would brag about. Back to the hotel. Tired. Very tired. Had been driving since 4a. At any rate, just a couple of hours to the parks in the morning.
Had spoken with contractor for the house. They are done. Spoke with Insurance adjuster and the new body shop guy. Suburban may not need a frame. All good news.
Quiet evening. In bed by 9.. long day tomorrow. Still about 2,000 miles from home. We’re figuring getting home Monday or Tuesday next week. Stops to make on the way..
Life is good…