Bozeman, MT to Moses Lake, WA
501 miles
Radio was truly dismal for most of the trip, by the way. We were hoping for more strange local talk shows or some good college stations, but new country, Top 40 and contemporary Christian stations almost exclusively dominated the dial. (Contemporary Christian radio can be amusing in small doses, but it rapidly grows annoying when that’s all there is.) And the tape player was tinny and trebly, turning even the Magnetic Fields’ 69 Love Songs into an unpleasant whine. So we depended on NPR and, as a fallback, our shared guilty pleasure of lite-FM. You’d be surprised at how great Hall & Oates sound after being on the road for a week. At some point, I heard Boston’s "Peace of Mind." It didn’t leave my head for weeks.
We spent most of today driving through towering hills and valleys. The scenery was beautiful, but northern Idaho’s twists and turns were a little terrifying. Our van had a nasty habit of wobbling whenever we drove down hills, and these were some of the most treacherous of the trip.
From my journal:
"Idaho was scary. The entire ride took us through mountains and over hills. One
particularly steep decline left us breathless. It was hard to look to the right and see
the HUGE drop that would have transpired had we slipped. Especially since this truck has
been wobbling more than usual. I’m ready to rejoin the human race, to resurface, to
have an apartment and Thai food. Even if I haven’t done any driving, this has been a
STRENUOUS trip and I can feel every mile we’ve travelled. Six days on the road, and
I’m gonna make it home tonight. Well, tomorrow night."
Given this mindset, it was a relief indeed to cross the Washington state line. Tonight we stayed in Moses Lake, a tiny resort town about 200 miles east of Seattle. Lots of prefabricated houses overlooking the namesake lake. What is the appeal of these houses, anyway? I saw them everywhere, but they don’t appear to be that much less expensive than constructed homes. And unlike trailers and RVs, you can’t even drive them away.
Dinner at Denny’s.
October 1, 1999
Moses
Lake to Kirkland, WA
175 miles
I suppose it should have been cause for celebration to cross the King County border. I guess we should have been jubilant to finally see the Seattle skyline and the Puget Sound. I know we should have been brimming with anticipation as we crossed onto the I-90 floating bridge, watching the numbers descend as we drove through the tunnel. But we were far too exhausted to feel joy, relief, exhilaration, or much of anything besides a grim determination to see the trip through. Today we picked up our car and signed a lease on an apartment. We stayed over in Kirkland, right across the river from Seattle. The next day we moved into our new apartment.
We are home.
