Westward Ho! (And A Tribute To A Fallen Hero)

MONTANA/IDAHO/SEATTLE, WA - I left Yellowstone at night and drove through to Missoula, MT, where I slept in a truck stop overnight. Even in a sleeping bag and fully clothed it was still cold. By that next morning, I was pretty desperate for a shower. I hadn't showered or changed clothes since Denver and things were getting funky. Deodorant can only do so much.

The truck stop didn't have any showers, so I continued onward. Josh sent me a text message that his cousin was insisting I crash at her place, which was good news. I was getting sick of sleeping in the car in cold weather.

I stopped off in Coeur d'Alene, ID, which was a beautiful place by a lake. I was trying to find a place to eat early lunch (the time zone may have clicked over, but my stomach hadn't). I had lunch but couldn't find WiFi anywhere.

Tom had text messaged me some bad news the night before and I really wanted to check to see if it was true. Unfortunately, Tom was right and my favorite website has been shut down. I am truly sad. I read about it today and realized my world has changed forever. And while the website was nothing dirty (for anyone who doesn't know which one it is - it won't be named here for legal reasons), there could be legal ramifications as a result of this shutdown. Let's hope not. I can only stay on the road so long, haha. I wonder what the statute of limitations is on this...

I do happen to have a picture which I believe does a good job of stating my opinion on the matter.



'Nuff said.

Anyway, I continued on. I didn't end up getting to see a lot of Montana or Idaho because of the massive amounts of fog.



I did find one stop in Montana which was really nice.



It's funny... I really don't enjoy looking at pictures like these myself. They're always on the covers of atlases and they always annoy me. Seeing it firsthand helped me realize that pictures can't do it justice. But for some reason I just keep taking the pictures and posting them on here for everyone else. Oh well.

I got to Washington and was amazed by... just how boring it was. The east side of Washington is difficult to drive through. It's almost as depressing as Nebraska.

I always knew Washington was known for it's expensive coffee products and depressed people. However, I wasn't aware that one of it's major exports is dirt. It must be. Because that's all the east side of the state consisted of - dirt. And some rocks.

I did make two stops, both of which were on opposite sides of the Columbia River. There was a nice view on the east side... if you like dirt, that is.



Across the way was my next stop - a petrified forest. I hiked around for a little while, but there wasn't much to see. I had an eye out for rattlesnakes the whole time too.

After that was a beeline for Seattle. Once I hit the mountains, everything changed. The western part of the state is beautiful. Of course, as soon as I hit the mountains, it started raining. Thanks, Seattle.

I met up with Josh at a gas station and we headed to his sister's where he is staying. They said it was cool if I took a shower. Yes! It was maybe the most enjoyable shower ever. It had been about 60 hours and things were getting unbearable. I could probably deal with it just fine, just so long as I got to change clothes and didn't sit in a small box the whole time. Probably just a preview of what's ahead in the trip anyway.

We had some dinner there and went over to his cousin's place. She is unbelievably nice. She opened up her home and said I could stay as long as I need, although I do want to get moving on to Portland soon. Josh and I visited with her, her boyfriend, and son for a while and then went to hang out and catch up.

Later at night we sat around and watched "The State", so a good end to the evening.

This morning, after some breakfast, Josh and I went out to a park to play some disc golf. I haven't played that game in years. It was a good time and the park was beautiful. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.

Josh had to work for a couple hours, so I stayed here, wrote all of this, and washed some clothes. We're going to head downtown this evening, so I get to really check out Seattle. Have a good night.