Day 8 - Butte, MT to Black Diamond, WA

The first hour or so of our drive through Montana was in the wildfire area. The landscape was choked with smoke that irritated our eyes and lungs when we stopped for gas. As we neared Idaho, the smoke cleared and we were again treated to some iconic Rocky Mountain vistas.

It wouldn't be a cross country trip without some sort of vehicular mishap. Ours was fortunately mild and entertaining. We had pulled off the freeway in Idaho to relieve ourselves in the bushes. Matthew and Jon were trying to turn the truck around by pulling into a driveway and backing out when the metal steps and hitch on the back of the truck got stuck on the road. They couldn't go forward or reverse. We started gathering large rocks to wedge in front of the tires when the local zinc miners came around to help. They got their fork lift in under the bumper and lifted the truck while Jon hit the gas and we were freed.

As we drove across the border into Washington, Jon got on the walkie-talkie yelled "Welcome to Washington!!!!" while Matthew shouted "Wooooooo Hoooooo!!!!" in the background. The next thing we heard over the walkie-talkies was:

"What the hell was that?..... Was that you Ed?"
"No, that wasn't me"
"Must be some trucker or something"
"Man, that was wierd...."

Then I got on and said "Crackwhore" which was our version of "Roger that"

"Alright Ed, I'm gonna switch to channel 17..."

Probably the biggest surprise of the trip for me was Eastern Washington State. When I think of Washington, I see green pine trees and mountainside lakes, but the eastern part of the state is essentially a desert. The Cascade Mountains block most of the moisture coming in from the ocean. As wet as Seattle can get, east of the mountains is even dryer. Flat, dry, hot, and lifeless with not even a cactus to look at. The three hours from Spokane to the Cascades were the most grueling part of the trip.

The part of the Cascades we drove through was gorgeous and to me, more difficult to navigate in the truck. The arid heat didn't help things either and most of the semis had to turn off their AC to keep from overheating. As we progressed through the Cascades, the landscape got progressively greener and more fit for, well, more fit for everything except maybe filming Westerns. We arrived in Black Diamond around sunset and were warmly greeted by Jon's family who had beer and grilled meat at the ready. After 3000 miles of mostly eating road food, it was heaven. We slept greedily in our un-hotel like comfortable beds with no pressing start time in the morning. Tomorrow we only have a 45 minute drive before finally reaching our new home.

Day 8 - Butte, MT to Black Diamond, WA