"On the Road Again...."

This sure is fun!  Our journey found a little "hiccup" as we traveled through Enumclaw (a very small town at the base of Highway 410) - they were having a Fourth of July parade so the normal route through town was blocked off.  We stopped and asked a couple of fire fighters who tried to help, but couldn't remember the exact name of the street to follow.  So we kind of guessed,  But bless a good samaritan who, when Elaine yelled "excuse me" out the RV window, turned his car around, listened to where we wanted to go and said "follow me" and led us to Safeway, just a couple of blocks from the turn off.  So we decided to make a quick stop for a bite of lunch (as we knew by then where we were) and were sitting in the RV when they drove past to be sure everything was OK.  Bless them.  It was quite grey and cloudy, but as we got higher, the clouds started to clear.  Eventually you could see Mt. Rainier (14,000+ feet).  There were still a number of patches of snow left as we crossed the summit, and then headed to Pine Needle - a reservable, private campground in the Wenatchee National Forest.  We figured it was about 30-35 miles.  So a few photos.

Chinook Pass summit

 It turned out that we were the first ones to arrive, but when it was all said and done there were 5 rigs (actually 4 rigs and 1 tent).  The ten of us have all done this trip before and it has become a delightful tradition.  [we already have our dates set for next year].  This is a time of just relaxing, reading, playing games, hiking for some, ice cream stop for some.  Saturday night was the potluck, with dishes provided by each "household" and a celebration of 4 summer birthdays.  The campground is close to the highway, but separated by a locked gate (although we did have an unbelievably rude couple stop and just walk around the gate - saying they were coming in a couple of weeks and wanted to see the place.  No "if you don't mind" or "excuse us" or some such, that any civilized adult would say.)

thanks Caro for our little "tent"

Everyone's favorite little room

The American River - fast and cold

Salmon berry blossom

We are in the middle of Washington state tonight, in Moses Lake.  Moses Lake has an interesting past - it was used to train pilots during WW II and a number of folks from Britain and western Europe have been here.  (who would have ever heard of Moses Lake, otherwise?)  It is also where pilots learn about take offs and landings with Boeing 747's.  This is wide open country, without any hills and so it's probably a good place to learn. We are heading into Idaho tomorrow.