On January 3rd we woke to a beautiful winter wonderland. The kid had already gone down and swept off her car before we thought to document the snowfall. We weren't sure yet if the roads were good to go, but we knew we were up for a trip to Starbucks. We decided we'd stop there and then get out on the road and see how it was. We knew we could always turn back in a pinch. Cars were going by on the highway - not often but some. So the road was open. It was interesting coming into these cities in the mountains and always seeing signs that said "I-90 was closed if the signs were flashing", and then at the ramp following the sign there would be an arm to lower like across a rail-road track to stop traffic from continuing.
The little barrels showed that we had about three inches of snow overnight. It didn't seem to be slowing Butte down very much although we knew that this storm would have brought Seattle to a complete stop! But then we saw more plows on the Interstate in the morning than the City of Seattle probably owns in total! And besides, Butte was pretty flat and that is not a word that describes Seattle and environs.
As we started out, the mountains were still shading the morning sunlight.
It was nice when we could see the sun on the pavement and begin to hope it would evaporate some at least. It was too cold to hope for melting!
This driver had nice affectionate feelings for the plows and drivers! Out there working hard and helping us along our way.
Part of the reason our trip went so quickly was that there was no reason to stop and look at anything. Simply too cold!
The roads got worse for awhile as we left the populated areas. You'll notice how many cars we are traveling with. No one on our side for a long time. We'd see an occasional car coming the other way. It still looked like it could still be snowing a little in the mountains.
The main reason we headed west this day was because the weather report predicted another storm watch for around 6 PM with a significant amount of snow coming in. If we didn't keep going we could get stuck again and for a longer period of time. We wanted to take advantage of this window of opportunity.
Garrison - Gold Creek, above and below
Keeping to a recurring theme, a Montana plow in high seas!
Gold Creek - and wide open spaces!
Drummond -- this train reminded me of all the train trips my Wisconsin relatives took all over the West between about 1900 and 1920. It is fun to think about them looking out their windows on the train and seeing the same places I have seen.
The nicer pavement was behind the plow, but alas, we didn't want to go quite that slow.
Alberto-Frenchtown-Wye, above and below.
St. Regis - West End
Ready to change states again -- on the pass bordering Idaho. Haven't seen a lot of Exit 0's!
Our 4th pass, but not our last. Four down, one to go!
Mulan above and two below
Coming down into Coeur D'Alene. The Rockies were simply gorgeous all the way through them. So dramatic, strong and the weather so unpredictable. Somewhere around here my Aunt from Portland called and wanted to know if we were home yet. It turned out her husband, a very experienced long-haul driver, had been routed the same way we had come, but the company had shifted him to drive through California to avoid the incoming weather system.
After Coeur D'Alene we dropped down into Spokane. Originally we had planned to take one last night on the road and stay over in Spokane, Moses Lake (where I lived from 5th to 9th grade) or maybe even Ellensburg. But the weather forcast showed that the snow was still following us and if we didn't want to deal with snow on the pass, we should probably keep going.
So we kept going through nice, flat eastern Washington. You can't tell from this picture, but it actually already looked like snow clouds ahead which kept us eagerly moving along.
Sprague area.
Coming down to cross the Columbia River at Vantage. When we lived at Moses Lake, the dam was not here and the canyon was not flooded. We used to dig around with our hands in the gravel on the riverbank looking for arrowheads. It looked much different then, but now I doubt I remember it clearly. There is also an area with petrified wood very near here as well!
This was one of our last photos before passing Ellensburg and heading for the pass. Darkness descended, so no dramatic photos going over Snoqualmie Pass. This last pass was really the worst part of our entire trip. We had wet pavement with spray, dark and glare and people rolling 70 and trucks going 30, construction areas and herds of people.
As soon as we made the big right hand turn and merged onto I-5 northbound after days of I-90, we came up on this bus that says "WE ARE 12" on the back. It was dark and so it didn't come out well. The photo below as we pulled along side is a little better. Question -- is this a team bus? A fan bus? It didn't look like a graphic covered Metro bus. Curiosity! Hopefully someone will know!
Here is our odometer reading at the end of the trip. We didn't push the trip button until after our first day, so if you add to the 2776 the 312 miles we covered the first day, we get 3097. A fun adventure, with many good memories, good meals and good nights sleep. But I still have one more wish. One of these days my goal is to take my family, husband and both kids, to Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. We need at least one more good long road trips together!
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