Went on a little road trip last weekend... a six hour drive from Seattle to Coeur D' Aleine, Idaho. Why? My wife decided to appeal to my juvenile side and took me to an amusement/water park for my birthday. Called Silverwood, its a small spot to get wet in the desert.

To explain the pic above, I HATE left lane drivers. I typically pull into the right lane, pass all the slow drivers in the left lane, then pull in again. I don't cut cars off, but I use gaps and change lanes often. So, there I am, cruising in the rightmost lane, passing 10-15 cars that are inexplicably going less than the speed limit in the fast lane. I pull into the left lane in front of a beat up old green pickup, as there was plenty of space. I was surprised to seethat the next thing I noticed was the bumper of the pickup in my peripheral vision to the left. In the shoulder. Passing me. I was in the leftmost lane. He was on the shoulder.

Apparently he didn't like me passing him, and decided to hit the gas, pull into the shoulder, pass me on the left, his left tires tossing dirt onto the line of cars behind. He completed his pass, as I hit the brakes and let the maniac by. The four-wheeler in the back was bouncing around, he was alternately giving me the finger and shaking his fist at me out the window. I drifted back.

The right lane opened up again, I pulled out and passed another line of cars on the right, including him. He was still shaking his fist and I could see him yelling as I went by. I just smiled.

Here's the best part. He pulled off at the very next exit,I think the sign said "Welcome to the middle of nowhere - Methheadville" cutting off a few cars in his vector from leftmost lane to exit offramp. Angry redneck. Good start.



Sure is a lot of sky out here. Long roads, big open spaces.



Idaho must not have a helmet Law. Everywhere downtown there were posers cruising around in shorts, t-shirts and sunglasses. There were a few properly geared riders, but the vast majority showed more skin than clothing. Roadrash hurts. I know. Takes about three weeks for even superficial road rash to heal. I know. it's ugly, too.



Pretty clear indication we weren't in Seattle anymore. Local Sporting goods store with a big rack out front. No pics of Silverwood proper...we went on a busy, hot Saturday. I'm not a crowd person, I find the blank stares and nattering inanity depressing. It was fun for 4 hours, unfortunately we stayed 6. The wooden coasters were fun, the waterslides were refreshing, but the lines took some of the experience away. We came, we saw, we did. Probably won't be back.



Moses lake is a big bright green dam lake in the middle of a surreal landscape of ancient valleys and fissures carved by long forgotten rivers.



The road home carved down off the plateau to meet the shores of the Columbia river.



The Columbia's been here a while, here's a shot of the wall carved by the flow.



Crossing the river, looking downstream. Got a speeding ticket not far from here, easy to get up to speed as the road's open, and the fields were displaying a bumper crop of dust devils, impressively sucking large clouds of topsoil a hundred feet in the air, then dissipating. I had my attention on the show, not the speedo. 91 in a 70 zone. Cop had a really nice speed trap laid out, top of a ridge overlooking a long downhill slope. He had a few miles of line of sight to shoot his laser leisurely. Speed kills, dontcha-know. 180 bucks.



Crossing over the Cascade mountains back toward Seattle, the weather changes almost instantly from desert heat to wet coastal rainforest, lush and damp.



Mossy, green, lush Pacific NW. Good to be home.