Part 5 of the 2008 Oregon Adventure

Friday September 12 2008

I want to go home.

I shower and head the Buick west at 0730. I'lll find something to eat along the way. Stevenson doesn't seem awake yet.

The sun is rising in my rear view. Shadows and light play as the Gorge comes to life. It's impressive. I have no pictures. I really just want to get home.

I leave Hwy 14 for I-205 north, which will join with I-5 North at Salmon Creek. I stop for breakfast at a Shari's just north of Kelso. There have been road signs advertising for this regional restaurant chain during my entire journey and I thought I'd try one. Greasy hash browns, bad sausage links but they get the eggs pretty close. The meal sits heavy for the next couple of hours.

A fresh tank of gas from the Shell station next door and I'm back on I-5. Nav says we'll be home by 1430 if we don't stop.

I spend the miles driving north to the border with the music quietly in the background. I think of times we drove this road when I was a kid, and I think about being that kid. The road, like me has changed a lot since then. I remember trips to Seattle, the Space Needle, the Pacific Science Center, and the Zoo. Seattle, like Mt Baker, was a great place for my family to go. The Science Center used to have a great space exhibit. You could sit in Gemini and Mercury space capsules, and the amusement park next door had the Mad Mouse ride. Somewhere in Seattle is the now long lost restaurant where I had the best plate of spaghetti ever. They're all gone now, and I wonder what they did with them, and I wonder what I did with that kid? And I wonder why I never tried to find that spaghetti place again? As I cruise by in the northbound express lanes I see the giant Post Intelligencer Globe, and the Space Needle, but not the Science Center next door. KWJZ is back on the radio, Mr Shuffle is taking a rest.

I stop at a Starbucks just north of Everett for stretches and a Venti Awake. My mind is a bit at odds with itself. The longing for quick change and constant stimulus, versus long term change at a measured and even pace. By the time I get back on the Interstate I haven't found a solution.

There is a short wait to cross the border at Peace Arch. I'm taken by surprise when the CBSA agent asks me a question I never been asked before. “Are you carrying a gun?” I was so taken by surprise I have to ask him to repeat the question.

I cross the border just after 1300 and I call my brother using the OnStar phone to let him know I'm back.

The mountains and other landmarks are in their right and familiar places, the highways are well known, and the same.

But I'm not..

After 1211.3 miles (1949.5 km) and almost 1200 pictures I am home.