Prequel to Pirate Plunder

My alarm went off at 5:35 and I did not want to get up.  I slept like garbage the night before and knew the day was going to be a long one. To top it off, work went until 4 and White Pass was closed because of a wash out.  Just my luck.

I managed to get everything into the van, I borrowed grandma's van because I just don't trust my car to make it there and back over the pass, and even remembered to grab some breakfast before I left.  I sure hope I remembered everything.

We got to work and did our thing.  I then realized I forgot my GPS cord at home.  I called grandma to have her go find it, give it to dad to bring up to Yelm with some chicken/duck eggs.  Carried brought doughnuts, hot chocolate and muffins for our long day.  The day seemed to go by very slow.  I kept checking the pass report.  I really hoped they fixed it before I had to go over it.  The way around would have been longer.

After lunch I checked the pass reports again.  White Pass will open one lane at 3 p.m.  YES!  One thing going right for me and one less thing to worry about.  By the time 4:00 approached I was so ready to get out of there and get on the road.  It was going to take me three hours to get to Yakima as it was.  I got all the hygienists done for the day and cleaned up a little bit to help my mom out.  I grabbed my stuff and headed to the end of town to top off the gas.  I forgot the eggs in the fridge. I called mom and told her to just take them home.  It was the thought that counts.

I had to go through Eatonville because a section of Hwy 7 was closed again.  I knew that would add more time to my drive.  We ended up following a stupid UHaul and a truck for several miles.  When we got to the other side of Elbe and found a safe straight stretch, I passed him.  I made up some time.

I got to Packwood and saw a bunch of elk just hanging out in the field eating grass. No big deal.

I started up the pass.  I got stuck behind a car and managed to get around it before the extra lane ended.  I could see a truck ahead of me with blinking lights and he was hauling.  Later I figured out they were responsible for collecting the orange road closed signs along the highway.  It never fails, I was almost to the top when I saw a semi truck ahead of me going 35 mph.  I was upset.  Luckily since the pass was closed and just opened not too long ago there weren't that many cars coming so I got to pass it.

I got to the top and there was absolutely no one there.  I've never seen the pass so empty.

I started descending down onto the eastern side of the pass.  I went around the corner and saw where the road was destroyed by the bad weather we had last weekend.  The guardrail was gone and part of the right side of the road was being worked on.  I thought I would have to wait about 30 minutes like the signs warned us back in Packwood...I went right through.

I felt like I was the only one on the road when I got to the 410/Hwy 12 junction.  The entire length of Hwy 12 through the pass I saw maybe 50-60 cars which is very low.  Since the pass was closed it prevented cars from being on that road up until it was opened.  It was nice not having to follow slow cars or semi trucks.  It got darker and darker and some of the scenery was very pretty in the mountains.

I called everyone to make sure I made it over okay.  They were short conversations.  I got to their house and Willmarth was at the store so I hung out with Shannon for a while.  She talked about her new group of 4th graders.  I brought my stuff in since the dogs have now calmed down.  He got back and gave us our sandwiches for dinner. We took a short drive to where the event was going to take place just to see what it looked like. We got home, watched TV, chatted and got our pirate stuff ready for tomorrow's race.

I was so tired.  Once I made my bed and laid down I was gone instantly.  I really worried about how tired I would be for the race and how cold it was going to be since we had to get wet and muddy.  It should be fun though.