We played some more Clue, got into Tripoli (a game I haven't played in years) while we ate breakfast, for a couple hours. We threw the ball in the front yard for the dogs and Willmarth made me some cookies and gave me some vacuumed sealed asparagus. I thanked them for their hospitality and said Ben might stop by later if they were home. Willmarth said they probably wouldn't be because they had heard back by the court system that Kevin had a "visitation" scheduled with his brother that afternoon. I told them we will try to stop by on our way home on Sunday. Kevin really wanted to see Ben. Willmarth said just to text him when we were on our way to Yakima.
I headed down Wenas and into Selah. I found the I-82 sign and got into the appropriate lane to go to the TriCities. This junction was nuts and to top it off there was a fire just to the left of us along the river side of I-82 and a bunch of trucks and firefighters trying to keep it from spreading. I sped up so I didn't have to be a part of the chaos if it got out of control.
I got to Rattlesnake Ridge and I saw the crack as I passed it. I'm glad it hasn't fallen yet because it would make a giant mess, would hurt a lot of people and I would have to drive the long way around. It is still being monitored and figured out by the state, geologists and the emergency management team. It is a slow moving landslide and very unpredictable.
The 85 mile drive was fairly uneventful. You had the occasional idiots weaving in and out of traffic. I was about 10 miles in front of Bob and Bev, who left that morning from Rainier to head over. They made a few stops for caches just like we always do when we travel over here.
When I got into the TriCities I decided to go to Sacajawea State Park first and then go and find a few caches and take care of some errands afterwards. I got to Pasco pretty quickly and into the state park. I stopped at the gate and gave the lady my money ($26) for two nights at the park. She gave me my change and the receipt for my window. I drove around and found the same spot from last year. I wanted to be under a tree to provide some shade because it was suppose to be 80 this weekend. I had to move a couple of picnic tables before I set up the tent. The tent was put up and had some minor difficulties because the wind was blowing and it moved the tent around. I finally got it staked in and started putting the mattresses, sleeping bags and pillows inside.
I needed some ice for the cooler so I got back in the Escape and headed to exit 9 (where all the stores and restaurants were) and went to Walmart. I grabbed some ice and a chicken Caesar wrap from Subway because I was hungry and past lunch time. I saw there was a cache behind the store so I went and found Geo Ho Ho 2017 Holiday Poems 14 (GC7FYN6) and just down the street found Geo Ho Ho 2014 8th Day of Christmas (GC5H739). Both were boring film cannisters.
On the way back to the park I decided to get some gas just because I wasn't sure if my Escape was going to be the one driving around or not. I thought I would be prepared anyway. I saw there was a cache nearby so I grabbed Tongue Twisers--Figs and Phesants (GC44CH5) before I got gas. That one for some reason took more time to find than it should have.
I got gas at the Shell Station nearby. I got 30 cents off for $2.99 a gallon. Score!
I made it back to the part right around 5:30 and Ben arrived shortly after. He unpacked is stuff and got settled in. We walked over to the Meet and Greet (GC7GDK8) which was on the other section of the park and started chatting with some of our geo peeps. We signed the logbook and looked at some of the lab caches that Bounce Bounce created. Then we got talked into doing the Geo Survivors and our teammates were two women from Utah. We got third overall.
We found Bob, Bev, Gabe and Ken and they were looking for last year's bonus cache, Tri-City 2017 Bonus Cache (GC75TKN) over in the corner of the park. It was swarming with mosquitoes so we hurried.
Jen, the event host, got up on the stage and talked about some of the events that were going on and some of the stuff that was happening tomorrow as far as the event went. She had some of the lackey's speak and some of the voluteers talked about the event tomorrow. Ben won something with the raffle but ended up giving it to some kids. We were all funned out so we decided to go get some food. Antoine and Nikki didn't come this year so camp wasn't all that busy.
Ben checked some food reviews on his phone and came up with a place called Shooters Bar and Grill in Findley...which was across the river on the Kennewick side. We put the address into the GPS and we were on our way with a small detour at Big Pasco (GC7FWRR) which was at an informational kiosk. Ben was tall enough to reach it.
We went over the bridge and made our way to Findley, a small town east of Kennewick, for some dinner. I wasn't sure what to expect when we got there. The building looked fairly new or renovated from the parking lot. We walked in and were greeted by the hostess. She sat us and wanted to know what we wanted to drink. Ben ordered Irish Death and a water and I got a water. We looked at the menu and watched a re-air of the Mariner/Red Sox game from earlier that day.
The chicken strips looked good so I ordered those and Ben wanted some of the southwest pasta and garlic bread. The food was pretty good and the waitress must have had nothing better to do but hover over us. We practically were the only ones there along with another group of people off to the left of us. She brought us our check, we paid and headed back to the park. We passed over my favorite bridge again but this time in the dark with the lights.
We got back to the state park and noticed the gate was closed. Do they close the gate at a certain time? I've never really seen the gate closed ever so I wondered. It was closed but not locked. Ben found the lever and pulled the gate open for us to drive through. I parked the Escape right next to the tent. I got my stuff out to go and shower, which takes a while because the shower area gets really humid, showered and then brushed my teeth. We settled into our tiny tent (our other one broke and we need to replace it soon) and eventually fell asleep. I was exhausted and we had to get up somewhat early the next day so we could get breakfast going, the Escape cleaned out just in case we have to drive it and our stuff ready for the day.
Next Adventure: TriCities Geocoin Event: Taste of the TriCities
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