The alarm went off but I didn't get out of bed until about 7:15 again. I went out to use the restroom but had to step over Seamus to do so. I got dressed for the day and packed up my stuff, so it was ready to go. The night before Fitzy had gotten her sourdough proof made up so it was ready for the next morning. She started on the cinnamon sourdough waffles. I was kinda intrigued with how that was going to taste.
Once they were done, I put some butter, syrup and threw some fruit on top. I am not a huge fan of sourdough, but you couldn't really taste it, which was good...the cinnamon came through though.
We chatted for a bit while we ate. She asked what my plan was as I headed home. I told her I was going to drive up to Chewelah and Springdale to grab two caches I need to finish a challenge I've been working on (at times not actively) for the past 13 years. She told me that there was a marathon going on in Spokane Valley and it may reroute me. She added that she was going to do some yard and housework and then take it easy before the beginning of the new work week. I helped her with the dishes really quick, gathered up the rest of my stuff, took it out to the Escape, used the restroom one more time and said our goodbyes out in the driveway and thanked her for letting me hang out and stay with them. She told me I was welcomed anytime as long as she was home.
I set the GPS to the cache in Chewelah and left her house around 9:30 a.m. I got onto Montgomery and stopped by the Coca-Cola distribution center, a place Fitzy and I went to the previous year and got soda from the machines for a quarter, to get the cache, Life is Like a Box of...Soda? (GC8AAX4). I parked and checked the vending machines to see if they had any soda. All four of them were sold out. Bummer. I walked over to the nano cache and was disappointed. I felt like this cache was a huge, missed opportunity. Oh well.
I followed Nuvi's directions and wished I would have gone up E Bigelow Gulch Road to avoid the marathon road closures. I was diverted all the way to Division and up through Mead to get onto Hwy 395 up through Deer Park, Loon Lake and up to Chewelah. I talked to Mom for a little bit, but the service was very spotty. It was smooth sailing until we got behind a truck going really slow about a mile from the cache.
I finally got to my turn off, parked off to the side of the coffee stand (I wanted to make sure the people in the drive thru couldn't see me), grabbed the cache, Chewelah or Bust! (GC8FHFW) from underneath the coal cart, it was a glass jar (not a fan of people using glass jars, they break too easily), signed my name, snapped a picture and got back in the Escape. I really didn't want to bring too much attention to myself since people are addicted to coffee.
I set the GPS for Springdale, a small town just southwest of Chewelah, and followed its directions to Fishin the Duck Pond (GC89YD6). I called Erika back (she had called me earlier that weekend to tell me a story) and she proceeded to tell me about her funny former work story. We talked about wedding stuff, our brother's problems, the Kevin and Tracy bickering with Dad until the phone dropped a few calls due to the service. I ended up talking to her while I found the cache I needed from Springdale and the service stayed connected almost all the way to Davenport, where I got expensive gas at the Exxon. Gas should not be this stupid expensive!!
I decided to drive through Harrington this time around instead of the way I went last time. This area was literally the middle of nowhere. I maybe drove past two other vehicles while on this stretch of highway.
I got into Harrington and like all the other small towns in Eastern Washington, this one looked just like the others. I saw where the closest cache was and made my way to the middle of town to grab it. I parked along the side street and grabbed The Phantom of the Opera (GC2FX5F). It was a fake rock on the side of what used to be an opera house during the turn of the century. I got my name on it and took a quick picture before putting it back.
I got back into the Escape and headed out of town towards Ritzville. I saw there was a public restroom near one of the parks before I left. I stopped and peed really quick. I got back on the road and headed south to Ritzville.
Along the way, I looked at the geocaching app to see if there were any good caches to grab while driving through. I saw there was one at the library but wasn't sure if it was inside or outside the library and since it was a Sunday the library wouldn't be open anyway. Then the longest train in the world puttered through town. Ritzville is divided in half by the railroad tracks, and I decided I didn't want to wait for the train, so I moved on.
I saw another one I could get near the onramp to I-90 but when I got there, there was no place to park so, I scrapped that idea too. I got onto I-90 and drove west towards home. Traffic wasn't that bad, and I almost decided to stop to use the restroom at Rye Grass but went on further to Ellensburg to eat some food.
I quickly found the address for the Red Horse Diner; a place Ben and I ate at back in May 2021 during our Memorial Day trip and put it into the GPS. It was an easy drive to the exit. I followed the directions, found the diner, parked and went inside. It had cooled down significantly since Spokane and it got super windy, so I sat inside by the bare area near the register so I would be seen by the waitresses and be served quickly.
I looked at my menu and was approached immediately by one of the waitresses and she asked what I wanted to drink, and I said a Coke Zero followed with if I decided on some food yet. I told her the chicken sandwich, fries and tartar sauce sounded good. She said she would be back in a few minutes with my drink and a little bit for my food. I thanked her and handed her my menu.
I did a couple posts on Facebook while I waited for my food to arrive. Once I did, I took a few bites and didn't realize how hungry I actually was.
I ate my food and continued my posts and text messages. I ate every single bite, paid, thanked them and headed out to the Escape to get back onto I-90. I was hoping there wasn't any bad traffic up ahead of me. I spoke too soon. There was a three-mile slow spot between Cle Elum and Easton, but why? I was so annoyed because there was NO REASON for it! Why is it always this spot? There was no accident, no construction, just why?
Once we got beyond the stupid, it was a quick drive through the pass and into North Bend. I stopped to top off with gas again at the Safeway gas station. It was a quick in and out and I was back on I-90. I didn't hit traffic again until I got off of I-90 to Hwy 18. It looked like they were going to start doing construction to widen Hwy 18 and possibly create more lanes. The traffic thinned out as I got closer to Covington and Auburn.
I merged onto Hwy 167 onto 512 and eventually onto I-5. I was on the home stretch. I called Ben to check in and to see if he needed anything while I was driving home, and he said a few things. I stopped at the Walmart near our house to pick up those few things. I got home, unloaded the Escape, showed Ben the things Brend and Ray gave us (I told him why), took a shower and was sad I had to get ready for the work week after having a three-and half-day weekend. Seriously, it goes by way too fast!
Next Adventure: A Visit to Eatonville for Some Cache Maintenance and Tearin' Apart the Back Porch
No comments:
Post a Comment