Leaving is always harder than it looks.

Odometer: 64,592 miles
Price of gas: $3.75
Bonney Lake, WA to Kennewick, WA
REI stores visited: 1 (Kennewick)

The universe was listening in this morning as I got ready to leave… a mile down the road, I thought, “bike!” Then as I was at home, the radio was playing an interview with Ed Viesturs, and I thought, “Trekking poles!” Finally, I had a conversation with my uncle about staying with him, and he said, “Do you have your passport?” Mmm, good call. I had to go into work for an hour to interview a candidate for the new analyst position, so I was able to scoot past home again on my way out and pick up all the things I’d forgotten. But the interview ran long, I had to stop at the post office on my way out, stopped for food… finally, forward progress on 410 at about 1:30 in the afternoon. Everything I did helped leave my life behind, but I still feel like I’m carrying home with me a bit.

It’s said there’s two seasons in Washington: rainy and road construction. The latter was definitely on display yesterday, even as the mountain was fairly hidden. Nothing too onerous, though one stop was long enough to read much of the paper. No snow over the pass, so while it’s beautiful in any season, this is probably the least beautiful time of year. The scenery can be fairly dry and brown.

At least there’s trees, however, while once you hit the east side of the state, it is brown and lacking in trees as far as you can see. Great agricultural land over here, but the green is only where it’s irrigated. I didn’t stop in Naches or Yakima… felt like I needed to keep going and get to Paul’s house, as I was already well late. Felt annoyed that I felt I needed to keep a schedule.

I needed a swiss army knife, which is a good enough reason as any to stop at the very tiny REI here…

that, and my odds of being back here much are slim. I am visiting my friend Paul while here, with whom I went to junior high and high school. He lives less than a mile from the REI, so it worked out quite well. He’s got a great house here in Kennewick, and a highly personable cat named Scotty. Within minutes we were busy giving each other flak, in a 7th grade sort of way, but laughter and friendship are great for shifting perspective and leaving home behind. It is warm but not hot here. We went to a tasty Taco Cart in “El Pasco,” as Paul calls it, and then for a walk that included ice cream. Both of us were exhausted – Paul goes to work for 6 a.m. – so it was not a late night. Scotty visited me with a 5:30 wake-up call (jumps in the window, checks out the window shade – hey, what does this cord do? Whack! Whack! Whack!) and is keeping me company as I write.

Today is onward to Glacier: still an interview to do and then hopefully I can close the book on work and the UUs and everything else for a few weeks.