On the road again
Well I finally hit the road to head back to Seattle, the plan was to take it slow and take lots of photos. Joe left 2 days earlier to head up to Alberta and see Pete, then take the scenic route back though British Columbia and down into Washington. I left with high hopes looking forward to some time on my own and just the open road. As I headed into the Rockies the sunshine quickly turned to showers and by the time I got to Loveland Pass it was lumpy rain just this side of snow. The cloud cover stayed low and the radio promised thunderstorms for the afternoon. My plan to visit Maroon Bells ( the whole reason to take this route) was sidelined when I realized that I wouldn’t be able to see them through the cloud cover, so I just decided to drive out of the bad weather. I hit Grand Junction on the other side of the Rockies and just kept going. The aspen trees were just turning gold and combined with the rust of the dead pines it looked like it was already fall. I slid into Salt Lake city and just kept going across the Bonneville salt flats to see if the scenery was any better. It wasn’t. Although the salt flats are pretty amazing just in sheer size, people had used rocks and empty beer bottles to spell out messages in the white crusty salt. The California wild fires had created a haze that dulled the charm of the bleak landscape. Once I hit Idaho the rain started and continued on through Oregon. No photo opportunities and not much reason to slow down. Battling fatigue and unending roadworks I finally arrived in Seattle tuesday morning to find Joe had perfect weather for his whole ride and had travelled through some of the most beautiful scenery – mutter mutter mutter – hmmmm maybe the road less travelled really is better.
The Traveling Kiwi 