One Way Road Trip

As we pulled out of Seattle late this morning, it occurred to me how odd it was to be on a road trip that wasn't some sort of a loop. Half the fun of road trips is to think about what you will differently "on the way home." This time, "the way home" for us does not involve a return journey, which, my friends, is sort of a surreal thing.

Procrastination and reluctance (and a really comfortable bed!) kept us from the early start we'd planned from Seattle.

We went back to the empty but sparkly clean house and loaded up the kind of odds and ends you take on a one-way road trip. Here are at least 5 I never thought I'd travel halfway across America with:

1. Bonsai plant given to me by Pete in 2006 and I've managed to keep alive

2. Fishtank that movers refused to take

3. Piece of lead pipe that Mike welded "Hi Karin" on when he was learning how in the mid 1990s

4. TV stand that Jerry took off the wall for me yesterday because Mike's tools were already gone

5. Two stuffed meerkats named Suricatta and Kalahari who think they

know the way better than the nav system on the car

Leaving town, Mike very sweetly routed us over the 520 bridge so I could say goodbye to the Madison Park swimmin' hole as we sped by. A favorite P.D. James audio book purloined at the last minute from the Seattle Public Library kept us company for the next 450 miles or so into Missoula. We were through Idaho in a blink and encountered a little snow on Lookout Pass as we entered Montana, but all in all the road was kind to us. T Mobile, not so much. I have had zero cell coverage since Spokane. So sorry if you are trying to reach us...will be back on the grid soon I hope!

Ready for sleep and looking forward to enjoying Montana in the daylight tomorrow.