Seattle, Finally!!
So I’m a liar. My last entry was not entirely accurate. I actually ended up in Seattle much later than anticipated, after much drama and weather-and-medication-related difficulties.
To start with: that “Airborne” stuff that’s sort of an herbal cold remedy type thing? I think it robs me of my ability to sleep. I started coming down with a cold a couple of days before we were slated to leave, and I tried Airborne as an aid. But as soon as I started using it, I found myself unable to get more that 3 hours of sleep during a night. Which left me super-stressed and physically and emotionally wrecked at 11:00pm on the 29th. And of course, I was slated to be on the road to Seattle at 4:00am on the 30th. Didn’t happen. Me and Serene grabbed a few extra hours of sleep and left at 11:00 instead. No big deal, we figured….we were gonna stop in Portland anyways, so we’ll still get to Seattle on time.
Except that we hit a snow storm going through the Siskiyous. We hit a chain inspection in the pass on the way over, and as we had no chains for the rental truck, we had to turn back at Hilt. Problem was, there was a chain inspection going the other way too, and we were stuck on the mountain pass, completely immobile in a line of semi trucks for over an hour, in 3 inches of snow. In the pitch black. We ended up making our way back down the mountain to Yreka, where we stayed the night, hoping the pass would clear. In which case, we could still conceivably make Seattle on the right day.
So we set out in the morning, over the pass, which is now mostly clear, but wet and rainy. And then my tire chains on my car blow out on the middle of the pass, and I lose track of Serene in the rental truck in an area with no cell phone reception, on one of the most dangerous stretches of road in California. I had to get out, take what was left of the chains off my car, and try to catch up, which I did eventually. One of the scariest moments of my life.
The rest of the day was mostly uneventful, and we stopped in Portland to have dinner with my sister, but then, on the final stretch of road to Seattle, we hit snow. Heavy, thick, gloopy wet snow that coated the road, covered the lane markers, and made sloped exits unsafe. We ended up pulling onto an exit in Federal Way, 21 miles from our new homes, already over 10 hours late, to look for a hotel.
And we had to go to 12 different hotels in Federal Way (where the hookers apparently work in the snowstorms, walking the streets in fur parkas) before finding one that would allow us to bring Serene’s dog, Freckles inside. (sidenote: Holiday Inn Express in Federal Way, with their $150 non-refundable pet deposit plus $50 refundable pet deposit, plus $84 dollar room fee can eat my ass). We stayed at La Quinta, and finally made the final stretch of road to Seattle by 11:00am on the 2nd, a full day late, and considerably more stressed, and two nights of hotel stay poorer.
Anyways, I’m here now, in Downtown Seattle, right in the heart of everything. And I love it and it was worth it. But boy, did it suck on the way.
More later…
