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"IN MEMORY OF MARY LOGSDON" - IN NOTE SECTION OF CHECK

AUGUST 3, 2006 - I'M OLDER NOW, BUT STILL RUNNIN' AGAINST THE WIND.

When I had pulled into the Sequim Bay Lodge last night, I really didn't get a chance to look around much, except that the room was very clean and quiet, as was the lobby. This morning, at the urging of the desk person, I took a look around. Someone had been very busy working to make the grounds as welcoming as the place itself. I am glad I took the time. The young lady behind the desk told me that her father, who had bought the place in January, had been busy with outdoor gardening chores when things were slow at the motel. Either I was the first guest, or they had plenty of help with outdoor chores, because everything was immaculate.

I asked for a card and "Lily Cho" the General Manager explained that her father's name, "Joe" came to be because the Korean manner in which you state your name is last name first. So, Cho became Joe and there you have it. Joe Cho is very proud of his gardening work, and rightfully so. Wait till you see the photos.

Years ago, when Mary and I visited with Brian while he worked at Boeing, noticed that regardless of the hour, there were traffic jams on the freeways of Seattle. Brian explained it this way: "Dad, no one knows how to drive in the city." So it is today. People still stop for no reason, and the backups occur at irregular intervals all day long. I had brought the Ferry over from Kingston Wa., so that I could do two things. I wanted to visit the Heritage Sidecar company and I wanted to get to a KITS camera store, because my poor D70S Nikon was suffering from gravity tests. It was intermittently disallowing the shutter to operate.

I found the both the Sidecar Company and the Camera store. I did NOT buy a sidecar, yet, but I did put my camera up for repair - four to six weeks - free, because I bought the insurance from Ritz Camera, and I bought another D70S body so that I could continue making the same quality of photographic memories. Then I continued on, driving around Pike Street Market for a bit, then heading for My friend's house in Idaho. Tonight, I am only 300 miles away. I started from just outside Port Townsend, so I drove a total of almost 400 miles today.

I rode the night tonight. The very Mountainous area, turned into very flat plains like topography. Cattle farms gave way to grain farming with Corn, Wheat and Oats being the main staples. It was fun being able to smell those things that I remember as a kid. Someone somewhere had been mowing hay. It was on the wind. So to were the smell of corn and beans. Both smell completely differently and are discernable over great distances. On into the night I rode and on into the various smells of good food growing in America's earth.

I was able to cover the ground between Seattle to just outside Spokane at a remarkable clip, because most everyone was moving at 80 MPH or more. Very few curves were evident and those that were, managed to make long sweeping arcs through the acres of crops growing green in the fields. It was a nice evening ride. Tonight I rest at a Super 8 Motel. No internet is available in the rooms, but I managed to pirate a signal from the lobby router by unplugging the motels computer and using the signal from it.

Tomorrow I continue on to Ashton Idaho.