The original plan was to do something completely different and out of character: go by bus and enjoy the scenery while traveling cross-country. But I found a low-priced air fare on Southwest Air, and decided to fly instead. In retrospect, I regret my decision to fly. If I had taken a Greyhound bus, I could have enjoyed lots of scenery...

I was in Washington state for 3 weeks. The kink was excellent but the weather was terrible. I arrived just in time for what the local weather forecasters were calling "the one hundred year storm”. Rain and snow combined to cause flooding that put a twenty mile section of Interstate highway under five feet of water, as well as major flooding in several towns.

Eventually, the flooding subsided and my friend took me gambling at Indian casinos, sight-seeing at the Puget Sound, and the forests of the Pacific Northwest. The forests were awesome. We traveled a primitive logging road deep into the forest, approx. 5 to 6 miles off the main road. We shut off the engine, got out of the car, and the only sound we heard was silence. Total, absolute silence. The forest was thick and the trees acted as a natural sound barrier. We were totally isolated from all noise from the outside world. That was a remarkable experience and I hope to repeat it sometime in the future.

It was on the return flight when Southwest Airlines screwed-up royally by allowing the  highly intoxicated woman to board in Chicago. As luck would have it, she sat next to me and began to disturb everyone around her--even those she encountered as she stumbled to the restroom. (Additional details in my previous blog post.)  

I returned to North Carolina on 12-18-07 with fond memories from my trip and I hope to visit the Pacific Northwest again if the opportunity arises. And now all you inquiring minds know the whole story. I hope you paid attention--there might be a pop-quiz later ;)