15 September, Tuesday

Once again we are up early. We do not have far to drive today – it
should only be a few hours to Redmond. We stop in at the Copper
Kettle in Ellensburg where we listen to local farmers discuss their camaros, and getting
their alfalfa crop in, and how much extra money
you can earn by having a cell tower on your property. Breakfast
finished, we stop at the local fruit stand where we could have gotten
a huge box of new crop pears for $5.99. Alas, they wouldn’t have fit
in the car. Instead we buy a few pears and honey crisp apples to take along
with us.

We head up route 97 towards Rt 2, the scenic route through the Cascades.
97 is scenic in its own right, and there is a fine crop of wind
turbines growing along the way. Route 2 looks alp-like. We drive
through the town of Leavenworth where all the buildings are
Bavarian-style, even the local Wells Fargo Bank and the Safe Way. We
are enjoying the fine weather and the beautiful drive. We pull over
occasionally to let other cars zip by. Suddenly we realize we have
become the dreaded old geezers with “no place to go and all day to
get there.”

We arrive at the “S&K B&B” before 2 pm. We’ll have a home-cooked
meal of soup, salad and fresh bread tonight, a real treat after being
on the road since August 3. Before dinner we have time to go to the
Redmond REI to to replace a few worn out items, including my backpacking
headlamp. After dinner I open the package and put the batteries in
the new light. I’m very disappointed when the switch flickers a bit but
nothing else happens. Obviously the headlight is defective. We’ll
have to return to REI tomorrow to exchange it.