Adventioneering

Left by air for BOS at about 2140h Pacific. For whatever reason they didn’t have the SEA to BOS red-eye I usually like to take (full I guess), so I ended up connecting in JFK. I left at sunset; and arrived at sunrise, but only a few hours later, which was a little bit of a trip.

On the way we skirted some heavy storm cells (picture of lightning above), which later that day I would drive through which was sort of bizarre.

Arriving in BOS it was immediately into a 5 series (hey why couldn’t we have driven that) and I-90 west. Total time in BOS was probably <30 minutes. It was so great to leave the first time, doing it the second time was almost as good. We picked up the WRX which was loaded & waiting.

And of course, right into those storms I had flown over. It actually wasn’t too bad, although I was almost a little surprised we didn’t get any hail. I see at a basic level the midwest is still up to it’s old tricks weather wise.

For whatever reason the WRX was pretty overloaded; it causes this situation where there was enough spring sag that over bad bumps the tires would rub into the arches. They were wearing down and this was all sort of alarming, so we navigated this scary town until we found a UPS store and she shipped off several hundred pounds of weight. This did not entirely cure the issue, but, it was “good enough”, only happening over very severe dips and bumps.

Any issues about tire balance or vibrations or anything were no issues at all, as it turned out, and overall everything was fine. I was impressed with the WRX; the steering was tight if a bit dead (what do you expect with AWD I guess), and it was very sure, particularly so through the rain. Despite the problems with over-loading the suspension, arms, bushings, everything feels amazing for the 97k it’s got on it.

We made it to Sturgis but the inn was full, as it were, and there wasn’t a stable available. I had always wanted to go to Deadwood (after being a fan of the eponymous HBO series) and it was only about 13 miles away up a winding mountain road, so that’s where we headed. It turned out it’s turned into this crazy sort of casino resort family destination. I had no idea, and figured it (for all its history) would just be a crappy little town on the edge of South Dakota. I wonder if this boom had anything to do with the HBO show because the renovations looked very new.

The drive through South Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana did not disappoint with beautiful wide sweeping vistas and beautiful rocky outcrops. All great fodder for future trips, and certainly a place to one day buy a ranch and start a little empire.

Hitting Snoqualmie Pass of course was instant fog and heavy rain, all the way to Snoqualmie falls where we stopped for about 30 seconds to check it out (it’s still massively swollen, and so seldom do I get to say that in polite company), before finally heading into Redmond.

3 days is probably the fastest I’ve made a direct coast-to-coast bump; next time, Alex Roy style.

Photos.