7.01.01

What I learned on that stretch from Burns is how unacquainted most people are with the cars they're driving. I saw a lot of people barely in control and it was scary. From Bend the drive sucked for the traffic returning to Portland. I'd been on the road since 6:30 am and hadn't stopped for anything but gas in Burns where I also picked up some Hostess donuts. When I rolled into Tom's in Portland I was in a pretty bad mood. We ate burgers and fries and shakes and then I sat in the hot tub chatting with Tom until almost seven when I got back in the car for the drive to Seattle and the drive, which usually requires one stop long about Kelso, was a cinch, a blink. Only problem was all those cops you see once you cross the Washington State line and all those Washington drivers self-righteously hogging the left lane going 60 miles an hour. Sometimes it's like they collude to form wings of slow traffic spanning the Interstate and the faster cars are almost pounding their bumpers trying to break them up. It's always like that.

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