Tuesday April 1, 2003.
I departed from Heather and Remick's Normandy Park house in Seattle's
southwest, just before noon under mostly cloudy skies.
I headed south on Interstate Highway 5, amid rushing traffic and
breaking heavy rain. A while later I exited the freeway onto Highway 512 East, and minutes after that, turned
south on Highway 7 towards Mount Rainier, leaving the traffic and the rain behind.
Highway 7 led me to Milton, in the southwest foothills of Mount
Rainier which was hidden from my view by a heavy shroud of mist and cloud. At Milton I turned east onto Highway 12 which
took me over a mountain pass, cresting above the snowline at 4,400 feet above sea level, and down to a town called Yakima,
where I stayed for the night.
I checked in to the Oxford Inn almost exactly seven hours after
leaving Seattle.
Distance travelled today: 200 miles
Total driving distance for trip: 200 miles
Driving time in motion: 5 hours
Average speed while in motion: 40 mph
