Day 17: The Final Leg or How I Purchased Studded Tires

The final leg of my trip started off just fine. The roads were in decent condition, a bit more windy than I would have liked, which annoyed Mr. Toad, who on the smooth well rounded hills really wanted to let it rip and enjoy the final day of driving.

The sun started to shine as I transitioned from the small mountains of Oregon into the more gentle hills that are the high desert area of the tri-cities Kennewick, Richmond, and Pasco. This is Matt Dina’s old home and I thought about calling him to see if he knew of a good place for lunch. Then I saw that the clock was still before noon and that as new member of the state of Washington, perhaps I should instead get myself a chai tea latte and coffee cake at Starbucks and save lunch for when I was more hungry, perhaps Yakima or after.

I still hadn’t seen a visitor center, which I intended to completely load up on just about all the information about outdoor/adventure activities as well as winery info as I could carry. I had thoroughly enjoyed my ‘texas bucketlist’ and thought I should do something similar for Washington. I didn’t want to go back to the life of sitting around the house watching tv and doing homework/studying as I had for the 3 years I had lived with Gareth. I figured when I had the chance, I would go through the material and figure out my top things I wanted to do. Not so much a formal bucketlist, but more of a ‘things to do’ list.

I finally found one in Yakima, the 2/3^rd way point on my trip. I got an enormous gift bag of swag, heavily on the Yakima region and the winery region, but a good selection all the same. As I left the visitor center I didn’t notice anything wrong with the car. I did however notice quite the loud repetitive thumping noise as I entered the freeway. It seemed pretty weird, but quieted as I went faster. I turned off my Julia Child memories from France audio book and listened to the car. I decided something was definitely not ok and I pulled off the freeway at the next exit.

I found a closed fruit stand and pulled over. I inspected the tires and found the left back was definitely fully destroyed. I called AAA and started unloading the trunk to get out my donut.

The tow-truck came 20 minutes and 3 hot helpful guys later. I asked about the 55mph rule on the donut. He confirmed. I would have to drive very very slow. I took a look at Mr. Toad, who was very dismayed at the prognosis and asked if he knew of a tire place. I figured we might as well get a new tire now rather than drive over the pass in an inadequate donut.

I stopped at Les Schuab tire place and got a set of new studded tires and continued on my way. I was several hours behind schedule and would now have to go through the pass at night and through the slush storm that was going on.

It was a terrible remaining drive the closer I got to the pass and to Seattle. The final 2 hours turned into 4 and I was hungry since I had missed lunch and it was now passing dinner. When I finally made it to my corporate housing I was exhausted and ready for bed. I emptied the car and figured out dinner.

The concierge (Yes, my corporate housing is so fancy I have a 24 hour concierge) said the pizza place down the block was amazing and would deliver directly to my apt door (no need to go downstairs to pick it up). I ordered a margarita pizza and admired my temporary new digs. The corporate housing was beautifully furnished and completely hooked up. I had flatscreen tvs with cable and internet in both the living and bedroom, a good sized kitchen, and a lovely office that was now my ski den.

In 15 minutes dinner arrived promptly and I enjoyed the remainder of the evening with cable tv and the most glorious margarita pizza ever. I finally relaxed and thought, life is good.