Oooh, over here full fat milk is 3.25% fat. 4.5% sounds excellent!
I remember it being 4%.
– but then, I remember all those 5 1/2 or maybe now 4 1/2 ounce cans being 8 ounces, too. And tuna was 3 cans for a dollar. Get offa my lawn!
Right with you there.
Along with a whole lot of other people. From the first page of google when I went looking for backup:
– yeah, I’m fat. (Though I can fit in an airline seat, if not happily; but who’s happy on an airline these days?) I got fat by following diet advice. I stopped getting fatter by not doing that any longer.
When I I was in the navy whole milk was all that was offered in the chow halls where I was stationed, presumably because the bulk of us were young and doing strenuous work. The older ones, I assume, simply did not partake of the cow – I’m lookin’ at you, Chief. Yeah, you with the coffee mug grafted onto your index finger.
When I was on Okinawa this was a logistical issue because the Japanese aren’t much for dairy. The army – we were a tenant command at an army comms station, to my regret – would ship in dry powdered milk, reconstitute it in a plant somewhere and homogenize it with vegetable oil. It tasted close enough but not quite. When I left Okinawa it was on a PanAm contract flight with flight with stewardesses, as they were still called back then, and everything.
As soon as we were at cruising altitude one announced on the intercom, “Guess what, everybody? We have real milk on board!” and passed out half-pint cartons to those who wanted one. I assume a study had been made at some point.
21:30 Pacific Day42 Seattle item.royal.stow
Well there we go folks, seaboard to seaboard westward leg completed.
When I usually ask Katie for GPS routing she will provide 3-4 options. Today for Spokane to Seattle there’s only one … I-90. Makes for simplicity.
Spent the first couple of hours passing (quickly) though sparce rolling country that actually looks like it is in the midst of summer replete with yellowed vegetation, finished and harvested wheatfield and bare hillsides pockmarked with verdant green centre-point irrigation systems.
Needed to stop at the Big B Truck Stop to refuel where they have more EV charging stations than petrol/diesel bowsers. Also paid the most for 87-oct l on the trip @ USD4.60.
Plenty of harvesting activity, almost all being wheat. Then on the horizon looms Moses Lake and an imposing building. This turns out to be Lake Moses Washington Temple which opens in about a week’s time. You’ve gotta acknowledge the Mormons really know how to make a statement of ostentatiousness.
I-90 then proceeds through Grant County the #1 potato producing county in the United States. They also have an interesting innovation of putting signage along the road identifying the crop behind the fence. So inquiring passers-through can ID potatoes, sweet corn, alfalfa, grain corn, potato chips, organic field corn, beans, wheat, ryegrass and wine grapes and maybe others.
Stopped at the evocative Wild Horse Monument (Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies) overlooking the Columbia River where it cuts through a basalt gorge. Then wandered the trail of the Ginkgo Petrified Forest State Park. The trail is minimalistic and, to prevent souveniring, the score or so exposed logs on the trail of elm, walnut, spruce, fir and ginkgo are enclosed by concrete and heavy mesh so it looks like a battlefield gravesite.
You get to about Ellensburg still surrounded by gently rolling countryside with just 100 miles to Seattle, and start to wonder who were these pioneering pussies who struggled to get from here to the coast? Piece of piss, surely. 
Then a snow-capped peak (I’m guessing either Prusik Peak or Mount Stuart) looms off to the right as a portend. And the next 60 miles through the Cascades would have been rather problematic for a trailblazing covered wagon.
At one stage there was a delay due to road work and the traffic flow lost it’s cohesivity. The I-90 here is a two-lane dual carriage way and the surface has a sub-para paving stone feel to it. Speed limit for cars is 70, for trucks 60. But there is also slower traffic. So there are trucks in the left lane doing 60, who can’t get over to the right because of the slower vehicles, which are being passed on the right by cars doing 70 in between gaps of cars/trucks doing 50. At home the practice is called platting and it’s a fucking dangerous game of chicken if anybody blinks.
Then with Rog and nerves intact we are through the Snoqualmie Pass of the Cascade Mountains and into Seattle. Got to my lodgings by way of the Enchanted Parkway.
Then after a bit of a freshen up its back into the car to West Seattle via the Margin Way and docklands to the Circa Grill & Alehouse meeting up with @needscoffee. Dinner at Circa was and the conversation was engaging. I do tell no lie, but do stretch the truth implausibly to say we drank them out of IPA. 
After a bit of a perambulation to see the nightlights of the city and walk off the excess calories all got home safe and sound.
Quiet day today, will do a tour north in the afternoon. Might catch up with another doper if the diaries align. Then tomorrow it’s on the Eugene where some more fun is expected.
Oh yeah. Had we been able to meet in Cardston, Alberta, you couldn’t have missed the Mormon temple there. It’s the biggest structure in town, and visible from most places. When it comes to ostentatious buildings, the Mormons know how to do them.
There’s the famous bridge over the DC Beltway that has a view of the Mormon Temple. Someone grafittied “Surrender Dorothy” on it! https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/surrender-dorothy-painted-on-a-beltway-overpass--whats-the-story/2011/06/23/AGduf6kH_story.html
Potato chips?!
Were you waiting for somebody to notice that? Consider it noticed.
I presume it was a potato variety specifically grown for chipping as distinct from varieties for other purposes.
There are such varieties. But it seems an odd thing to put on the sign. Especially if the purpose of the sign is to explain things to people driving past who don’t know what corn and beans look like.
I thought you might have snuck it into the list for the fun of it.
West Coast already. I’ll say again, I’m going to miss this thread.
Gotta agree, this has been a grand thread. Got myself some notes for when/if I’m ever along some of these grounds.
Great. Now I’ve got the “Wheat” speech from Woody Allen’s Love and Death as an earworm…
“…a tremendous amount of wheat…”
That’s got to rub the Idahoans the wrong way…
23:30 Pacific Day43 Seattle item.royal.stow
A day of administration. And a bit of excitement at the end
Most of the day was taken up with essential planning out the final stages and departure including the momentous. Sorting, discarding excess packaging and brochures. Excess apparel and electronic stuff accumulated. All part of my mission or odyssey to personally re-inflate the US economy and still be allowed to take my seat on the UA flight home.
Took a couple of hours on a circuit of the sights of the harbour but essentially domestic duties.
The evenings entertainment (and we almost got dinner and a show) started with meeting @China_Guy at the Machine House Brewery. At the taphouse of a micro brewery its all about the experience and experimentation. My selections were the Cambridge Bitter (maybe not again) and the Jandals Time IPA (dammed good stuff). And then to show my company hadn’t scared my past contacts off in very horror @needscoffee dropped in. Excellent.
Now I could have continued to work through the taproom blackboard for a while but not having eaten during the day I needed sustenance to continue. After conferring, the selection was a very short walk to an Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant which is an absolute first for me. Impressed. Very. I’m not sure such an establishment exists in Sydney, but be assured I’m going to find out. And getting a freebie off Microsoft ticks off yet another item on lifes bucket list.
The only real issue with the evening was the number of emergency vehicles going past in full alarm mode. Wasn’t me , Mum. And I had nowt to do with that Yellowstone mauling either. Honest. Turns out there was a shooting incident a couple of blocks away to add a certain piquant to my American experience.
Tomorrow is down to Eugene for another catch-up and some contemplation of how I juggle the last weeks itinary.
20:30 Pacific Day44 Eugene noting.assume.actor
After the both the congeniality and pyrotechnics of yesterday, today was a straightforward run down the I-5 to Eugene for another mini-Dopefest.
Well Katie tells me that it’s 4 ½ hours and whilst we have not had a totally harmonious anthropomorphic relationship, she’s rarely in error and has never conceded. So if you get out of bed, are refueled and on the road into the outskirts of Seattle by 7:30am that’s what it is.
Granted being a weekend and heading south might have helped a tad. 
Took a couple of short stops to walk some respite into my legs. Also mucked up the GPS co-ordinates and went Pastrini first, then 10mins drive to Theos, parked the car and walked back to the establishment ordered a latte and the time was:
https://i.ibb.co/gjm7LLv/IMG-4481.jpg
In the theme of a search for a decent coffee; the latte at Theos was expertly made but the blend used was not really my ideal. But when the same origin beans mix was used in the follow-up macchiato it was very good. So thank you to @Aspenglow for the heads up.
See, it can be done, folks … why the entire country doesn’t demand that quality befuddles me. In AUS the typical highway roadhouse/servo will have a self-service expresso machine which gives a reasonably good brew and costs just AUD2.00. Also, rather sadly, apart from the barista, I was the youngest person in the house. So the penny hasn’t dropped for the trendsetters.
Then I followed the suggestion from @susan and spent an hour walking around the food and craft market on 8th and Oak and picked up some pendants which will hopefully appeal to the ladies at work and restock some brownie points.
Then back to Pastini’s where I was the first Doper arrival and I sat quietly at reception. Shortly after a lady walked in, assertedly told the maître d’ that she was looking for a guy red and orange shirt and cased the place. The search was conducted diligently but unsuccessfully and the maître d’ looked on bemused.
It didn’t take much forensic skill to deduce this was @susan. After our introductions and pleasantries, mine host @Lancia arrived, resplendent in the aforementioned bright red and orange Jurassic Park shirt. Then after being seated and selected from the menu @Jack_Batty turned up, sans canine. Good meal with Caesar Salads being a unanimous choice. I managed to score a Bundaberg Ginger Beer which has travelled almost as far as I have.
We covered a fair proportion of the affairs of the world, principally education and travel. Lancia gave me a pint of Umpqua full cream milk, so I have another guardian angel, actually quite a big one.
Current roadage stats for the circumnavigation are 10,000 miles up and USD1,000 worth of 87oct down.
Tomorrow is a full-on day. I’m trying to squeeze in a third day at Yosemite and this necessitates setting a target of Eugene to Santa Rosa. And I want to go via the coast road. Now @China_Guy reckons it’s quite doable via I-5. He knows 'is onions. I’m banking on Sunday traffic and heading south will work in my favour.
If there are violations of space and time involved, please let me know.
A delight to meet you! Best of luck with the time-space continuum.
Yes, it was absolutely wonderful meeting everyone and I’m definitely game for the next one!
It was great to catch up in Seattle and get both good English on cask beers and then some Ethiopian food in the neightborhood. Do give advance warning next time through the area. 
20:00 Pacific Day45 Santa Rosa, CA agent.lucky.codes
Big day successfully completed.
To open up some options for the last week I thought I needed to cover a bit more territory, so the revised plan was Eugene to Santa Rosa via the Coast Road (US-101). Ended up being 876km (550miles) and just under 11 hours including stops and diversions.
From Eugene the new route took me via Florence to connect with US101, whereby Katie announced that the next turn was right on Exit 488A after 756km, with obvious aspirations to fall silent for the rest of the day. Easy for some.
We called into Oregon Dunes NP for a good sighting of the old Pacific Sea, and with apologies to Barry Humphreys, alas no longer with us but who is surely still raging incorrigibly against the dying light.
“I was at the dunes by Oregon Sea
Drinking tubes of lukewarm tea
With a bag of chilli pistachios in my lap.
When I finished all the tea
I took my Canon 90D
And photographed the Old Pacific Sea.”
(it’s OK folks, only here for another week, promise)
Really nice bit of coastline ya got there, with lots of offshore rocks covered in guano. The “Tsunami Hazard Zones” signs are a quaint touch erected a mile or so from the breakers. The contrasts, a word I seem to have used excessively in this thread, in the nature of the coast varies between waves breaking on rocky headlands then there are protected marshlands and offshore sand bars and islands. Sightseers were leap frogging, stopping at one scenic spot en masse only to find a more scenic one a couple of miles down the road and necessitating stopping again.
On the way into Eureka there is a substantial line of eucalypts, probably blue gums, in rum condition and whose familiar scent got me quite sentimental. There were fibreglass dinosaurs, and of lumberjack Paul Bunyan and Babe to Blue Ox. There was also the moment when Rog the Rogue was being driven over Rogue River.
Took the option of driving the Avenue of Giants. It is a futile effort to take images from ground level that convey the sheer scale of the redwoods. It’s also not an easy drive as the road is narrow and has the appearance of a botanical Gothic cathedral. There’s lots to distract you. The roadside guide poles are really substantial, and you are constantly moving between deep shade and flashes of bright sun.
This diversion also woke Katie up and she wasn’t happy about being on a winding road so close to US101 but not actually on it. Had to shut her off and then she went into a huff and couldn’t be revived until the wifi signal improved.
The remainder of the Redwood Highway was covered in good time. There were several places of roadworks but, being Sunday no work was being done. Not many trucks or semis. There were an unusual number of cars with cans of Fosters on the roof in earnest conversation with impatient drivers.
Tomorrow is on to Oakhurst for a couple of days visit to Yosemite. If I can impinge of Katies minimisation algorithm I’d take the Golden Gate Bridge for the bucket list points, ideally before the locals arrive in excessive numbers.
“The Lower East Side it really sucks” said by everyone whos ever been there
Be aware. You can no longer pay tolls at the bridge, either cash or card – they want to keep traffic moving. Assuming you do not have FastTrak you can go here to pay ahead of time or within 48 hours after crossing, $9 either way.
You will need the license plate no. state of the plate and card info.
That is a very long day, but I’m so glad you opted for this route! I-5 is definitely faster and sports its own amazing sights, but I think the bit of coast you traveled is one of the very best in this country. I say this as someone who lived with Big Sur in her backyard for 20 years – also spectacular, but the stretch you did from Florence to Eureka is simply stunning.
I guess no elk were there to greet you, else you’d have mentioned them. Oh, well. A reason to come back!
I’ve found the only way to demonstrate the scale of the redwoods is to have a person or car parked right next to them. Those magnificent trees leave me speechless every time I visit them.
Enjoy Yosemite as much as you can! It’s usually cheek-to-jowl with tourists at this time of year, but scenic and special all the same.
Add me to the list of people who are going to miss your travelogue thread!
I will miss it, too! Your unique descriptions in your Aussie accent have been tons of fun.
Not an issue with a hire car.
The cameras recognise the plate (Rog only has one). Bridge Authority bills Hertz, they bill me.
There were options for adding a toll card when hiring but I would have needed three due to different systems and each had a min daily charge and the vast majority of days I wasn’t on toll roads.