DAY 12

We spent the night at a truck stop in Halsey, OR and took the most expensive showers I have ever taken. It cost $17 for all 5 of us to shower which was after she gave us a great deal. It would have been $35 w/o discount (still cheaper than renting a room). The showers were trucker showers and it showed so NO TOUCHING anything. After 3 days in the Red Woods it was nice to shower though.

FYI: Did you know in Oregon it is illegal to pump your own gas? My dad told me that but I did not believe him. If you knew him you’d understand.

We began our search for the “Spruce Goose” after breakfast. I guess Brad and I did not drink enough coffee because both of us had a hard time following the directions. So we took the scenic route and only had to turn around twice, but we made it.

The “Spruce Goose” was a cool experience. We got there at lunch time, so we put out the slide and ate lunch. It’s so nice to have the RV with us. We were there about 3 1/2 hours and that still was not enough for Brad and Zac. Mikaela announced upon arriving at the museum that she did not want to read anything about airplanes only look at them! They even had their own vineyard. A plane with its own vineyard? Really? They were doing some wine tasting the day we were there but we said no thanks since it was without a screw top.

We saw a SR-71, P-51, P-47, P-38, UH-1, P-40, Spitfire, and a B-17 just to name a few. They even had the remains of a few propellers off the ocean floor from planes from WWII. There was a lot of history in that hangar. The most famous, of course, was the Howard Hughes Spruce Goose.

The “Spruce Goose” was huge. If you lived in a cave, like I did, and knew nothing of the plane you can watch the movie the Aviator which is about the life history of the designer, Howard Hughes. It was amazing to watch a short video that explained the history of the plane and the strange life of Howard Hughes. And to think he built this thing back in the forties. He truly was ahead of his time.

After leaving the museum we made the trek towards Portland. Luckily we made it there about 5pm, rush hour or stand stillville as we would like to call it. It’s always fun driving in rush hour with a 32’ RV following us. Imagine the looks we got when we jumped into the carpool lane with the RV. The sign said two or more people in a vehicle or a bus. We had more than 2 people and we are about the size of a bus.

We got into Tacoma about 7ish. Found McChord A.F.B. FamCamp. Much like USAFA FamCamp. Very spread out and heavily wooded. We got a great spot, kinda off on our own right by the park. Set up the RV and ran to Safeway for some basic groceries. Ok so we drink soy milk, Colorado $2.49 for ½ gallon, Washington $4.29 for ½ gallon. Pack of tortillas $1.79- CO, $4.59- WA. I figure it is just getting us prepared for AK.

Tomorrow we will catch up with Cindy, Brad’s sister to check out Seattle. We will be here for about a week before saying good bye to the lower 48.