East of the Mountains...An Interstate 90 Road Trip...

Yesterday my father scored airfreight from Boeing Field to Spokane.

I've written about this journey many times, and since fans of the site in other parts of the world have never actually traveled to the Northwest, here is a slice of 400 miles of road-all but one shot taken in the state of Washington. This is I 90 country, and US 2, also known at the "Highline". This is the definition of diversity. We're pretty fond of our big sky. Our deep western blue horizon. Snow capped peaks. Wide flowing rivers complete with accents of high desert and low desert. Then there's the scab lands and the Ponderosa-that first hint that the Rockies aren't far beyond. Next comes Spokane, which means "Children of the Sun" in first nation languages.

I shot these pictures in order. From Seattle's Boeing field until just about my front door. All taken on the same day as I rode shotgun with my father, he delivering a hot piece of airfreight and the last of my grandmother's belongings to Spokane relatives.

It was easier than the trip I took a couple weeks earlier, when we laid Billie Lopeman gently to rest, but as the cloud falls announced Spring and we neared the Selkirk Mountains, all the memories of her remain strong, full of longing and fresh with the distinct notion that life isn't the same.

She would have loved this journey. Indeed, if anyone, Billie Lopeman lived for those Road Trips East of the Mountains.

My trucker father...retired pastor, retired air force pilot, retired horse breeder, chauffer extraordinaire... 

Loading our airfreight...Boeing Field Seattle 

I 90, Cascade Foothills 

I 90, Near Snoqualmie Ridge 

I 90, North Bend Wa- Mt Si (Also known as Twin Peaks from the hit tv series...) 

Cascade Mountains, I 90 

I 90, foot of Snoqualmie Summit 

Snoqualmie Summit, I 90 

My father, not asleep at the wheel ...:) 

East Summit, Snoqualmie Pass, I 90 

Cle Elum Valley, I 90 

Elk Heights Summit, Mission Ridge, I 90 

Ellensburg Wa, I 90 

Ryegrass Summit, I 90 

I 90, Columbia River Crossing, Vantage Wa 

I 90, George Wa 

I 90, Moses Lake Wa 

I 90, Ritzville Wa 

I 90, Sprague Washington 

I 90, Medical Lake 

Airway Heights.... 

Sunset Hill, I 90 

Downtown Spokane, I 90... 

Life in the big city... 

Leaving Spokane, heading north