breaking new ground

in retrospect, not telling austin that we were coming to washington was probably not the greatest idea that we ever had, but it seemed really awesome at the time. it was eleven o'clock our time, and we had just crossed into washington from oregon when i called his cell phone. 

"hey austin, do you know any good places in redmond that i could stay a night?"

"well yeah, i just might," he answered sardonically, "when are you thinking of coming?"

"um, we might have just crossed into the great state of washington..."

"WHAT! YOU'RE KIDDING!" 

unless you know how loud and awesome austin can be when he hears something outrageous, you can't appreciate the noise that he made after this. it would be difficult for me to describe in a just manner.  imagine a worked up walter cronkite and you might get the picture. i confirmed that yes, we would be arriving in seattle in about three hours, and yes, we really did want to sleep on his floor, could we? he heartily agreed, and welcomed us when we arrived. 

mckenna, kyle and i had been sitting in my living room doing homework and watching lost at about ten o'clock the night before when kyle said,

"ok, if you guys want to go to washington tomorrow, i'll come."

i had essentially given up hope that we would go, because kyle had backed out a few days earlier, and after a lot of phone calls i hadn't found anyone else that was willing to take off to the pacific northwest for memorial day weekend. i had never been, and was obviously excited when kyle made his offer. we hastily worked out schedules and found another rider. i once again had that feeling of anxiety to leave, ready to feel the open road under my wheels, the thrill of new landscapes and skylines. 

once we made the decision to go, the trip seemed blessed. i woke up at nine on friday morning with a list of errands in my mind. first, i went to get my snow tires changed to my summer treads. i forked over the money for the change, and the tire guy came out after a few minutes to tell me that my old tires were worn out, and did i want to buy new ones. i told him quickly and honestly that i really didn't have money for new tires, but thanks, just put on the old ones and i'll get new ones soon. he returned to the shop and came back with an invoice for me to sign. i looked at it, confused. 

"i couldn't put those old tires on in good conscience, so i put some good used ones on there for you. i won't charge you anything, but tell your friends, ok?" 

i was surprised at his kindness, and thanked him profusely. by the way, discount tire in south provo off university is great. i left surprised and happy with my luck. i went from there to the auto parts store, and bought a new air filter. when i changed it, there was enough junk in the filter box to make me believe that it had never been changed before. at the oil change place, they made a silly mistake in rolling down my unrolldownable driver's side window and i threw a fit until they gave me a refund for the oil change.