november 2011

a few days after halloween
we went into our storage unit
and found all of jeremy's and jamie's
bins plus a few extra things we probably wont use
for awhile for jeremy's new house.
we loaded up the truck
and headed north to washington.
after a quick visit in turlock, ca
with elaine, doug, ethan, and erin
(john's sister and her family)
we were back on the road.
unfortunately, it didn't last too long.
just north of sacramento,
we started smelling something pretty nasty.
then a small beep went off on the dashboard
and john watched the needle on the battery meter
drop down.

we were lucky to come upon a rest stop as all
this was happening.
we were not lucky to have had our battery explode.

when john lifted the hood, we thought the radiator was spitting water and hissing

imagine our horror when we realized it was the battery spitting battery acid.

we enjoyed the scenery while we waited

thank goodness for automobile club, an honest towtruck driver,
and a couple of great workers in a local napa auto parts garage.
it only took a few hours to replace the battery
and check the electrical system
and we were back on the road.
all that extra time did put us behind schedule,
so after spending the night in redding, ca
we headed out thru the back roads of northern calif.

there had been a snowstorm pass thru the night before
and the roads were a bit icy, but the skies were clear for us.

                                         i think that is mt shasta underneath the cloud

morning sun on grass

                                                   we raced a train for a few miles.
                                                                   the train won.

rainbow

small town with big sense of humor

                                  crossing mighty columbia river into washington

                                   one of many huge dams on columbia river

after an exploding battery, stormy weather and
heavy heavy winds along the oregon/washington border
we finally made it to pasco, washington
and a little girl who had been waiting patiently for her grandpa.

.