Pickup

Tacoma at the Columbia

Mom takes a gander at the Gorge

After a spring spent hunting for a safe and reliable vehicle in which to explore summer in AK, Meg and I took the plunge and bought a pickup truck. We wanted something that we could use for camping in places with a paucity of developed campsites (e.g., the Denali Highway), yet small enough to parallel park downtown. A 4x4 was essential and we wanted to make sure that we had a place to retreat to if any bruins got too close (i.e., our encounter in Montana). So we found a Toyota in Colorado for a fair price and made the purchase. Lacking the vacation time to drive the truck all the way up to AK, we decided to put it on the barge in Seattle. Last weekend my Mom helped me drive it from Colorado to Seattle. We had good weather and Mom got to see parts of the West that she had never been to before. We took the "northern route" through Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho. It reminded me of my younger days taking road trips with the family, when the journey was the destination. I could not have made the trip without Mom - as always a great traveling companion.