“Awe shit,” I said about 35 minutes into our drive this morning. “What??”, Karen replied. “The inner rear tire on the driver’s side is showing 23 pounds of pressure.” Yet again.
We got up and out of the Mount St. Helens area relatively early this morning. We were looking forward to a short drive (less than 2 hours) and a Walmart stop along the way. The weather was perfect and we would get through Portland without hitting rush hour. And I didn’t even have to set an alarm to do so.
As an aside – I really don’t like setting an alarm any more. Unless we’re doing something fun, I would rather sleep in. Long driving days mean an alarm. Short days do not, so this was great!
Now back to my story.
Karen had found a Walmart just inside the Washington border with easy on/off access to Route 5. And as Walmarts in Washington sell liquor, and we being in need of replenishment, this was a perfect stop. As we were about 3 miles from the exit, I looked up at the tire pressure monitor and the above conversation took place.
I could not believe this was still happening. Karen got online and found a Les Schwab Tire at the exit we were heading for, directly across the street from the Walmart. Perfect! Frustrating, of course, but at least not out of the way.
The employees at Les Schwab were wonderful, and had the valve stem repaired within the hour. Not only that, they refused payment! They said that getting a flat on a long road trip was stress enough. It has been incredible how many times this has happened to us. It restores a LOT of faith in humanity that is too easily forgotten.
After Walmart, our next stop was for lunch, at a new west-coast fast food burger chain we hadn’t tried – Habit Burger. Karen had read that, for the second straight year, the chain had beaten out In-n-Out burger. I love InO, so we had to try Habit.
Simply put, the burgers were incredible! Not only were they great fast food burgers, they were better than a whole lot of restaurant burgers we’ve had. The stores are not set up for the high turnover InO achieves, and the price point is indeed higher, but the food quality was outstanding. Definitely the best out of Habit, In-n-Out, Carl’s Jr, and Jack in the Box.
Our home for the next three nights is the Olde Stone RV Resort in McMinnville, Oregon. Right in the center of Willamette Valley wine country. Lots of campgrounds have Resort in their name, but this one lives up to it. All concrete pads, big spaces, manicured grounds, and clean facilities. That makes for a great stay!
Right next door to us, connected by a concrete walkway, is the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum. It is a massive facility, with 3 separate buildings containing complete airplanes and spacecraft, as well as exhibits and learning centers. Outside there are a couple dozen airplanes as well, free to walk around. We headed there with Daisy upon setting up and walked the entire outside.
There is a former Air Force One jet on the grounds. Numerous US fighter jets. Civilian planes. And the one I wanted to see most – a retired 747 which punctuates the museum out front and takes center stage from the passing roadway. I have seen these planes before, on the tarmac at Newark, and knew they are massive. To walk up to and underneath was a whole different perspective. Truly awesome! The indoor display includes the actual Spruce Goose designed and built by Howard Hughes, a true piece of aviation history. There is also an SR-71 Blackbird. I think I will venture over there for a tour Friday afternoon, nicely lubricated after a morning wine tasting.
The weather tonight is wonderful. We have been outside, enjoying Martinis and dinner and now a nightcap. To be fair, Karen is still working on her original Cosmo, while I am onto a nightcap. It has been a great day.
I need to work on letting go some of the stress I feel when we have these tire problems. We will get it worked out, that I am certain. It’s not the end of the world. Karen is tremendously reassuring when this happens. Without her I would be a mess! It’s one of the many things I appreciate about her and our life together. Tomorrow morning we will be sipping amazing Pinot Noir and wondering just what we were so worried about today. Doesn’t get much better than that.
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