The Ray Adventures: From Valley, Wa to Deer Lodge. Mt/

Weeks go by so fast, especially this one with Gary's activity filled class reunion. The weather has been amazing, between 80 and 90 everyday.

Wed., Sept. 17, We left Stacy and Barbara's about 10, last June we took the short cut through Springdale to Davenport to Sprague on I-90, not this time, it is too curvy for a big rig so we went through Spokane, we had to detour around some road construction that made us a little nervous but all went smoothly. We stopped at the rest area south of Ritzville on 395 for a little lunch then arrived at the Brown's in Kennewick around 2:30. Fortunately they warned us about the road construction on their street, it is completely torn up for some installation of sewer lines. We were concerned, it didn't look like we were going to make it to their street, a worker asked us where we thought we were going. It was a dusty dirty mess until they watered the street down then it was a dirty muddy mess. For dinner we went to The Cedars on the Columbia River. It's always fun to get together with Gerry and Mary to reminisce and to make new memories. The weather was just beautiful, the Columbia was smooth as glass and we were able to sit outside on the patio.

Thurs., Sept. 18, Mary fixed us a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausage, she is such a great cook! They had a lot of things to do before leaving Friday for a camping trip so we left around 10:30 headed for Hermiston, a drive of only 34 miles. We arrived at Pioneer RV park about 11:30, a pretty nice park with lots of green grass. In the afternoon we did a little shopping, geo cacheing and Gary got a flu shot.

Friday, Sept. 19, It was fun to sit outside the RV watching new rigs come in to see if there were any classmates staying at the park. Some looked too old, some looked too young but none looked just right. The first activity was a tailgate party by the high school. It was catered, the food was good but messy. BBQ'd chicken wings and baby back ribs were loaded with sauce and no knife to cut the ribs apart, most people were holding the rack in their fingers and chewing like cave men. Gary spotted a woman he had seen in the RV park, so we went over to introduce ourselves. Donna and Bill Kopacz live in Sunriver and have a beautiful Beaver coach. As we walked toward the stadium there was a 3 car rear end accident right in front of us. Someone clearly was not paying attention and slammed into the car in front so hard that the front air bags deployed. I don't know if anyone was hurt, we proceeded to our seats. There were several rows reserved with signs "class of 1946", we were right on the 50 yard line. The Hermiston Bulldogs played the Springfield Millers, Hermiston won 28-21, the score at half time was 21-0 Hermiston, The Millers came to life in the second half and scored 21 unanswered points. Do I sound like the NFL network? After the game there was a get together at the Midway Tavern, it was karaoke night and the music was so loud we couldn't hear each other. Well probably even without the music we wouldn't have been able to hear anyway.

Saturday, Sept. 20, a tour of the new high school was scheduled for 10:00, wow what a school! State of the art security, an amazing theater, cardio and weight rooms that would put Gold's gym to shame. there are about 1100 students now compared to around 500 in 1964. The stadium and the football field cost 5 million dollars that did not cost the taxpayers one cent. The class of 1964 placed a Peace Pole in the courtyard of the school after the tour. At 3:30 we went to a local park to dedicate a bench honoring Greg Gessel, a classmate killed in Vietnam and to also honor the 20 Umatilla County men killed in the war. It was quite a moving ceremony, I didn't know him and shed some tears. We had wine and cheese with Bill and Donna before leaving for dinner. The dinner was catered at the Hermiston Conference, several people brought in memorabilia to share, a few of the girls even had their dance cards. I've never had a dance card. There was a "slide show", with some "bitchin" music. (Sorry Mom, I know I shouldn't say the "b" word) We sent our wedding picture, Gary scuba diving, Gary riding his bike and our photo of us in Rockport sitting on the "butt" stools, it really brought laugh. We came home in time to watch the Ducks win.

Sunday, Sept. 21 started with a farewell breakfast at the park next to Greg's bench. All of the activities were well attended, out of a class of 147, 20 of whom have passed away, 85 classmates made the reunion. Gary and I are both so thankful to be healthy and (mostly) fit, there were 3 men there that have had strokes. Poor Luci was stuck in the coach most of the weekend so we took her down to McNary dam and let her run along the river trail and we picked up a couple of gc's. and it is always a good day when the Seahawks win!

Monday, Sept. 22, We feel we are finally on our way for our 2nd year of adventures. We left Hermiston about 10:30 after fueling up at the Pilot, we had to pay $4.01.9 a gallon, argghh! We are still married after our visit to Lewiston, I wanted to pick up a few groceries at a Wal-Mart, bad idea. After many failed searches through congested and narrow streets we didn't find one then I saw a Winco, of course we turned on the wrong block, had to go around, then only to find it wasn't open yet they were paving the parking lot. I was in the doghouse BIG time. We bagged the whole thing and continued down Hwy 12 toward Kamiah, Id., to the Long Camp RV park on the Clearwater River. We'd stayed there last year about the same time of year, what a great park. The first thing I did was fix Gary a drink. We'd driven over 235 miles that day, most of them in downtown Lewiston.

Tuesday, Sept. 23, Some sort of miracle happened, we left Long Camp about 8:30, normally it's close to 10 when we pull out. We were continuing Hwy 12 towards Missoula, Mt. What a lovely drive, you follow the Clearwater and Louchs Rivers to the Lolo Pass. The road twisted and turned up to the 5525 ft summit. It was pretty smoky due to wildfires in the area. In Missoula we decided to visit the Big Sky Brewing company, as it turns out it's only a brewery not a pub. Fortunately we'd called ahead, they recommended we go to the Iron Horse pub. Of course it was in the funky downtown area with narrow streets and no big rig parking. We found our way to the Wal-Mart and disconnected the car, headed back downtown for lunch. Delish! Back to Wal-mart, I picked up a few groceries without being in the doghouse. We headed out for Deer Lodge, Mt. A historic town about 80 miles east of Missoula. We got there about 5:30 having driven 240 miles.

TTFN,

Gary and Pam

Enjoy the pic's they are a bit out of order

Left out last week, Luci overlooking pasture