Ellensburg to Spokane

Monday, July 8, Day 77

Today we are following I-90 the while way.  There is no alternative road.  This road is so familiar to me.  I remember many trips, but two in particular: the first was a greyhound bus ride to Seattle to stay with my oldest sister Beverly.  She was living in Renton, Washington, was married with three little kids, and we had never spent any time together.  I was about in 8th grade.  We discovered we were soul mates on that visit, and have been every since!  

The second trip I really remember was coming, again by bus, after Mount St. Helens erupted.  In this particular area, you could literally see lines, like white waves, where the ash had settled.  My mother

got six inches of ash in her yard as the trajectory of the ash went northeast.  This road holds many memories. 

Something new on the horizon are wind turbines.   This is a perfectly cloudless day, and the wind is really blowing.  Ah yes.... constantly blowing wind.  Who knew growing up that there would be a use for it!

We reached the Columbia River at Vantage.   Friends of my parents, Erma and Rudy Hardin owned the gas station and cabins at the foot of the bridge and we used to go visit them.  I actually found pictures on line.  The cars look a little older than my era, but the station looks the same.

Close to this bridge is an area with large and diverse "forest" of petrified trees and in particular gingko trees.  It   We often stopped to visit.

It used to be terrifying to hit that high profile bridge in a gale force wind!  But the bridge now is low and relatively uneventful.

The Columbia River is tame behind the Wanapum Dam, which is just a few miles downstream.

I always love this view.

Up on the other is a great overlook.  You can really see the coulees of the Ice Age flow through here.

Also at the vantage point is one of the most popular roadside sights in the state.  It's called "Grandfather Cuts Loose the Ponies."  The Artist, David Govedare, sculpted these 15 horses in a tribute to the last great roundup of wild horses in the area in 1906.  The hoses are cut out of one inch steel and weigh 1200 pounds each.   They are part of an unfinished total sculpture which has the ponies fallout out of a basket.  The basket, if ever completed, would weight 25,000 pounds and be 36 feet in diameter.

My mother was very interested in this endeavor and contributed to the effort to get it built.  I hope they finish it someday.  It's been over 20 years since the horses were first installed and it is estimated that about 120 million cars have passed since it was installed.

I love the legend that goes with it from the "Grandfather Spirit."

“Creatures of this planet, behold, a Great Basket! I send this basket, bearing the gift of life, to all corners of the universe.  Now take these ponies.  I am cutting them loose. They will inspire a Spirit of free will. They will be a companion for work and play on this planet. This is a way for you to see how all life depends on all other life.  This basket is my heart.  You are at one with me.  Eagle of the sky, we look to you for vision.  Salmon of the water, we look to you for life-giving sustenance.  Deer of the land, you provide a bountiful tranquility for our Mother Earth.

"From the center of my basket burns the fire of our collective souls.  Humans, you are responsible. You have the power of reasoning and the gift of free will.  Use them wisely.  Always be aware of the limitless nature of this expanding universe.  Let us live to inspire each other.”

As a contributor, my mother received a large artist's rendition of what the finished sculpture would look like.

The enormity of the area is apparent in this view from the front of the camper.

Scabland - rolling hills with cheat grass, the occasional sagebrush, vestiges of the way all this
part of Washington used to look.

This is a good view of the juxtaposition of the farmland still being plowed for the first time and farmed. There is still a lot of land to reclaim!

This area in on the western and northern edge of the Palouse region, one of the biggest wheat producing areas in the world. It's worth 500 million dollars per year.  It's low-gluten wheat, which is actually transported down the Snake and Columbia Rivers and shipped to China and Japan for noodles and dumplings.

Sprague Lake, near Spokane is a classic example of what this "scabland" looks like.

And here we all, out of the wide open country, dropping down into the city of Spokane, Washington.