Home Town

October 24, 2010

Day 44

Arriving Home

It was the perfect decision to make a visit with the Swopes our final family visit on the trip.  Virginia, when she heard we were coming, changed dinner plans and baked a roast, mashed potatoes, made a garden fresh salad, and baked a lemon meringue pie!  What a glorious homecoming meal that was.  We visited through the evening and headed to bed early from a long day’s drive.

We woke up to a cool Yakima morning, fresh rain saturated the ground, the sun was shining warm and trees were lit in yellow and orange.  We had fresh fried eggs, hot toast, freezer jam in three varieties, raw fried potatoes and perfectly seasoned, lightly salty sausage.  The wood stove heated the house and warmed us up for the final leg of the drive home.  One last washing on the car windows and reloading of the luggage and we’re heading home.  But, not without a stop at a Yakima fruit stand.  In the remaining space of the car we squeeze in winter squash, apples, potatoes, a few zucchini, tomatoes – red and green, garlic, onions and enough fresh green beans for one dinner.  Plus a large pumpkin to decorate the back door!

The fall color tour is on its last lap, but not short of color.  As we leave the pine trees of eastern Washington we move into the Doug Fir and Hemlock of western Washington.  That brings the rain and golden colors of Washington’s hardwoods.  Only the occasional vine maple streaks through with its red and orange flame.  The closer we get to the summit the heavier the rain.  We stop in North Bend at the T – Tweeds Café made famous in the TV series Twin Peaks.  Soup of the day on Sunday is homemade chili with cheese and onions on top.  One bowl each we order.  It arrives almost immediately in two heavy ceramic bowls.  The Seattle Times is scattered about and we read local news and politics and find that it’s absolutely identical to everything we’ve seen in our travels: politicians talking in clichés and pointing fingers.  Thirty minutes later we’re ready to leave and the rain is coming down sideways mixed with swirling, soggy maple leaves and we know for sure we’re in home country.

The rain pour most of the way home.  Across Highway 18 and south on I-5 and we pull into our drive.  Jack unpacks the suitcases and various bags of souvenirs and tubs of gear that we’ve schlepped across the country and back.  I open and sort the mail, or should I say I separate the political adds from the bills and business mail.  Three twelve inch piles of mail are reduced to one pile of magazines and about 22 necessary pieces of mail.

We start laundry and change into sweats.  The chili we had for lunch turns out to also be dinner.  Slowly the adrenaline of the drive wears off and we make a protein drink and watch 60 Minutes.  We are re-entering our life in Olympia.