Washington
...thunder and lightning
April/May, 1997

We began and ended the first phase of our journey in Washington. Both visits were traumatic, but that wasn't entirely Washington's fault. And we were helped by some great folks. It was the weather, over which even Americans have little control, that dictated the length of time we spent there...plus a little mechanical failure or two.

Day 1 disruptions

On April 2nd, 1997, our spirits high, we crossed the border from British Columbia at Osoyoos, and chugged down the Okanogan valley. But it wasn't long before we realised that our van, Thunder, was using far too much petrol, and was revving very fast. We hung around a gas station at Omak until someone could look at our engine, and we were told that our "anti-dieseling valve" (or "dash-pot valve") was stuck. They didn't have any spare parts, but adjusted the idling speed so that it wasn't revving quit as fast.

So it was with rather bruised spirits that we continued, driving south-eastwards from the grey arid sage-brush landscape of the Okanogan through the hilly, more forested scenery towards the Grand Coolee Dam and on towards Spokane. We skirted the city and drove south, amongst treeless rolling low hills, amongst which nestled grain silos and the occasional small town. It grew dark, and now we discovered that our headlights only worked on full beam!

Central Ferry State Park

Luckily, after about an hour of annoying on-coming trucks and being flashed at, we chanced upon Central Ferry State Park, where we pitched out tent for the first time. It was very cold, and during the night a gale blew up, rattling the tent and making us decide not to sit around and have a leisurely breakfast, but to push on instead.

Walla Walla

Now the day was full of dust and blown top-soil. We drove to Walla Walla, where we waltzed into Darryl Graves Pontiac Buik GM Dealership and asked for a new anti-dieseling valve. Of course they'd never heard of this, nor a dash-pot valve, and a very patient and resourceful Todd Lightfoot searched unsuccessfully through huge catalogues of parts. Finally he asked on of his mechanics to take a look at this mysterious part, and he found that "it was one of those Canadian things", apparently a device that stops overheating when using air conditioning (which we didn't have) and so he simply disconnected it. Problem #1 solved to relief all round.

Then we took up a half hour of Chick's Auto Electric's time as we discussed headlights, and we were finally convinced that both lamps had simply blown, which they had. Problem #2 solved!

On towards Boise, Idaho...

A boisterous return

At the end of May we returned to Washington, heading north this time. We'd decided to spend a couple of days in the state before going back to Osoyoos. It was an eventful couple of days!

We also visited Lenore Lake

LENORE'S TRAVEL DIARY

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