Putting the "Snow" in Snoqualmie Pass

On the road - Day 1....wait, wait, Day 3.....No wait, Day 7....What day is it anyway???

Whatever day it is we are definitely on the road.  We said farewell to Lynda and Bob, and Midnight on Whidbey Island early this morning.  Our plan for today was to drive over the Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 then head southeast to the Tri-Cities and hook on to Interstate 84, East and overnight on Ontario, Oregon.  Under the heading of "best laid plan", the day did not go quite according to plan.

First of all, apart from the destination, we did what we had planned to do.  Tonight we are in Baker City, Oregon, a city we normally pass by on our way West on return from Arizona.  How did we end up in Baker City, 90 miles short of our planned destination?  In a word.  Snow.  We hit snow almost right out of the blocks this morning.  Once we headed up Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, east of Seattle, Wa., the traffic slowed, in some cases to a crawl.  In my experience I have never seen as many transport trucks on the road as we saw today.  It was bumper to bumper transport trucks from North Bend to Cle Elum.  What caused most of the delays were trucks parked on the side of the road with putting on chains or taking them off.  Of course the truck drivers travelling on the road did not help matters by performing their normal traffic slowing antics - passing each other and moving in and out of the fast lane.  Gold Star for Dana as she took the wheel this morning and got us over the pass and on to Ellensburg.

Once we turned off I-90 on to I-82 traffic volume eased.  This gave us a chance to count raptors.  In a 40 mile stretch Dana and I counted 60 Red-tailed Hawks, plus several Rough-legged Hawks and Northern Harriers, 1 Eagle and 20 Kestrels.  Great fun!

Back to the traffic.  Interstate 84 was great for the first 25 miles, then we headed up Deadman Pass.  Half way up the pass visibility was reduced to near zero.  Snow covered the road but the road was well sanded so traction was not a problem.  Near the summit traffic slowed to a crawl.  Transport trucks littered the right hand lane.  Dozens, if not hundreds of transport trucks were on the road, either crawling along or parked.  We picked our way through and made a steady slow pace towards Baker City.  After about 20 miles of crawling along the road finally cleared and we were able to ramp up the speed to near 50 mph!  Whoopee!!  This went on for awhile until we were back up to the speed limit of 65 mph.

So, here we are at the Best Western, Baker City, Oregon.  It is snowing big flakes but it does not look like there will be much accumulation over night.  It is however very cold.  The current temperature is 19F, about -7C.  Low tonight will be around 11F or -11C.  I'm still saying this route is better than going through California.  Sort of....

I've got some photos of the snow but really, white is white.  If they look any good when I download them I will post them in a later post.

Stay warm and dry out there.  2015 is going out like a lion.  Of course I am a Leo....