Montana did what it had to me previously: it drizzled on me for a few minutes and stopped, until eventually the downpour started right about the border with Idaho.

Crossing Idaho in about an hour

The northern tip of Idaho is fairly skinny, and for the first half it is all downhill. The roads are beautifull, winding paths through ravines, accross briges and I think a damn at one point. But for me, it was also done in a downpour so my visibility was somewhat limited.

Once I got down to the plains it was flat again, similar to Montana in a lot of ways. I hunted for gas for a full 40 miles until I saw a sign. 2 miles away I ran out of gas, on an off ramp.

Luckily some old guy in a pickup (again, an ex biker) pulled over and offered to go pick me up some gas. He wouldn't even take my money for the couple gallons he had given me.

I finally made it to the border, and into Spokane, Washington.

Spokane and Lis' Mom

Spokane is right along the border. It had stopped raining and I saw some blue sky so I stopped and called Lis' Mom, where I was going to stay. But she wasn't home yet. I took of my raingear at a drive in. After a short while, as I was considering getting some food, the rain started again. I called Lis' Mom again and this time she was there.

It turned out that the random exit I had picked to get off the highway was right near her, so I made it over to her cute little house. I got to see Lis' room, and pictures of a young, blonde(!) Lis.

That night, after I got a scrumptious home cooked meal, my housemate Brian called me up. He was on tour with Incus and had been making his own way around the us completely seperate from mine. As chance would have it, the band was playing the next night in Seattle. So, I changed my plans by a couple days and rode to Seattle the next day.

Seattle and the surrouding area

The ride to Seattle was once again flat for the most part, until I arrived towards the western side. Then I had to cross a mountain range before entering Seattle. And it started raining really really hard. You know when the rain hits so hard that it splatters when it touches the ground, and creates a fine mist right above the road. Well, I got that, on winding mountain roads. Not the funnest entry into Seattle.

I made it into downtown, where the band was playing just in time for the rain to stop. Now I had to secure a place to stay.

Trudy and Dylan had a house about a half hour north of the city, but Trudy's brother Teo lived right near by. After helping the band setup, quite to their surprise of seeing me there, I headed over to Teo's to drop off my gear. He suggested I stay with some friends of his who had a bigger house. Indeed, I would have been sleeping on the floor in Teo's little place (well I guess it's his girlfriends place, but who's counting).

Teo and Catleah (his girlfriend) met up with me again in time to enjoy Incus live.

The next day, I made my way over to Teo's and we drove down to Trudy and Dylan's house. I dropped my gear off in my own bedroom with adjacent full bath.

I got in touch with an old family friend, Jennifer, and had lunch with her, then I met-up with the band in the house they were staying in and walked into the lice experience. Everything turned out ok, and Brian, Felicia and I went into town to find the goth clubs, with the help of an old friend from western mass who had moved to Seattle: Devon.

The next day was Brian's Birthday, so we took him out into the woods of mount Rainer and the band played their drums and cello and accordeon as we drank wine and had a fun time.

I've been out with various people to various bars and clubs for the past few nights and just generally having a good time, and getting some rest.

Tomorrow I'll be doing scheduled maintenance on my bike, replacing the rear tire, and I'll probably head south on thursday unless something holds me up here.

Today, I'm thinking of checking out the sci-fi museum, and maybe the beach if the weather clears up.

I'll keep you posted...