Considering how early I went to sleep the night before, I was up and driving by 4:30 the next morning.
I followed US97 north to I-84 along the Columbia River.
I must admit I was disappointed in seeing this 'great river' that had no forests or anything along the banks for most of my drive east.
I took US730 as a cut across to I-82 and headed into Washington.
This was the second time I couldn't get a state sign as I entered. Again the issue was I was crossing a river. The sign was blurred, and there wasn't any type of rest area or visitors center as Kennewick and Pasco were not much further down the road.
I took the exit for US395 north into Kennewick and crossed over to Pasco. I stopped at the Wal-Mart there for supplies before stopping at the smallest Flying J I had ever seen. Also, one of the most unkept.
I continued on US395 north for 73 miles to I-90. From there, I headed east the 77 miles or so to Idaho.
Driving through Spokane.
I took the State Line exit, not sure whether I'd see a sign for Idaho. Of course, I thought, the route I was on would have a decent sign for either Washington or Idaho. Wrong.
The Washington welcome center was there, but closed. It also didn't have any signs to be able to take photos of. So I drove a few miles and got back on I-90 West to head into Washington.
So, here's Washington's sign.
And Idaho's as well.
While driving through Coeur d'Alene, I spotted this at the library. I guess, a sure sign of wildlife adaptation: Urban Moose.
After passing through Coeur d'Alene, I continued east on I-90 towards Montana, but now that it was later in the day, I stopped off at an exit for food. The only thing I saw was a Wal-Mart.
One of the most unique designs for one I've seen on my trip. This one apparantly just opened not long before I passed through.
From here, it was on to Lookout Pass and a cross over to Montana.
For more info on Lookout Pass, click here.
The snow chains came in handy. Was a slow drive up the mountain.
Montana. Snow.
Shortly after the state line, was a rest area. The lot hadn't been plowed in quite a while, it appeared that I had been the first car to stop since the snow started coming down that day.
A shoutout to Big Red and Ohio State. As well as a nice shot of my handiwork with the snow chains.
I must admit that Montana disappointed me. Moreso for my own misknowledge of the state. The last I knew of Montana was that they had their "Reasonable and Prudent" speed limit deemed unconstitutional and had no speed limit. I even had several old atlases that listed that as well.
Some things just never last. Montana now had a 75mph speed limit. So, that blew my chances of making up a ton of time in flyover country.
After finally getting out of the mountainous areas, I reached the rest area just east of Missoula, MT where I called it a night.
I decided that I would leave my car idle all night. I set my alarm to wake me at 1, 3, 5, and 7 local so I could check how the car was doing. This meant leaving the heat run, and not plugging in the 'boil your skin' electric blanket.
Day 8