Worse yet, we actually lost an hour as we headed east for the first time on our trip. So we are all messed up! You see some of us ( me especially, functioned on NY time most of the trip).Martty did too. So now...we woke up at 6:30 am....arrived at Missoula,MT at the hotel at 10:30 pm, which is really 11:30pm for what we have on for a long time so far in CA, OR, and WA...so Zack arrived at the hotel at 10:30, which was really 11:30pm...BUT by the time I fed him snacks and got him in bed..it was 11:30pm here in MT, but really 12:30am for what he has been doing recently....so he was up REALLY late! I am really worried how tired he will be in the morning when I wake him at 7 am...which to us is 6 am from the past three states worth of time, but is really 10am back in NY. We are messed up on time...can you see? At least Zack is asleep!!!
We drove from Seattle, WA to Missoula, MT
It turns out, to our chagrin, most of WA is flat like Kansas. It is easier on the SUV and trailer, but not on our eyes! We are at a high elevation on the Columbian Plateau. It is a huge basalt flow from cracks in the earth from a long time ago. The flow is one of the largest in the world!
Look it up! It is huge. There were many volcanoes also in WA, all exploding and burying giant forests. It turns out the state gem is petrified wood. It literally grows in trees! LOL!
We stopped at a tiny shop, out of the way on Route 90 heading east. The owner was an older man, who loves petrified wood. He has property and backhoes it out and brings it down to his shop. Look at his website!https://www.ginkgogemshop.com/
Anyhow, he told us sorts of cool stories, while his cat slept on the counter. We bought a ton of rocks and petrified wood of course! I bought petrified monkey puzzle tree, dad bought Douglas fir and redwood. Monkey puzzle tree is only found naturally, in one area of South America nowadays. It is considered a living fossil, after they found it again after 15 million years of it being extinct. Zack is tickled pink, because we let him get a fossilized fish! His new pet?! LOL! Chris just looked it all over, and was very patient with us. Yesterday was his day at the Boeing Plane Tour! Today was our day with rocks! We were not planning on going, but our trip today has been painfully slow. We got up at 6:30 am and headed out. We stopped lots of times for bathroom breaks and food and sanity. Finally,me gave up and stopped for the rock shop we found. Sam was SO excited! We let him get a giant piece of obsidian. Even Geoff got into the act and bought Boron! It dissolves in water and is very soft and white looking. We joked, he shouldn't take a nap with his pet rock! It turns out there are Dairy Queens out here, that you eat at. They even serve you at your table. We went there, because it was 94 degrees out, and the idea of eating from our coolers standing outside in the sun, with no shade seemed like it wasn't going to happen!! Chris almost had a exhaustion meltdown, but somehow it was averted?! Sam had one anxiety meltdown. Zack had a tired meltdown, but what else can I expect from a six year old who woke up at 6:30am and traveled all day in the SUV? Martty is tickled pink, because she bought an ipad yesterday and is learning to use it in the back seat as we keep driving forward...finally east!!
She is in our Apple cloud, since we have hundreds of apps, books, music and videos already. It was easier just to incorporate a new device onto our account, then have her start fresh. Doug is driving, as usual, with me "nag"avating the whole way. He just have us a good report from Sue that Uncle Tom is doing better! We are so glad!!!
Okay...here is SUNDAY'S news , while were in Everett,WA...On Sunday, Doug, Geoff, and Chris took the Boeing Factory Tour in Everett, Washington just north of Seattle. It meant getting everyone out of bed early at 6:30am so that we could pack up from Mt. Saint Helens, and get on the road to get to our hotel in Everett in time for the 1:30pm tour. We were all tired later that day. But the tour was well worth it. Afterwards, Chris said it was the best part of the trip so far. That’s saying a lot since we have already visited Creation Museum, Mammoth Caves, the Grand Canyon, Crater Lake, Mt. Saint Helens, and many other sites.
The Boeing plant building is the largest building (by volume) in the world as listed in the Guiness Book of World Records. We were buss’ed to 2 separate places in the factory (would have taken much too long to walk) where we took an elevator up and could look out directly onto the factory floor. In that building, Boeing does final assembly of the various 747, 777, and Dreamliner 787 model jumbo jets. You know the building was large because we could look down on dozens of jumbo jets (each of which seat 400 people or more) being assembled with giant overhead cranes and moving platforms. The large parts are shipped in by train and by airplane from North Carolina, Kansas, Japan, among others. A new jumbo jet rolls off the assembly line every few days. They have a fleet of 4 DreamLift puffed out 777 jumbo jets used for hauling the new Dreamliner 787 large pieces to the Boeing factory. We saw one of these large DreamLift aircraft landing while we were there. The workers take great pride in assembling the new aircraft and parade it out of the hanger as the tug tows the new aircraft out of the plant.
They then tow the aircraft out of the building to the “paint booth”. The “paint booths” are 3 jumbo sized buildings across the freeway. The new jets have to cross a freeway overpass to make the journey to the paint booth. They have to take down the traffic signs and pull all the railings to clear the jet. It’s done at night to minimize the distraction to the highway. Everyone typically stops and gets out to take pictures. The engines hang way out over the highway.
The factory is located next to an airport that is shared between Boeing and the county; each has their own control tower. The new jumbo jets are kept in the “nursery” parking lot and then flown for a number of test procedures before being flown out directly to the customer.
The tour guide was more than willing to take orders for a new jet from anyone on the bus. In the past private individuals have purchased them at a cost of about $250 million not including the engines. In case anyone is considering a purchase, its 1/3 down to place your order; 1/3 due at painting; and 1/3 due at final delivery.
After the tour we got to watch some of the new Boeing jumbo jets going thru their test flights; missed approach and an aborted take-off. The new GE engines they are using are extremely quiet. We also got to walk around the Future of Flight Boeing museum. They had 2 full size Rolls Royce and 1 GE jet engine. It’s so big you could drive our Suburban right thru the front of the engine.
The Boeing plant tour was a great overview, but left all 3 of us wanting for more details; many of which are considered proprietary.
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