R O A D   T R I P   T O   S P O K A N E ,   W A

Monday, July 19th 2004

The evening is upon me now as I exit from the eastern reaches of North Cascades National Park. It is getting late so I stop to take a few sunset pictures. Soon thereafter the night arrives, effectively killing my photo opportunities. I still have 150 miles to go to Spokane, WA but I have already passed through the most scenic parts of my road trip so I not all that upset.

But I -am- somewhat bummed to arrive at the Grand Coulee Dam in darkness. I try to shoot some pics but it's useless.

About 60 miles outside of Spokane, WA I pull off the road to gaze at the stars. I'm in the middle of nowhere which is great for star gazing, no artificial light to interfere with the experience. The stars are definitely out as is the Milky Way, it is beautiful. Thinking I can capture it on digital, I give it the old college try.

For the most part I'm disappointed, the camera isn't sensitive enough to pick up faint starlight with the exception of only the brightest stars.

But then I remember there's a remote section of the Milky Way that most folks don't know about. So I swing my camera around to it and snap a pretty revealing shot. Amazing, isn't it? You'll need to click on the picture to see it, the smaller image doesn't show it.

Well, after more than 8 hours of driving and 401 miles later, I find myself in Spokane, WA at my friend's front doorstep. But it's 1:30 in the morning so I just park the van on the street and hit the hay.

Tomorrow I'll take the day off from touring and play catch up with my good friend and ex-boss Gil.