But it’s a dry heat. . .

So’s an oven!

I am starting to feel the effects of being over 70 and driving 2200 miles in 4+ days. In other words, I’m pooped! And Randy, although he won’t admit it, isn’t doing real well either. But tomorrow is our short day, only 225 miles and time to spend the day plus part of another day in Seattle. We think the temp in Seattle will only be in the 90s (and Seattle-ites will really feel that heat!) but it’s way better than if we had stayed in Tucson where it is forecast to be somewhere between 111 (44C) and 113 (45C). and that is better than being in Phoenix where it is forecast to be 117 (48C) or Death Valley, 130 (54C) and possibly a new WORLD record (currently 134 [57C], also in Death Valley) of 135 (58C). By the way, all those C temps are just estimates, I don’t have a conversion calculator handy and all those fractions (F=9/5 C + 32 or something like that) is really not what I can calculate in my head after a martini.

Poor Steve and Donna, they’re coming to Arizona in August (I know, I know, but they’re Aussies and don’t know any better) and they’re fretting—well, STEVE is fretting—about the temperatures. Steve, Steve, Steve. . . it’s ARIZONA and it’s SUMMER. You’ll be hot. Well, maybe really, REALLY hot. But everything but the outside is air conditioned. So, just stay inside!

So, we’re in Kennewick, WA.

WHERE?

Tomorrow we head, on our shortest day—only 224 miles—to Seattle. We’ll get there early and be able to spend most of the next day, Sunday, in the city before heading to Anacortes (my spell check wants to change that to "courtesan") where we will be in position to get the ferry early to Victoria, BC, for Ann’s birthday (I won’t say which one) and Ann and Fred’s anniversary (I won’t say which one), both on the same day because, according to Ann, Fred would not be able to remember two dates.

We know Ann because she was our across-the-street neighbor when I was pregnant with Greg (some 44 years ago) and was going to drive me to the hospital if Randy was off on a trip. We (I) know Fred because I substituted for Ann who worked in a medical clinic for a couple of surgeons (Fred was one of those surgeons). Fred probably doesn’t want to remember the times I screwed up by not knowing where stuff was.

Anyway, Ann and Fred have been married for some 25 years and Ann has been surviving for some 80 years—oh, I wasn’t going to tell, was I?—and they have been good friends for most of that time so we are really looking forward to this next segment of our vacation. The only stressor is going to be the ferry and US/Canadian relations before we can get to Victoria. The last time we crossed the US/Canadian border, the relations were strained and the recipients of that strain were the border-crossing tourists. Our motorhome was absolutely ransacked (but they did put everything [including the smuggled gin] back together) looking for who knows what but it took about two hours out of our time to do that. All because the US had made some problems for the Canadians who wanted to export some beef or something like that. International tit for tat is so much fun!

The absolute weirdest question I have ever been asked by ANY customs agent was a Canadian agent who asked us if we were carrying guns; No. Are you carrying ammo? No. Do you have guns at home in Arizona. HUH? Why on earth does Canadian customs care if we have guns at home, 2000 miles away? And do we dare—I’m talking to you, Randy—make a wisecrack? No, we don’t, RANDY!

So, Seattle and Dale Chihuly glass works, the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and anything else we can fit in tomorrow. And then our vacation REALLY begins: Victoria, Butchart Gardens, parties with Ann & Fred; then the wine and cheese country of Okanogan; then Banff for a week; then Jackson, WY; then Park City, UT; Las Vegas; and home.

Stay tuned!