Day 8: Driving South from San Juan Islands
Wednesday & Thursday, September 1 & 2, 2004

Today we started our trip home. The mid-morning ferry left San Juan Island at 10:15am, so after packing up the car we drove it over the ferry loading area a little after 9am and then walked around the town a bit. The car parked in front of us had a funny bumper sticker: "What if doing the Hokey Pokey is what it's all about?"

Walendo had really liked the coffee they'd served at the hotel, called Budget Gourmet by the San Juan Coffee Roasting Company, and they told him it was sold at a local store, so he went there to get some (and bought some as a gift for a friend). We got a couple more small gifts, sent a quick postcard to my parents, and then headed back to the car. Just after we got there, it started raining, which made us feel very lucky. We'd managed to avoid rain when we were outside for most of the trip, which is about all you can ask for in this area.

View from the ferry

The ferry ride back was pretty but uneventful; mostly we read in the car. Then we drove South on I5 all day, in and out of rain patches. Once again, we were struck by how inconsiderate Washington drivers are — they just sit in the left lane going slower than traffic, oblivious to the cars they're blocking. They just don't have the ethic of moving right after passing. (We'll have to take this up with George, our friend who's from this area.) We were very happy to get into Oregon, where they're unusually considerate. They tend to drive a little more slowly, but nearly everyone got over after passing, so we much preferred Oregon drivers. It got so that when there was a car up ahead blocking a row of traffic, we predicted it would be a Washington driver and nearly every time it was. Sheesh! We wondered if it was a big inter-state issue.

We had been looking forward to going back to the Woodburn outlet centers just south of Portland since we'd gotten some good deals on the way up, and we got there around 4pm with the weather warm and sunny. Once again, the people in the stores were helpful and friendly (well, with the exception of the surly guy at the burrito shop), and we got some great deals, all free of sales tax. I won't go into detail about my spectacular fleece shopping experience, but suffice it to say that I'll be outfitted in fashionable fleece items for years to come. I tried the local ice cream (Coastal Creamery), which was good but a little too sweet.

We drove for another two hours until we reached Roseburg. On the drive up, we'd ordered new tires from a local tire shop called Basin Tire to replace two that are close to worn out, so we figured we might as well buy them tax free. We'll have them put on the car tomorrow morning and then head home. In all, we've probably saved over $100 in taxes by buying in Oregon. Feels so good.

...

The next day, we made our way to Basin Tire south of town, and they were as friendly as the guy had been on the phone when we'd arranged to have them ordered. When they'd finished, we asked about a place to eat and he suggested a local restaurant in Wilson, a few miles down the road. In a state of friendly people, they were especially happy and pleasant. And then we hit the road, blitzing down I5 to the San Francisco Bay Area. We listened to A Painted House by John Grisham along the way, which was a pleasant little story but surprising because it didn't really pull things together at the end, it just ended. We managed to hit Bay Area traffic right at 5pm, but we were able to use some carpool lanes and we stopped for a quick bite, so it was bareable. I was a little sad that the trip was over, but it's always nice to be back in your own home again.

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