Heading South

2018-09-17
Seattle, WA to Eugene OR

Today was a relocation day. The primary task was dropping my girlfriend off at the airport in Seattle (since some of us have to work tomorrow). I have been to Seattle before and I stayed in the city with no car. That worked pretty well. And as you know I've enjoyed the National Parks around Seattle using my car. But what happens when I actually have to drive in Seattle?

Spoiler alert: nothing good. We let Google guide us to the airport via some series of streets covered in traffic lights. You may not know this about me, but I have a super power. I hit more than the expected number of traffic lights red. I don't get them all red, but more than anyone would expect. My girlfriend's super power is that she doesn't get hung over. Not all super powers are created equal. Then again, it could be worse. I have another friend that is immune to Novocaine.

We kept looking at the "time remaining" for the trip; it wasn't changing. 1:20 stayed up for 15 minutes or so. Eventually it started going in the right direction. We finally reached a highway, when a truck threw a stone and cracked my windshield just below the inspection stickers. It turns out I had a few curse words leftover from the traffic lights.

Once she was situated at the airport, I immediately headed south out of town. I couldn't wait to leave Seattle (or for you purists, whatever sub-town the airport is in). I was thinking maybe the inspection stickers would keep the crack from propagating, but then I remembered they are on the inside piece of glass which is separated from the outside piece of glass by some plastic. Safety glass is a good thing, but they put the stickers on the wrong side to help me.

Down near Portland I called around until I found someone that could replace a windshield with a substantial crack in it. It had grown diagonally straight towards my field of view and then horizontally across my vision. I figured I was going to replace it at some point, so why wait? Also I knew that this was one of the last large-ish cities I would see for several days; the next one may be Reno.

Normally when you replace a windshield they come to your office while you work and swap it out. Easy as pie. But as a traveler, it's a bit different. I met Jose at Ikea which is near where he picks up the windshields. He and his partner did a fine job of replacing my glass, and then I let it sit for an hour or so to cure before driving. That meant a trip to Ikea. I have been in one once, and it's still huge. I killed an hour looking at kalilax and knoppang. Apparently my insurance company would have preferred I call them first, but I got myself back on the road so at worst it may cost me more out of pocket. Vacation time is worth a lot.

Also, besides having to get replacement stickers for inspection, it turns out that the camera systems (that control most of the front beeping) will need to be recalibrated. They seem to be beeping ok so far so I'm saving that for when I'm back home. New cars have a lot of expensive repairs.

I made it to Eugene eventually, which was my plan. It's still an hour or two from the national park, but it's at sea level so I can camp at more reasonable temperatures. There were no parks and no sights to see today. However, rather than a picture of my car without a windshield or an Ikea, here's a cute picture of a black-tail deer fawn taken at Olympic.

Windshields replaced: 1