T-12 hrs: First $50 tank of gas in 20 years. Road trip scheduled.

T-5 hrs: Shower, coffee, pack maps, coffee, power down computer, travel mug of coffee.

T-4 hrs: Portland traffic sucks.

T-3 hrs, 50 min: Washington’s strip of Interstate 5 prettier than Oregon’s. Kinda miss the nuclear power plant cooling tower, though.

T- 2 hrs, 2 min: Bizarre place names popping up: Skokomish, Humptulips, Cloquallum, Tshletshy. Sounds like an alcoholic narrating Dr. Seuss.

T-2 hrs: Olympic National Forest Ranger Station outside Quilcene has clean bathrooms. Fuck, legs are stiff.

T-1 hr,57 min: Lobby in any forest ranger station: A. Historical black and white photos of men standing on things they just chopped down; B. Taxidermy exhibit from 1958 featuring rodents, things that eat rodents, and rodents; C. Exhausted folding map that looks like 55-year-old trucker kept it tucked in his crack across three states; C. Entire building stuffy and warm and smelling of manila envelopes.