Blog du Wren

Racing the Waters

Of the 5 legs of this most recent journey, 4 of them have been effected by mostly weather-related delays. I guess that is part of winter travel. Luckily none of them were catastrophic and one or two of them were even for the best. This last leg, however, was by far the most adventurous.

After spending a great 4 days in Portland thanks to friends new and old, I decided it was time to make my way home*. I looked forward to the train ride as a time to wind down and reflect on my trip and how incredible it was*. The weather gods, however, decided that my time on a train was not meant to be. Mud slides between Seattle and Portland had all but canceled all trains out of Portland for the next 3 days. Luckily, my travel mate and I are the unruffle-able types and took it as a adventure.

We found a friend who graciously let us borrow his vehicle* and we set off northward. The top of the hour newscast, followed by calls from concerned friends and family, alerted us to what might be our next hurdle: floods were expected to close I-5, and soon. After a discussion of whether to turn back and possible contingency plans, we pressed on. Freeway off ramps were closed as we raced by because everything below the level of the freeway was underwater. We saw police and highway workers getting ready to close down the last open land route between Portland and Seattle. As we looked in the rear-view mirror after passing the worst of it, a call came on the phone announcing that the freeway is now closed. We were among the last 100 cars to get through.

While the rest of the ride wasn't totally stress-free (heavy rains and dangerous puddles made for a bit of a white knuckle experience), we were glad when we crossed onto Fidalgo Island safely. Now as I listen to news of road closures, evacuation notices, and river stages I think about 1) the awesome power of Mother Nature 2) that it is good to be reminded that, despite what we want to think, we are still at the mercy of our environment 3) how glad I am to live in a place where the perennial disasters (fire, flood, drought, etc.) have so far avoided and 4) how glad I am to be home safe and sound.

Thursday January 8 2009

File under: travel

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on Thu 08th Jan, 2009 03:18 pm PST Saxtor said:
Right there with you, Wren! An adventure indeed! This exit was the "nearly underwater" mentioned above. Definitely a harrowing experience, and despite my stresses as the driver, Wren did a great job keeping me grounded in what an adventure it all was.
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on Fri 09th Jan, 2009 11:20 am PST Joe said:
wow. glad u guys made it. how exciting! crazy to hear about all the chaos goin on back home with the flooding. this weekends forecast in LA...80.
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