Day 23 - Missoula, MT to Langley, BC

[sunshine718]

Late last night, we heard the sound of water-bombers and smelled smoke. I guess there was a forest fire nearby but it made me quite nervous because I didn't want to have to evacuate! We were lucky though - they didn't ask us to leave. We wanted to wake up early this morning because we had a long way to drive in order to get to Seattle, which was our final destination before going home. We woke up at 7 and packed everything up with numb fingers because it was so cold! We were on the road by 7:30 and when everything was all packed up, we realized we hadn't had breakfast! It was too early to eat anyway so we figured we'd pick something up in Missoula. We went to McD's and all I wanted was bacon and egg Mcmuffin but they didn't have those so I had to settle for a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit. It was very odd but pretty good. I'm not sure if I'd have one again - the biscuit was really heavy. We crossed into Idaho and I think we saw a small forest fire. There was a low-lying black icky-looking cloud that smelled like smoke was we drove through it. Daryl thinks I'm wrong though and it was just early morning cloud. We also stopped at the site of a 3,000,000 hectare fire which interfered with navigation systems in North America and could be smelled all the way over in Montreal! It happened a long time ago because there is no sign of any burnt timber there anymore. We had lunch somewhere outside Spokane and that brought back the memories of chanting "warm up the bus" at a Vancouver Giants playoff game against the Spokane Chiefs!  Some where in Washington, we were drying along the highway when a jeep flew past us and right behind him was a police car with it's lights on by not it's siren. The jeep made no signs of pulling over, just kept zooming along with the cop on his tail. They must have continued along for about 3 miles before we finally saw them pulled over. I don't know why the cop didn't turn his sirens on - obviously the guy didn't know he was being chased by a cop. Daryl said he didn't think the jeep driver would be getting a warning! We got to Seattle in no time by 4:30 - it was much earlier than we had anticipated. We decided to drive the extra 3 hours home and save the money we would have spent on a hotel. Seattle traffic was horrible - there were 5 lanes and they were all at a standstill. We stopped at Bellis Fair so Daryl could get some soaps from Bath and Body Works (he was jealous of mine!) but they had crappy selection so he didn't get some of the good kinds that I have. They all smell good though! We had a quick supper and then repacked our car at a rest stop, cutting tags of some items and making sure we had receipts ready in case they asked us about our purchases. We didn't know how much we could bring back so we figured it was only $200 each so we cut tags off the other stuff. It turns out we each could have declared $750 since we were in the State for more than a week! Good to know!! We also stopped at the Duty Free and got liquor for my parents. It took us forever to get across the border - there wasn't that long of a lineup but they spent forever interrogating people. I again drove us across so we had no problems! It was weird to go back into Canada and have the speed limits in km - I drove 50 miles per hour for the first bit instead of 50km! Good thing I didn't get caught. I had called my parents and told them we were coming back a day early but Daryl didn't want to call his. We just showed up at their house and told them we were engaged. No one was really surprised but Daryl's mom is really excited! We then went to my house and told my parents who already knew since Daryl had asked their permission. Chris was super shocked though! We had champagne to celebrate and talked until the small hours of the morning. I am really tired but I have to get up early and go to tea with Daryl at his Nan's so we can tell her! I can't believe our trip is over- it was so much fun and I'm really glad we had the opportunity to see some of this awesome continent!!!!



Welcome to Idaho and the time change!


Daryl at the site of the 3,000,000 hectare fire.


Me too!


Washington's welcome sign was on the wrong side of the road!!!!


At some reservoir just before the jeep sped past us.




Our last picture from our trip!!!