Final day of free breakfast today, and then it was time to pack. We'd only been at the hostel a few days but had managed to spread ourselves round the private room so packing wasn't as ready a task as it maybe should have been. Just in time, at 11 on the dot we were packed and out. With our bags stored safely in a cupboard we headed into town for one last wander. We wanted to go into the Starbucks and see what they did here, and we wanted to buy some bread for the road. No surprises, the day we leave was the best weather yet and we were able to see mountains on the distance, just like we were promised! Buying bread turned into bread, a smoothie and a pack of crumpets from the crumpet shop. Starbucks wasn't as busy as it had been previously so we were able to watch them in action with all their funky machines which we hadn't had in Banff. Tasks all done, we headed of to look at the space needle and surrounding park in the day light. The park was full of weird shaped sculptures, all using metal skins in copper and gold. We wandered around the park, seeing the needle from different viewpoints. Eventually having nearly completed a full circuit, we headed up to the car just a short walk away.
This was a defining moment here, if the car didn't start or didn't work properly.. At least to the extent of properly that we'd started out the trip with. We could ignore the 1st gear peculiarity, and the noisy 3rd and 5th gear. If it failed - we'd have to revert to some plan B. We hadn't really planned a plan B other than from Seattle we'd be able to get busses or trains to places. Good news, the car was still there and hadn't been stolen... And it started! No problems with the clutch, gears worked as well as expected it was all good!
We drive back to the hostel to collect our bags and found a parking space right outside the front door, the day was getting better and better. Soon we were packed and ready to go and we headed out the city keeping to the smaller roads.
When everything seemed to be going so well... The car started playing up again. Bobbling around, losing power on the hills, struggling to maintain the speed limit. The rain started, and while it seemed light and gentle to start it just got heavier and heavier. Driving became stressful, always wandering what was going to happen next. Eventually we pulled of the main road to find a MacDonalds. We took the time to recover and assess our situation. We still had 40 miles to drive, in the torrential rain. The car was on its last legs, and Portland would be the last major city for a while. It was time for the faithful Nissan Pathfinder to end its travels. We spent a while working out how to continue, and finally made a reservation for a rental car from Hertz. We'd deal with that tomorrow, tonight we were going to sleep in the car. If it really was the end we wanted to make the most of the large boot space and get a free nights sleep out of it. We checked out the local area and picked our spot. Then, in need of some relaxation we went to the cinema to escape the rain.
It was a great way to spend the evening, and the worries of travelling were gone. We drove round to our chosen spot and set about the task of emptying all the stuff from the back of the car to the front 2 seats. Eventually we had the bed set up and the possessions stacked up, so we went across the car park to Dennys for dinner. Dinner out the way, we settled down for the night, cosy as pie in the back of the pathfinder.
This was a defining moment here, if the car didn't start or didn't work properly.. At least to the extent of properly that we'd started out the trip with. We could ignore the 1st gear peculiarity, and the noisy 3rd and 5th gear. If it failed - we'd have to revert to some plan B. We hadn't really planned a plan B other than from Seattle we'd be able to get busses or trains to places. Good news, the car was still there and hadn't been stolen... And it started! No problems with the clutch, gears worked as well as expected it was all good!
We drive back to the hostel to collect our bags and found a parking space right outside the front door, the day was getting better and better. Soon we were packed and ready to go and we headed out the city keeping to the smaller roads.
When everything seemed to be going so well... The car started playing up again. Bobbling around, losing power on the hills, struggling to maintain the speed limit. The rain started, and while it seemed light and gentle to start it just got heavier and heavier. Driving became stressful, always wandering what was going to happen next. Eventually we pulled of the main road to find a MacDonalds. We took the time to recover and assess our situation. We still had 40 miles to drive, in the torrential rain. The car was on its last legs, and Portland would be the last major city for a while. It was time for the faithful Nissan Pathfinder to end its travels. We spent a while working out how to continue, and finally made a reservation for a rental car from Hertz. We'd deal with that tomorrow, tonight we were going to sleep in the car. If it really was the end we wanted to make the most of the large boot space and get a free nights sleep out of it. We checked out the local area and picked our spot. Then, in need of some relaxation we went to the cinema to escape the rain.
It was a great way to spend the evening, and the worries of travelling were gone. We drove round to our chosen spot and set about the task of emptying all the stuff from the back of the car to the front 2 seats. Eventually we had the bed set up and the possessions stacked up, so we went across the car park to Dennys for dinner. Dinner out the way, we settled down for the night, cosy as pie in the back of the pathfinder.
Well, at least you got as far as you hoped to get, ie Seattle. Hope the rest of the trip is okay. :) xxx
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