A very, very long day

It is 9:30 pm and we are finally sitting down with a glass of wine. This is either a day to remember or a day to forget. Got off on time and had a beautiful drive up Whidbey Island. Blue skies and sunshine. We arrived on time at the designated Starbucks and the Wohlwend's were there with lattes in hand waiting for us. Gail and I grabbed a cup of coffee and we all headed back to the cars.

This is where it all started. Our car wouldn't start. Barrie tried and tried but no luck was to be had. Although he really hates to do it, Barrie finally decided he had no choice but to push start the car. It worked!!! At least we were off and rolling again. Our route took us up the North Cascade Highway (20) and we planned to spend a bit of time in the National Park before heading to Winthrop for lunch. As they say, the best laid plans.......

Just 75 miles up the road, our car quit!! Just quit!! And wouldn't you know, we were at the back of the pack. So we pulled off the road in driveway of a home that looked to be closed up for the season. The house was next to the Skagit river and the location was really quite beautiful. Eventually Gail & Joyce noticed we were no longer following them and they turned around to find us. Not too much later, Don & Arlene turned around and came back to see what was taking us so long. They had been receiving reports of our status from passers by.

After several attempts to start the car, we had run out of battery power. Just as we were deciding what our next course of action should be, a small pick-up driven by a local man stopped. Given his druthers, Barrie preferred to avoid trying to jump start the car with a 12 volt battery. Mel said, no problem, he could return in a few moments with a full size generator and battery charger that should do the trick. And sure enough it did. It was time to search for the root cause and it quickly became apparent that the voltage regulator was not working correctly. This was a modern regulator that Barrie had installed recently. Mel suggested we travel 1/2 mile down the road to his place where there many more tools to work with.

So, all three Cords headed to Mel's place. And with tools aplenty, the fellows went to work. They replaced the modern voltage regulator with a 70 year old spare that Barrie was carrying and sure enough we were back in business. Sounds easy, right. Well as you can probably guess, it didn't really go that fast. We spent well over 2 hours diagnosing and fixing the problem.

Finally back on the road at about 12:30 with 75 more miles to go before reaching Winthrop. We missed our lunch date with Gail's friend Steve but he met us alongside the road to say a quick hello as we passed through town. We had eaten lunch at the historic Winthrop hotel with Steve on our 2007 Auburn trip -- so a quick reunion was in order. By the time we gassed-up and headed out of town it was 3:00 -- and we still had 200 miles to drive.

The first 100 miles took us past Chief Joseph Dam and Grand Coulee Dam. Huge massive structures. It would have been fun to stop and see the sights but we were now tight on time so we pressed on. Stopped 20 miles further down the road at Billy's Burgers (reputed to be the best burgers for miles around) and had a so-so meal with very slow service. Maybe it just wasn't to be our day. The problem is that while we were waiting for service, we were burning daylight. Finally back on the road at 6:45 with another 100 miles to go. Don & Arlene and Barrie & I get started down the road while Gail & Joyce are just begin to enjoy their meal. Gail actually has headlights that work -- why don't the rest of us? We are trying to make it to Post Falls ID before darkness sets in and it is going to be a real race.

We are counting the miles and watching darkness set-in. We unplug the GPS to preserve precious power, then we turn off the dash lights -- still not enough power to shift. OK, next we turn off the headlights to shift. This is not the way the trip was supposed to start. Finally we have our motel in sight -- we pull into the parking lot and the car quits. Luckily, we can coast into a parking spot. We are done driving for the day. Don & Arlene pull in right behind us, and sure enough their car quits. They too coast into their parking spot. As it turns out Gail and Joyce are not far behind. Good news, we all made it safely. Tomorrow has to be an easier day.