18 | August | 2014 | bretzelitos

Seattle and the start of our drive – now at 1309 km

After waking up way too early in our hotel at Seattle Tacoma airport – thanks to the ever present jet lag of nine hours – we went to have an all American breakfast at Denny’s.

Then off to collect our rental car. There was a problem with the computer data transmission as one of the main data servers failed over night. The poor lady behind the booth had to fill in everything in manual as our valid voucher was not fully accessible – it was in the system and confirmed, however the rental details did not show up.

In National’s VIP range of vehicles, we were invited to have a look at all available ones, at the end we too a 2014 Chrysler 300. Good engine, XM satellite radio and nice audio system, leather interior… not to bad, however, incomparable with Bretzelmobil. 🙂

After checking out from our Radisson hotel, we drove to Boeing Paine Field in Snohomish and Everett. This is the main production site of the big Boeing airplanes, such as 777, 747 and 787. Even on Sunday, they did some tests, a Turkish B777 in Primer colours made an RTO. In the information center, we had a look around and bought some cups to remember our visit.

Then we returned to Seattle and went on the Space Needle. What a crowded place and tourist trap – however, we made it in the end and were rewarded with a nice view over Seattle.

At last… we were able to start the main part of our trip – our journey through the States. Following I-5 southbound, it did not take very long to recognize that we are in heavy traffic… this has been far to stressful. So we exited I-5 at Olympia and joined US-101 near Aberdeen along the Pacific coast. This is what I have been looking for. Nature, a calm ride, good streets – and wonderful sunny cloudless weather. Time for Sven to take the steering. These views are so priceless, the nature seems to be widely untouched. Signs on the road to watch out for “elk crossing” were seen a lot. 🙂

At Astoria, we went over the border from Washington to Oregon. This is a sea bridge over the local fjord, so it has been an interesting and high crossing.

Already late afternoon, our friend – the jetlag – called in quite substantially. So we continued until Tillamook, still on US-101, where we stayed the night in a friendly and simple roadside motel.