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| Heading up over Mt Hood. |
Christian and I departed my house at 5:40 am, with Jon's truck and trailer for our our second trip to Tukwila, WA, just south of Seattle. We had water, a thermos of coffee, my moms frozen cookies from Christmas, a box of crackers and a bag of Trail Mix bars. We were all set and on the road.
Our route takes us up Highway 97 to Madras and then Highway 26 to Portland up over Mt. Hood. It takes about 2 hours to get to Mt Hood and then another hour to get on into Portland. We connect onto Interstate 84 at Gresham, then onto Interstate 205 and cross over the Columbia River into the State of Washington were we connect with Interstate 5 and drive 180 miles north to Takwila.
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| The hydroplane tilted and ready to be moved out the door. |
At Olympia, I called our contact, Barbara, who would be helping us get the car out of the storage space. She has a vintage hydroplane boat that is blocking the only garage door and she had a friend ready to come help move the boat. Olympia is about 40 minutes from Takwila and it should give her enough time to have the boat moved. When we got there Barbara was still waiting for her friend to come move the boat. This gave us some time to hear her fascinating story about her hydroplaning and her collection of Packard built Rolls Royce Merlin engines, she has three of them. She is a fascinating and very interesting woman. In order to get the boat we had to push a vintage MG out of the shop, then move the boat and the car would be free to move.
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| The Packard outside and ready to load |
We were there only 10 minutes when her help showed up to move the boat. With the boat tilted on the trailer it was able to fit out the door. With a turn of a key and a push of a button the old Packard fired right up. Christian was there filming it and I was so excited to be getting the car. The weather had been perfect all the way, with the mountain passes being clear and dry. When we got to Tacoma it was misting and it was misting in Takwila. The plan had been to wrap the car in Shrink wrap, since the windows would not go up. I figured the mist wasn't going to hurt the car once we got moving and the weather should be fine once we get past Tacoma. So we opted not to use the shrink wrap.
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| The Packard load on the trailer and ready to head home. |
Christian and I got the car loaded on the trailer in no time flat. We were back on the road and heading for home by 12:30 pm. We both wanted to get out of the Seattle area before rush hour. With all of our snack, neither one of us was particularly hungry, so we headed full speed (70 mph) down I-5. Jon's truck was awesome. It has so much power I had no idea I was pulling a car on trailer.
I felt so much better than the last time I went to Seattle. We got to Portland around 3 pm and we stopped to get gas in Gresham. The truck was on empty and the computer was saying we had 30 miles to go until empty when we stopped. A little over 30 gallons later and $124 sucked out of my wallet, we were back on the road. The truck only burns premium, which was painful at the pump, but the truck was so comfortable it was nice to have it.
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| Getting gas in a very thirsty pickup. |
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| A quick rinse and the top put down. |
We pulled into Redmond around 6 pm and it was great to be home with daylight still remaining. I stopped one more time to fill up Jon's truck. This time it was only a half tank and it didn't cost an arm and leg. Ten minutes later the Packard was home. Christian and I unloaded the car and then washed the trailer and truck and took them back to Jon and I got my truck back. When we got back, we washed Christian's truck and then the Packard. I parked the Packard in the shop and Christian and I just stood there and admired the car and talked about what we had just accomplished.
Christian and I had made the round trip in 12 hours and I had driven the entire time and we covered a little over 600 miles. With four vehicles now washed and the Packard safe in the garage, we were done. It was an amazing day.
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