Today is the day we leave our dear daughter and family in Auburn and last day that Sharon will have to follow me in another vehicle. Our Mercedes will stay at Jerry & Arlene's house for the year that we are traveling.

We headed up I-90 and over the Snoqualmie Summit to Eastern Washington . It is mostly a cement highway. The years of snowfall, freezing rain and heavy trucks with chains on have taken its toll on the highway. The trailer bucked all the way over the pass and down into the valley where Cle Elum is located. At Cle Elem, we turned off the interstate onto US97 that would take us over to the Columbia River and the town of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee.

We arrived about 4:30 and spent the afternoon and evening getting Jerry & Arlene's belonging put away in the trailer. Jerry had also some good suggestions and equipment for us to take along in case of an urgent need or emergency.

Jerry and I went out to a closed WASP weigh station and weighed the truck and trailer. The truck weighed in at 9,560 pounds, while the trailer fully loaded weighed 9,300 pounds. We had been afraid that we would overload the trailer, which is rated at 11,000 pounds.

We were sure to get a good night's sleep for our first day on the road and leaving the U.S.