A Flat Day

We got out early from La Grande yesterday morning, headed toward Heyburn, Idaho, and a park we've stayed at before. It's a nice park for just passing through on a journey to anywhere else. We stopped to fill up our fuel tank on the way out of La Grande. Mike noticed the tire pressure on one of the rear truck tires had gone down overnight, which seemed unusual. He noticed it back home too, and so he said to me, "I think one of our back tires has a slow leak." Famous last words, right? But on we go, pretending nothing is wrong, but warily watching the tire pressure.

The way was flat, flat, farmland with a few foothills thrown in for variety. Out the windshield, it looked like this:

Out my side window, it looked like this:

We saw some barns along the way, of course.

This one was kind of interesting. There appears to be a dwelling in the top portion. I might have thought it was a house, but there was a house nearby (outside the frame), and this was definitely a barn to be used for livestock.

Sorry for the blur in this next one.

On and on we went until eventually, we passed into Mountain Time. This happens just before crossing over the border with Idaho. Most of the time zone change is right on the state line, but with Ontario, Oregon, almost indistinguishable from Payette, Idaho, just across the border, it seemed to make sense to move the time change west into Oregon a little bit.

Shortly thereafter, we said good-bye to our home in Oregon...

crossed over the Snake River...

and into Idaho.

Now here's where the day fell flat. We're motoring along when Mike says, "Oh my gosh!" Or, probably something with more four letter words. All of a sudden the tire was losing pressure alarmingly fast. We pulled off the freeway as soon as we could. He has a portable air compressor (be prepared, you know), and so he was able to reinflate it enough to get us down the road a little farther. Also, he noticed a nail. And, of course, it was Labor Day. Les Schwab (a locally known and respected tire chain) would be happy to fix the tire for free, but all the Les Schwabs were closed for the holiday.

So, okay. We ended up spending the night in Meridian, Idaho, which is every bit as exciting as it sounds. It also meant we'd have to reroute our trip to accommodate this extra day with less mileage than we'd planned. There is a Les Schwab just around the corner from where we are staying, and so it will be a quick fix on our way this morning.

Still, I spent the afternoon figuring out where to go instead of our original route. You might remember when we planned our trip around the perimeter of the USA and my box full of manila folders...one for each state. Think of this as my bucket list, and believe me, it's a big box.

Nowadays, I only bring along the state where we expect to travel, and so it's easy enough to rifle through things and choose some different destinations. The only down side of any of this is that we lost a deposit on a reservation we'd made ahead and won't be able to keep. Oh well. No one died, and so we count it as a good day.

It was hot in Meridian, and Smitty cooled his tummy furs on the laminate flooring.

Sadie was put out at the change of plans and spent the afternoon in her cubby. Where is she, you ask?

Well, just open up that center cupboard, and you'll find her napping in there.

Excuse me...a little purrivacy, if you please.

And our change of plans gave me some extra stitching time, so I finished off Sweet Land of Liberty. I don't have an iron along, and so you'll have to be satisfied with this wrinkled version for now.

Next up, I'll be making the 12 yo-yo centers for the Sundress quilt. 

It occurs to me that it's time to link up to September's OMG goal-setting party:

We'll head on over the Les Schwab tire center this morning. Mike says it shouldn't take more than about an hour to repair the tire. After that we'll be on to our first alternative destination, Massacre Rocks State Park in Idaho.