Wrapping Up 72 Hours
May. 22nd, 2021 08:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerInland Empire Travelog #15
Aboard WN 0223 GEG-OAK - Sun, 16 May 2021. 5:15pm.
We took off from Spokane and passed above 10,000 feet a few minutes ago. Now it's okay to use my laptop with the in-flight wifi, yay! I've been traveling (the planes-trains-and-automobiles gig) for just over 72 hours now, and we spent just under 72 hours on the ground in the Inland Northwest. And soon it may be time for... Another 72 Hours. Keep reading!
Although I've expressed frustration many times over the past umpteen blogs about how we missed doing X or Y that we wanted to do because something went wrong— a bum steer from our guidebook, again, and again; and a flat tire— we did get a lot done. In three days we stayed in three different towns/cities, drove 600+ miles, and visited several waterfalls. That kept us busy with early mornings, late nights, and long days in between. But we did find moments to relax, as well. We took it easy late night the past two nights (though at the cost of staying up extra-late) and we enjoyed a leisurely late lunch this afternoon after our trek around Spokane's Riverfront Park.
Speaking of this afternoon, after our leisurely lunch we drove over to the airport to return our car with its wobbly 50/50 spare tire and check our luggage. I call it wobbly not because it physically wobbles— I tightened the lug nuts myself, thankyouverymuch— but because as a 50/50 temporary spare it's so narrow and has a tread so slight it'd be laughable if we weren't the ones depending on its drivability. I pointed it out to the Avis staffer at return, and she offered to knock $25 off my bill for the trouble. That's cool; I was actually afraid they'd charge me for flattening their tire! (Yes, that has happened at least once in my car-rental experience.) She also stated that customer service on the emergency line has gone to shit since Avis outsourced it. That would explain, also, why the agent couldn't check inventory or ask a station to hold a replacement car.
We thought we'd have a chance to cool our heels at the airport by getting there early. Instead we got an urgent call from my niece about a blow-up fight with her parents after she acted on advice we gave her yesterday. (Update: I've written about this separately.) We got that sorted out about as well as we could from 2,500 miles away, and then it was time to fly.
Just before takeoff, as we were closing on 72 hours of travel, Hawk pointed out all the stuff we chose not to do this trip. I don't mean all the stuff we tried to do and were thwarted (see above); I'm talking about stuff that was just too much to fit in our itinerary. "We could come back here again," she suggested. "Memorial Day weekend is in two weeks."
So here I am, on our flight home not yet at cruising altitude, and I'm already looking at tickets to come back in 11 days. Will it soon be time for Another 72 Hours?
Aboard WN 0223 GEG-OAK - Sun, 16 May 2021. 5:15pm.
We took off from Spokane and passed above 10,000 feet a few minutes ago. Now it's okay to use my laptop with the in-flight wifi, yay! I've been traveling (the planes-trains-and-automobiles gig) for just over 72 hours now, and we spent just under 72 hours on the ground in the Inland Northwest. And soon it may be time for... Another 72 Hours. Keep reading!
Although I've expressed frustration many times over the past umpteen blogs about how we missed doing X or Y that we wanted to do because something went wrong— a bum steer from our guidebook, again, and again; and a flat tire— we did get a lot done. In three days we stayed in three different towns/cities, drove 600+ miles, and visited several waterfalls. That kept us busy with early mornings, late nights, and long days in between. But we did find moments to relax, as well. We took it easy late night the past two nights (though at the cost of staying up extra-late) and we enjoyed a leisurely late lunch this afternoon after our trek around Spokane's Riverfront Park.
Speaking of this afternoon, after our leisurely lunch we drove over to the airport to return our car with its wobbly 50/50 spare tire and check our luggage. I call it wobbly not because it physically wobbles— I tightened the lug nuts myself, thankyouverymuch— but because as a 50/50 temporary spare it's so narrow and has a tread so slight it'd be laughable if we weren't the ones depending on its drivability. I pointed it out to the Avis staffer at return, and she offered to knock $25 off my bill for the trouble. That's cool; I was actually afraid they'd charge me for flattening their tire! (Yes, that has happened at least once in my car-rental experience.) She also stated that customer service on the emergency line has gone to shit since Avis outsourced it. That would explain, also, why the agent couldn't check inventory or ask a station to hold a replacement car.
We thought we'd have a chance to cool our heels at the airport by getting there early. Instead we got an urgent call from my niece about a blow-up fight with her parents after she acted on advice we gave her yesterday. (Update: I've written about this separately.) We got that sorted out about as well as we could from 2,500 miles away, and then it was time to fly.
Just before takeoff, as we were closing on 72 hours of travel, Hawk pointed out all the stuff we chose not to do this trip. I don't mean all the stuff we tried to do and were thwarted (see above); I'm talking about stuff that was just too much to fit in our itinerary. "We could come back here again," she suggested. "Memorial Day weekend is in two weeks."
So here I am, on our flight home not yet at cruising altitude, and I'm already looking at tickets to come back in 11 days. Will it soon be time for Another 72 Hours?
