The first half of the trip was pretty uneventful. We left early Thursday morning (7 a.m.) and made good time. We had to take a little side trip into Yakima to pick up some foam which didn't seem like that big of a deal on paper (or on mapquest):
Once we got to Yakima, it didn't take too long to find the warehouse we were going to, although it wasn't in a great part of town. I don't think I've ever driven in Yakima so the whole thing was a bit of an adventure. We stopped at McDonalds for lunch and then headed to the warehouse to pick up the sheets of foam that Rob needed for a case order. . .
Once we got to the warehouse, the supplier looked at me like I was crazy to load 4 sheets of 4' x 9' x 2" sheets of foam into the 6' bed of my truck but it didn't faze me. I'm used to people looking at me like I'm crazy. It wouldn't have been quite so bad if the alarm on my truck wouldn't have gone off wildly due to Zach opening the locked door from the inside (my fault) and then my key fob not wanting to turn it off. Oh and also the lack of working ratchet straps.
We had to make our way through the unfamiliar streets of Yakima to find a Walmart. Rob and Google Earth led us to a much nicer part of town and the familiar Walmart sign so we could buy a new set of working straps. It took some time but we eventually came up with this:
Google Earth led us back to the highway and on our way to Newberg, a short 3 hours and 49 minutes away. My original plan was to hit Portland before 4:00 so I could make my way through the maze of freeways and exits before rush hour traffic. . .
Things didn't quite go according to plan. I wasn't sure how the load in the back of my truck would travel so with the extra time we spent in Yakima and the slower travel time, we ended up hitting Portland at 6:00. In the rain. In the dark. In rush hour traffic.
In spite of the stress and missing the exit, we did eventually make it safely to Katrina's house. I love staying at Katrina's house. I'm sure I looked a bit frazzled when we arrived but it didn't take long to relax and enjoy the good company. And I have a SLEW of pictures just like these on my Ipad:
As far as the REAL reason we were there, all of that fun kicked off early Friday morning. Zach was put together and prepared. Mostly. He had a pretty packed schedule both Friday and Saturday at the University during the day and I had a few very overwhelming meetings about what it will take to get him to George Fox. He had a speech to give, interviews with Important People and group projects to work on. I think he thrived on the whole thing but it wore me out. I'm thankful that he thrived on it, though, and it makes me want to figure out the details with him so he can make Fox his temporary home in the fall. . .
This is the building where he gave his speech for the Communications academic scholarship. I couldn't be there. Which is probably a good thing. He felt good about it. . .
In the meantime I had a really nice visit with Steph and Hailey. I expected the academic portion to only last an hour so I went and waited in the library where I had a good view of the Communications Building. I took this "creeper" picture of Steph and Hailey while I was waiting. . .
On the way home on Sunday, we drove the truck (still loaded with foam) back around Portland with just a little sidetrack into Portland to figure out which exit to take, and stopped at Multnomah Falls to take a picture. . .
The roads were good, the sun was out and it was a pretty uneventful trip back home. . .
And I ended up with a bunch more pictures on my Ipad that look something like this:
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