19 March

Today started out both early and late. Breakfast was on from 7, so I was ready for that. After breakfast I deviated from routine and had to empty the car out. Those of you with good vision and are gluttons for punishment and have already viewed the uploaded photos will have seen a similar car but different plates.
After I unloaded the car I went to the local Alamo depot. After speaking to the woman there, I was able to get another car (as the other required servicing) but she wasn’t able to get me to be able to drop it in Vancouver. I have to check in Seattle for that. I would like to be able to drop it ther, because that means I can choose when I cross the border and I can then do what I want in Vancouver. If I have to return it in Seattle, then I have to book a train trip and accommodation, and then look for a way t get around Vancouver at short notice. I will find out tomorrow.
When I had changed cars, I called into a KMart I had passed, to get DVDs to back up my pictures and send some discs home. Once I know they are home safely, I can free up space on drives. I took the chance to get some other things at the same time.
Back at the motel in Gresham (Portland), I then had to load the car up again. I was ruthless in cleaning ot rubbish, but still have too much and will have to cull again on Thursday when I send the last US parcel home. Thus I ended leaving the motel about 10.
I headed straight up to Mount St Helens, and called into the Visitors’ Centre. The road was not really open enough to assure a good view and so I headed up with trepidation and low expectation. This was fulfilled when it started snowing and there was already a metre or so by the roadside. I looked and took what pictures I could, then headed back down (the through road was closed).
I had lunch at Castle Rock and got a coupon book which lead me to booking a motel at Tacoma (about half an hour short of Seattle). I booked in for three nights (thus assuring I wasn’t looking for accommodation on Good Friday) at a good rate and will use the laundry to make sure everything is clean before I cross the border and so I will make it to England and perhaps Europe without having to worry.
I got the laptop set up in the room and checked all was working. Then it was off to get some stamps to post some more postcards home and get a marker to fill in my journeys on the US map (I’ll most likely do it on the train).
Back in the motel I backed up photos and will send those discs home in the last parcel I post (tomorrow, as post offices won’t open again until after I leave). I also booked for a tour over the Boeing plant at 9 tomorrow, which means I have to leave by about 7 (can do as breakfast is from 6 here). I’ll do the car query on the way back. I also have to work out what else to see in the remaining time (and that depends on the car return too).
I did the DVDs and my other computer work, wrote some postcards (I’ll do the rest while I wait for Boeing tomorrow, but I have all the addresses written in) and then settled down for an early night but with no packing required tomorrow morning.
After sixty days away and my stay in the US coming to a close very soon, I am feeling a bit ambivalent about leaving, but visas, tickets and money draining quickly convince me to move on. Will I return? Hard to say, given the distance and cost and the extent to which I would tour if I returned, but I would have an itinerary planned in my mind already.