Today, 30 years ago, Mt. St. Helens blew. We saw the second eruption in June (22) when we were leaving on our annual trip north on the Puget Rose. We heard the radio crackle and somebody on the Marine radio said it was happening as we cruised north. We looked behind us through the wheelhouse window and sure enough: We saw the plume of smoke/ash going east in a straight line. It was a clear hot day late in the afternoon and my mother was here from Chicago to make the trip with us. I didn't hear much about the ash fallout in Eastern WA but on the first blow May 18 a friend, Alice Manley, was driving home somewhere near Wenatchee and it looked to her like they were driving in a thick fog with all the ash coming down. Fog was bad enough traveling near Coalinga CA in October-November during our RVing days; I can't imagine what driving through that ash cloud would have been like.

I just read Phyllis' blog (bigtrip2010counts.wordpress.com) and her cycling group is somewhere on the TransAmerica route, soon leaving Virginia and entering Kentucky. Is the grass really blue there? Is that where they make Jack Daniels whiskey? Some of the comments from people reading her blog are awesome, like the couple with spinning cycles in their front yard, racking up the miles. Hilarious pictures!

Anyway, if I can figure out how to add my comment to Phyl's Day 7 entry I will. She had the date May 19 and since today is the 18th I wonder if her calendar is broke or she somehow crossed the International Date line without realizing it!

Remember, Fellow Senior friends: Insanity is inherited. I got it from my kids, like the ones who decide to go sky diving or bungee jumping or cycling over 4,000 miles across the US of A when they've already started getting letters from AARP!!