Washington - Day 17 - Roslyn, Ellensburg, Moses Lake

Grant County Fairgrounds RV Park, Moses Lake
Friday, 17 June 2022

today's route

In this part of the state, I've seen campaign signs for "Craig Juris for Judge."  In Latin, the word "juris" means "law."  Wonder if his name will help him win.  Of course, there aren't many people around these days who learned Latin in school.

The river in this area is the Yakima, and when I crossed it at Cle Elum I could see it was very swollen.

I took a short detour to the town of Roslyn, where their sign told me their elevation is 912' and their population is double that.  For those who used to watch Northern Exposure, this is where it was filmed, and the "downtown" area still looks just like the TV show showed it.  Including this mural that was shown on TV and is still there.  (This is from the internet, but I saw it.)

I stopped by the city's park, intending to walk Dexter, but there was already someone throwing a frisbee for her dog, so we walked in a different direction.  While we were there, a couple of women walked with their little kids to the park; they were joined by another group, then another.  By the time we left, it looked like maybe a meeting of the PTA standing around while the kids played.  (By the way, I'd inserted this anecdote in my post about Concrete, but when I started thinking about it, I realized here is where that happened.  I didn't see this many people when I was in Concrete.)

That park included a couple of displays that I found interesting.

This is the sign - enlargements below.

The other sign, with an enlargement below.

I haven't seen many signs like this.

On the way out of town I noticed a statue of a coal miner (see info above) in front of City Hall.

We went back through Cle Elum where I noticed a Citizens Patrol car - it was marked, which is why I know that's what it was.  I thought that was a little odd and looked it up and could find absolutely nothing about it, which I think is odder still.  In Cle Elum, the Masonic Lodge was above the post office.

I took back roads down to Ellensburg, home of Central Washington University.  It's a public university and claims to have the 12th largest school of education in the country.

I heard an interview on the radio of an expert on the octopus who is fascinated with its oddities and uses.  And when asked, he informed us that the correct plural of octopus is octopode, with the accent on the 2nd syllable and pronounced with 4 syllables (ock-TOP-oh-dee).  So now you know.

Back on the road, I saw a sign saying it was the Payouse to Cascades State Park Trail.  This sign was written on what looked like an old railroad trestle, very very high up, and I would have been very nervous if an actual railroad train had been on that bridge because the road went underneath it.  Anyway, I looked that trail up and learned it's a rail trail that crosses much of the state and generally follows the route of the historic Milwaukee Road.  And the Milwaukee Road was the route of the 3rd railroad that connected the Pacific Northwest with the US Midwest.

Usually a mountain pass has the word "pass" in its name, or "summit" or something that clearly indicates it's a high spot.  Here, a sign at the top of a steep climb just said "Ryegrass - elev. 2,535'."

After passing several elk warning signs (though never spotting an elk), I came to Grant County, which bills itself as "The Nation's Largest Potato Raising County."  Washington state claims its potato farmers rank first in the country in per-acre yield, with 45% more potatoes per acre than the US average.  And Grant County claims to be on top of the whole heap.  Idaho has worked hard on its advertising, and many of WA's potatoes are sold overseas.  But this is where they grow.

I passed a sign telling me to turn for the Wild Horse Monument.  I didn't but was curious, and it seems to be worth a short side trip.  This website for the Washington Trails Association has a photo and an explanation.   https://www.wta.org/wild-horses-monument

I passed the turn for The Gorge Amphitheater at the town of George, known to Washingtonians as The Gorge at George.  I went there once long ago for a Neil Young concert.  A friend had tickets and invited me.  The part I remember best is that the warm-up band was a relatively new group called Pearl Jam.  I thought they were much better than the rest of the show.

I saw 3 bikers on the road, all with very bright yellow lights, extra to their regular ones.  Those lights were extremely visible, which I thought was smart, since it's not always easy to spot motorcyclists on the road.

I heard on the radio someone describing a coalition in France of uneasy political partners: it's like herding cats, they're like sheep following what someone says, they're like dogs barking all the time.  Sounds like politics to me.

A sign told me for the next 14 miles I'd find the crop names attached to the fence line at each field, and I did.  It was interesting.  Wheat, sweet corn, wheat, field corn, field corn, organic field corn, beans, peas, alfalfa, alfalfa, potatoes, potatoes, potatoes, organic sweet corn, potatoes, potatoes, potatoes [they really do grow a lot of potatoes here], alfalfa, grain corn, potatoes, timothy, sweet corn, sweet corn, potatoes, grass seed, alfalfa, potatoes.  I wish farmers everywhere would do that.

The land out here is scrubland unless it's being used as cropland, which happens via irrigation.

Then I got to the town of Moses Lake, pop. 25,760, they say.

I hadn't been able to find a regular campground and took a chance on the RV park they operated at the county fairgrounds.  When we got there, we found horses and horse trailers everywhere.  I managed to find the dump station for my waste tanks, which happened to be right next to a parade ring where some of the action was happening.  Dexter was quite entertained and I talked a bit with some of the parents while I was unloading.  Turns out there was a high school competition going on, and the campground was full of families of the contestants.  I'd made plans to stay here for a few days so I could try to catch up.