First Drop in the Bro'meter

For whatever reason, I thought I would try sleeping without a pad for the night. The grass we were on was really lush, but it was a stupid idea. I woke up sore on both hips and my back. We didn't really have too much to do since we weren't going to the concert at all, so we loaded up the car for the last time and headed off for our last drive. Now since I was going to be driving all the way back to Philly by myself I was not going to drive this day. Scott never renewed his driver's license, so he couldn't drive at all the entire trip. So that left Steve to drive the whole way back to Seattle. We got on the road around 9:00 and stopped for a decent breakfast just outside of Salmon Arm. We were mistaken as Aussies, but I will take that as a compliment since I always wanted to have an accent.

I slept for a good portion of the ride back and it still felt really long. Once we got near the border, Steve started getting nervous again about the Border Patrol. I think he was more nervous this time because if he messed up we weren't going to be allowed back into the US (not really.) We did have 3 beers left over in the cooler and I think he was nervous about those. We sat in line for about 30 minutes and once we were the next car to go, they shut down the border because an RV was leaking gas just on the other side. We then had to sit there for another 30 minutes and I was trying to get pumped for getting back into the US by listening to Jimi Hendrix "Star-Spangled Banner." For whatever reason, Steve kept turning down the volume. I don't know why he would do that, I was just trying to be patriotic. When we finally got through, everything was just as we remembered it; a little dirty and just plain American. The drive to Seattle was pretty uneventful except for a traffic jam on I-5 that forced us off the road to get some dinner at a burger place. You could tell we were on the road for a while that day because we had walked around the restaurant for about 10 minutes before getting a seat, just like a bunch of lost drones.

Once we got to the hotel, it turned out to be really nice. Besides the HoJo, Steve did a really good job at finding accomodations. I was supposed to go to another residency the next morning, but I had no clean clothes. Luckily, Urban Outfitters was open, so I went there and got a polo shirt for $10, what a deal. When I got back to the hotel, Steve was up at the pool on the 28th floor so I went up to join him. This was Steve's first plunge of the entire trip, but at least he got one in during the trip. After that, we showered and then left to take Scott to the airport. Steve and I were sad to see him go because the Bro level was dropping 33%. But seriously, this was a trip that we had been trying to put together for a while, and it was awesome that we all made it.

Back in the city, Steve and I did some recon to find if there was anywhere worth going out. Apparently, Sunday nights in Seattle aren't too big, so we just got a couple drinks at the hotel bar. Looking back, it seems like a scene out of a movie. Two buddies sitting at a bar, drinking beers, and talking about the good times. It wasn't a crazy last night, but I think we had enough crazy nights in the past week. We headed back up to the room and slept in beds without having to share for the first time all week. A pretty quiet last day, but still a good end to a great week. ULTRA day 29/39: COMPLETE.

JM