Then Bookwus and this other guy (who is that? He introduced himself, but I forget)
They are testing out a full wiper assy. Motor, linkage, the lot. Bookwus has a battery and a regulated power supply in the back of his bus and very carefully they attach wires and BOINGGGG! The wipers start wiping thin air. Amazing!
Then Colin explains in complex detail what's wrong with Bookwus' shift linkage and how to fix it.
Then satchmo, mary and John (satchmo's son, remember?) and I set out for home, with a quick stop in Shaniko. The obligatory photo-op at some extinct volcano or other (easterners take note: the PNW has a half dozen or so of these)
satchmo and Mary need to take windshield cleaning lessons from amskeptic and I. We're both friggin' anal about clean glass.
Then we went to Shaniko, where we saw this:
and this:
and on the way out of Shaniko, bound for Fossil, this:
We had a candy and bubble gum swap meet, John departed for Portland and the satchmo/mary/glasseye parade continued to Fossil, OR, where we said sad farewells.
I stopped here
and here
Where I considered my next move, which was an old favourite road from Spray, OR to Heppner, OR. A delightful, empty piece of totally inspiring landscapes that ended here, at sunset.
Then, about an hour after sunset, just east of Heppner, I shot this, my technical tour de force of the trip.
The setting is the side of a reservoir where I spent the night. The time is about an hour after sunset. The lighting is the full moon (my shadow on the asphalt) a passing car (my other shadow on the bus' passenger door, a greenish LED flashlight sitting on the sink, bouncing off the white headliner and another LED flashlight in the cab. Five frames, composited with a special software tool called "Photomatix", a novel bit of code that solves a few of photography's oldest problems. Neat, eh?
The next morning, I travelled north, intending to cross back in to Washington via the Blue Mountains, but a persistent engine miss forced me to return to satchmo's clinic in Pullman where a marathon diagnosis session resolved the miss when we replaced the condensor.
A most successful trip in all regards. The the bus, the scenery, the weather, the beer and the friends. O, yes! The friends.
Thank you all for a wonderful week.
Indelible memories.
Doh! You'd like the way the fish looks btw. It's RED! I just learned that it's a carnivore too. Glasseye Squirrelfish. 
