What's the significance of the above picture, you ask. Those are not imperfections in the paint, they're bugs! By this time the car had been driven over 2000 mi.'s without being washed. The total trip covered more than 3000 mi.'s. You almost can't find any two destination points further apart in the US than West Palm Beach, FL and Portland, OR!

Gary joined the drive in Little Rock, AK (the wimp), so this is when the digital pictures began (he has the only camera). Our course took us across the southern reaches of the US through the south-west corner of Utah where we decided to spend an entire day exploring Zion NP. We could afford the day because a breakneck pace was set the previous three days, covering about 800 mi.'s per day.

On coming out of Zion, Gary called home (La Costa, CA) to relate what a great time we had hiking and touring the park only to learn that his neighborhood was on fire!! More than 100 homes in La Costa burned to the ground. Fortunately Gary & Vicki's wasn't one of them.

We spent the night just short of Salt Lake City after exiting Zion. When the smoke had cleared from the La Costa fire situation, we pushed on to Portland. On the way up the Columbia river, we took the opportunity to do some light sightseeing. Boy, are the waterfalls in this area spectacular!