So yesterday was the perfect day. We went to bed around 2:00AM Sunday morning. Woke up with no alarm around 9:30AM. Had a friend and her daughter and son in law arrive an hour early at our house and we brought them up here to the shop and spent about 4 hours just talking. Then they left for Oak Harbor and Dan and I went home and watched a movie. We finished the movie at about 4:30PM and took a nap. The nap lasted till 8:00PM and we got up and did some things around the house then went to bed again about 2:00AM this Monday morn. Unfortunately, neither of us could sleep well and well it kind of screwed up the day today since we don't get to sleep in or take a nap.. OH WELL!!
So this story was going somewhere! (Really!) The friend that came to see us is married to a friend of ours that we knew from high school. Now for privacy sake we will call this friend Ron. Ron is one of those guys who things just happen too. He loves to make everyone think he is this macho dude with a horrendous temper and the simple truth is he is this illogical, big teddy bear. Both his wife Janie and I know it and we love reminding him of this fact. Anyway, Ron used to get me into some really interesting adventures that could have turned out really bad but in the end turned out to be one of those adventures that kids live through and laugh about later.
This particular story starts out when I had just got my drivers license. Now keep in mind that learning to drive did not go easily for me and I did not learn to drive till I was about 18 years old. I actually had to buy a car and my mom and sister had to drive it around before I had the gumption to get my own car and learn to drive. So on the day of my drivers license exam after getting my license I decided to ask Ron to go with me on the road that went the back way from Spokane Mountain to Hayden Lake. The gravel road that was supposed to be the back way was one I had long wanted to explore and Ron claimed he did know the route well. So I picked up Ron and away we headed in my wonderful little fiat (my first car that I affectionately called "chuggy" because of the sound it made when it ran). Anyway, the road went along very well as a wide well gravelled two lane road for about 4 miles. At that point it started getting skinnier and then the gravel disappeared and then the center of the road disappeared and was covered with grass and at some point after there was no way to turn around, the trail became a completely grass covered path and I found myself four wheeling through the woods!. This lasted about 10 minutes and we finally came to a gravelled road that looked similar to a logging road. Ron assured me that we had finally come to the road we wanted and we merrily went on our way. The road started climbing this wonderful hill and circling it and when it reached the top it stopped! We came to a huge cliff and the only way down was to back around the hill down to the bottom the way we came up. Backing was not a forte' of mine. As a matter of fact it still isn't. And after many starts and stops we finally made it to the bottom of the hill.
While Ron and I were at the top of the hill we found a road that Ron assured me (yet again)was the road we wanted. When we got down to the road we discovered that the park department had placed a tree over the end of the road. Ron not to be put out assumed that this was for people who were not local and that did not apply to us so he moved the tree and we proceeded to go down the road. About 50 feet onto the road we discovered ruts deep enough to bury Volkswagens in and wide enough to bury the fiat should we fall into them. Ron walked 3 feet in front of the car and guided me as we crept down the road a foot at a time. The road was over a mile long and needless to say by the time I got to the bottom of the road... my knees were knocking and I could not keep the gas pedal from lurching. We ended up running into the road we wanted.. a beautiful gravelled 2 lane road completely leveled and wonderful to drive on... but by then... I just wanted to go home. That night my dream was that when I walked out to get into the car for school in the morning I discovered the engine sitting on the driveway. When I woke up the next day I found the car was fine and to this day Ron and I laugh about our four wheeling adventure.
So now that I have shared this adventure, Dan found a picture of what Ron would do given the roads to travel on. Ron would choose the one less travelled and in the end (provided we survived) we would have a really good story to share.. me? I would (Lord help me) go along with him for the ride,... and the story! Here is the picture. Ron would take the road on the left and the one on the right would be the one that everyone else would take (if they were sick or mental ...) 
Here's Fiat's original advertisement for my car.
4 wheeling on Whidbey Island.
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