Last month I went on a mini-vacation back to Bellingham to visit some friends and get some hiking and kayaking in. On my return, I stopped in Thorp not only to fuel up and pick up some crack-laced popcorn (Little River Candy Co. has toffee popcorn that is bomb, yo!), but I also visited the Thorp Mill where I got a one-on-one tour of the place and discovered it was more interesting than I expected it to be. I don't know how interesting I originally expected it to be, but it was a pleasant visit.
On my way back, there was a hitchhiker on her way south. She was disheveled and clearly hadn't bathed in a while, but something compelled me to pull over and pick her up. I don't know why, I didn't even think about it. While this wasn't the first hitchhiker I've ever picked up, it's not something I commonly do. I pulled over, she told me she was from Alaska and heading to Oregon. I told her I could get her as far as Yakima.
I had regrets about this.
The woman was nuts. She didn't talk, and she fucked with my power window the whole way, up and down. She also hated my dog, which sucked because my dog loved her and didn't understand why he wasn't allowed even near the passenger seat.
Do you know what the drive is like between Thorp and Yakima? Once you get past Ellensburg, you got about 25 miles of nuthin'. Just quietly, awkwardly driving through desert hills with just the sound of my passenger side power window going up and down and up and down the whole fucking way. I was afraid she was gonna burn out the motor in my window! And since it was the middle of the desert in summer and there was no place to stop, I couldn't very well change my mind and kick her out early, even though my anxiety was growing with the silence.
Finally I dropped her off at a hotel in Union Gap. Hope she got where she was going.
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