White Salmon Trip & Roy Webster Swim

After just nine days of school we took a trip we'd been planning for a year: we returned to White Salmon for Labor Day weekend so I could swim the Columbia River.

Unlike our summer vacation road trip, this one set off with a more auspicious beginning: our minivan hit 200,000 miles!!

The euphoria, however, was short-lived. We'd actually been hoping to buy a "new" car before the trip and have the old van in someone else's hands before making the 700-mile drive to Washington. When the check engine light came on somewhere between Klamath Falls and Bend, we knew that car-shopping effort had not been misplaced. Still, we kept on truckin' and eventually made it to Bend in the wee hours of the morning. Damon's boss had graciously offered the use of his vacation rental there, so we had a comfortable free place to spend the night before our Safeway breakfast and final 3 hours on to White Salmon.

Immediately after crossing over the Hood River Bridge, we stopped for lunch at Killer Burger (home of the famous peanut butter and pickle burger) in Bingen and I couldn't resist snapping this photo of a logging truck rumbling past on Hwy 14.

Our next scheduled stop was at the schools so Adah and Maggie could meet up with some friends. We had enough time to drive through town  past our house. Then we parked just up the street from the elementary school, and as we strolled down to the front of the school I said to Damon, "Being here feels so . . . normal." "I know," he agreed.

I spent the afternoon at my friend Marisa's house while Holly and Gunnar played with her son Jack. Damon visited his old work place. We had dinner with other friends before finally landing at our weekend hosts' house for the night. Wayne and Jody Goodrich put us up for the whole weekend.

Saturday morning we stopped by the White Salmon library to see the best children's librarian in the world: Heidi.  After that we went to Mountain View Orchards, which is owned by our friend Lyle McAlexander. We picked peaches and bought apples from their bins.

 

Everywhere we went that weekend (Thriftway, Wal-Mart, the library, etc) we ran into someone we knew...even at the orchard. My friend, Brooke Whittle, who'd be swimming the river with me on Monday, also happened to be there picking peaches at the same time! I still really miss that small-town aspect of our White Salmon days--just knowing people almost everywhere we went.

On Saturday night we had dinner with our next-door neighbors, Jim and Cheri Anderson and their kids. (No photos!) We sure miss them and enjoyed catching up and spying over the fence into our own yard. As we stood in the Andersons' yard looking across at our house, now occupied by another nice family, I told Cheri, "You know, it doesn't feel like that's my house. I'm okay." She said, "Well, I still feel like it's your house!" They were such fantastic neighbors.

Sunday we got to attend church at our old ward, where again, it just felt very normal. We even sat on the same pew in the chapel where we used to sit! Most of the people we knew and loved were still there, but a few had also moved away. That afternoon the Goodriches hosted a spaghetti dinner with many of our good friends and we just got to hang out, visit, and catch up.

Monday morning was the big event, the real reason we'd come to White Salmon that weekend: the 71st Annual Roy Webster Cross-Channel Swim.

There were four of us planning to jump in together (below, left to right): me, Brooke Whittle, Lee Goodrich (Wayne's oldest brother; he flew in from Utah for this), and Ryan Van Sickle. Jody, who swam it with me two years ago, opted out this year, but she did volunteer to get up at 4:30 in the morning and drive us to the Hood River Marina. This photo was taken just after we checked in and were assigned to a flight. 

Each flight consisted of 10 people who would all jump off the Sternwheeler at the same time. (That boat lit up with the red lights across the marina is the Sternwheeler.) We were in Flight 14. That means there were 130 people who wold jump off before us. There were another 352 after us.

Swimmers in the water! Small sailboats, kayaks, and paddle boarders line the course to offer encouragement, resting spots, and rescue, as necessary. My good friend Yolanda and her husband were part of their volunteer crew in their kayaks. She's not a swimmer, but we convinced her to get up early and participate in this way and it was fun to see her as I swam past.

The water was actually pretty warm this year--I think they announced on the boat that it was 71 degrees, and a cheer went up from the crowd of swimmers. Still, I was in a full wet suit and appreciated the extra buoyancy. I felt better prepared this year than 2 years ago, both because I knew what to expect and because I think I trained more. I still don't know how fast I swam (since I don't know what time I jumped in), but I feel like I did better than last time, and that was my main goal. I was in flight 14 and I passed some people in flight 8, so that was also an indication that I was doing well.

 

Here's Lee with Roy Webster. Lee was the first of our foursome out of the water. I passed him at one point when he stopped at a boat to adjust his goggles, but he must have then motored passed me. He has done Iron Man competitions, and was sure fun to get to know during the weekend.

Here's Ryan. I totally beat him. I was proud of that since Jody had pegged Lee or Ryan to come out first.

Jillaire and Brooke! I'm so glad she did this with me. I really wanted to do the swim again, but if I hadn't had a friend also doing it with me, I don't know if I would have signed up. I think she felt the same way. Throughout the summer we texted each other about our training efforts, giving tips like, "Don't eat a McMuffin before swimming," or "You must get a spandex swim cap! It won't pull your hair!" Important stuff, and even though we were far apart it made it a fun joint effort. Brooke is a great friend.

However speedy I may or may not have been, it was--once again--too fast for my family. They got there too late to see me come out of the water! They misjudged the timing of when we'd jump off and how long it would take us in the water. Jody feels bad, as her whole family also missed Lee coming out, and she had been with us in the morning and then returned to her house to direct everyone out the door.

It's okay with me. It just gives me another reason to go back next year. One of these times Damon will see me come out of the river!

On the way back from the swim, we stopped by our house on Green Street to check in with our renters, and we also visited our neighbors across the street. The whole weekend we took every opportunity to see old friends, even if it was just for a moment, and we were so happy to find most people at home & with time to chat.

After a nap (for me) back at the Goodriches' we spent our afternoon in the White Salmon park meeting up with more friends. We had made an open invitation to all our friends via Facebook and at church on Sunday to just come and hang out with us at the park. Lots of people showed up and my childhood friend Katie even came out from Vancouver! It was really a great way to finish our trip. We left from there for dinner at Beneventi's (local pizza joint) & then onto Bend for the night before the full-day drive to Sunnyvale on Tuesday.

It was a whirlwind weekend cramming in so many social calls and events, but we really did get to see so many people & favorite places; there's very little that we missed. It was a great visit to a place that was our home for seven years.