Day 29-July 17, 2012-The drive to Washington Wine Country
Started out rainy this morning but by 10AM the sun was out and the temp got up to 89 by afternoon. Stayed on Route 2 to 395 through Spokane, WA. Stopped at a Walmart in Spokane for a hose (ours sprang a leak) and an ancient saleswoman informed us that this was the smallest Walmart in Spokane (a lot bigger than most) and that out of 4000 worldwide stores their’s was named #1 and the manager was manager of the year. She then walked us around the store to where we wanted to go. Talk about service.
Drove a total of 224 miles in 5 hours and stopped at Kiona Winery in Benton City, WA, the east end of the Washington Wine Trail. We belong to “Harvest Hosts” which lets us stay at participating vineyards, farms and ranches throughout the US for free for one night. There aren’t any hook-ups but we are self-contained and don’t need any for a couple of nights. As long as I have a French press for coffee, I’m fine. We have propane gas to cook with and heat water, a battery for some lights and a water tank for showers. There are quite a few vineyards in this area that participate but we chose the one at the far east end so we can work our way westward. It’s Kiona Winery in Benton City, near the tri-state area of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco. We did a wine tasting (they have some nice dry ones) then continued to read. My new book is better. The owner of the vineyard stopped by and gave us a lesson on the soil of the Red Mountain area (it’s calcium carbonate that came down from the glaciers and it’s like chalk). This area boasts red mountains, white earth and blue skies. They had a dinner and wine tasting for about 20 Russian scientists and a few of the visitors to the winery came over to talk to us. Had a nice turkey chili for dinner and enjoyed the stars. We’re up on a hill in the vineyard and the view is wonderful.