Ha ha, I was going through this 'thread without end' and saw your picture, and realized we have similar views. I suspect they're both difficult to relate to once you get east of the Rockies...

 

Well, nice meeting you as well. One thing about it, being without a job from here on out, I have lots of time to entertain guests! Not really into hunting for elusive creatures that almost certainly want to be left alone, if they exist, but there's plenty of other things to do here, in this beautiful land. Regarding getting here, back in the day when I actually worked, I would occasionally transfer jobs, and my Camaro would get INCREDIBLE gas mileage, since it just followed my home on wheels:

And yes, I am a Chevy guy. My motorhome is titled as a Chevrolet Motorhome. That would probably lead to some serious head-scratching in Corporate GM-land... Anyway, this would probably be a better way for you to visit this small slice of the Garden.

 

What mountain are you looking at there,one of the Olympics?

 

Baker

 

Ahh,one of the Cascades then.
I remember a similar view of one of the Olympics when I was hauling wood chips from a mill on the Olympic Peninsula years ago.

 

Yes, I'm pretty sure I know the view. I installed a new telephone central office in Forks one summer and got to know the Olympics really well, as Targus The Wonder Dog needed his exercise. The Telephone Office was across the street from the volunteer fire hall. The phone company let me tie Targus to a handrail outside the CO door while I worked inside, and whenever the siren would go off, Targus would howl along with it, which amused the locals a lot. A wolf howl was great harmony...
It didn't rain a single day I was there, and the locals were in a panic, this being essentially a rain forest. Standing in line at the grocery store, I would overhear worried people talking about the ferns drying up. Meanwhile, Targus and I thought we were in heaven!
You were possibly remembering the sight of "The Brothers" which did bear some resemblance to Mt Baker. Baker is about 4000 feet higher, but that's hard to tell from a distance. Mt. Baker Ski Bowl, interestingly, set a record for most snow anywhere in the world in a single snow season, and it's still talked about around here. Something like 95 feet of snow! It's amazing how steep these mountains are. My house is 47 feet above sea level according to Google Earth, and the summit of Mt. Baker is10,786 feet. Yet we're less than 40 miles apart.

 

Yes I've heard of that snow record,my place is at 1000 ft and 35 miles into my drive to work it's only 50 ft crossing the Columbia River on I-5.
Gotta love the Pac NW.

 

Boy, crossing into or out of Portland on I-5 during rush hour always equated to some form of weird punishment for something I must have done earlier in my life. I worked for the City for sixteen years, commuting 78 miles each way, which was its own form of punishment, but the good part of that commute was coming in from the north, or heading home over I-205. I only had to use I-5 over the Columbia River for occasional meetings at the Portland Building.

Good news for me: Ricky is fully painted and should be going through wet sand/buff now. Then he is heading across to Restoration Shop to regain his front sub-frame and rear end and become a roller. FINALLY!!! Here's a single flash of paint-on status:


We had a long talk about whether to paint the thin strip above the tail-light panel body color or continue the black SS-396 scheme, and found examples of both, so don't know what's 'correct', and it will be covered by trunk lid anyway, so half of you can scream and the other half can clap. We ended up doing what we wanted, and like how it looks. For me, that is all that really matters. We left the roof only coated with two coats of sealer over 6 coats of Direct-to-Metal primer over one or two coats of acid-etch primer over one coat of Ospho. Didn't seem worth wasting spendy base coat and clear coat when it's going to be covered in Vinyl and mostly garaged.

Once he rolls, they'll wheel it back to Body Shop to regain front inner fenders and support metal, but leave outer fenders and grill off to minimize potential for paint damage while they wire, build brakes, plumb fuel and do all the many things it takes before safely firing engine. When that day finally arrives, I will be driving south to be a witness.

I'm heading south in a few hours, once the Seattle-south traffic dies down. I'll be visiting the restoration site on Monday and will take pics and obtain validation/correction of my list of tasks looking forward. Maybe I'll find a way to summarize that task list for those who are interested. I guess I could post it as a pdf attachment. Then, after my Ricky visit, I'll be heading back home with my 30" X 8' reloading bench and 4' x 8' steel work bench, and other stuff, navigating Seattle traffic with my car trailer wagging the dog. We're still having fun now!!!

 

Ugg,Seattle traffic is the pits and Portland is bad enough.
I cross the I-5 bridge at 04:25 in the morning so not too bad,coming home takes longer but I get off early enough to miss the worst most days.
If I work 10 hours I'm off at 3:15. I was done at 2:30 today and made pretty good time.
As for your car well:

 

Great news... It's such a great milestone when the subframe and body come back together. It does suck that the drive is so long. So excited for you.