Day 2136

 We got up about 8 and then did pet stuff and breakfast.  The clock/temp in the bedroom broke on yesterday's trip.  I tried to revive it without success.  I think the jarring of the trailer broke something inside.  That sucks because we've become dependent on it displaying the time on the ceiling.

We surfed for a while until Brad called about 9:30.  He told us to drive over, so we did.  When we got there he and his wife showed us their house.  It's a total remodel of the old broken down house I remember from college.  It looks great.  He also showed us the studio that he built for his wife.

We did a lot of talking at his house and later while we were sightseeing with him.  We talked about medical stuff (we're old).  He brought us up to date on all of the things he's done in the last 40 years.  He's been a farmer and also an entrepreneur.  He's worked as a farm chemical salesman and also in partnership with another guy making biodiesel and DEF.  His farm is pretty successful and he runs it now with his son.  We swapped a lot of stories.

We left his house around noon.  Ellen packed a lunch which we ended up eating at the golf course because a train was blocking the road Brad wanted to take.  It was there for at least half an hour.  Eventually it moved and he drove us to Coulee Dam.  That's an impressive structure.  I hadn't seen it since I was a kid.  We toured the museum and then left.

The next stop was dry falls.  I'd been there as a kid, but didn't remember it.  The force of the water from the ice lake was incredible.  Again we went to the visitor's center and I took pictures.  The center was selling a hand made wooden wall plaque of a lighthouse.  I bought it for Patty.

The last sightseeing stop was a short trail walk up the side of the gorge to a cave that had been used as a shelter by the Indians.  It was a little steep and Ellen had some trouble.  It was getting dark by then and we drove to a Mexican restaurant in Elmira for dinner.

After dinner we drove 44 miles back to Odessa.  It was almost 9, so we pretty much just said goodbye.  Brad couldn't work today because it rained last night.  We told him to work out a plan for tomorrow with his son, and to put us last in priority.  We'll see what happens tomorrow.