Earlier this month Mike and I decided it was time to head for Spokane and visit our son Tyler, his fiance and the kids in their new home.

You may know this about me already, but driving to Eastern Washington is not one of my favorite pastimes. Highway 18, between Federal Way and Interstate 90 is usually a nightmare. It switches back and forth from a two-lane highway to adding a passing lane when the road goes uphill. The highway is usually clogged with lots of semis that are forced to naturally slow down on the big hills and then there’s the impatient folks who insist on zooming past the trucks in the passing lanes, and then at the last minute trying to squeeze back into one lane of traffic.

And talk about construction — I swear WSDOT has been working on Highway 18 for decades. I’m guessing they’re trying to make it a four-lane road wherever there’s room but a lot of the surrounding landscape doesn’t allow for it.

But there was very little traffic most of the way so for most of the trip it was pretty relaxing. We made it to Spokane in a little over six hours, including stops at three rest areas.

Tyler and Mel had each moved out of their homes and had recently purchased a place big enough for the two of them and their four teenagers. Mel’s place was already rented out but they were still in the process of emptying Tyler’s place. And we thought we might be a little bit of help in getting the last of the furniture out and doing the final cleaning.

We spent several hours over the weekend washing windows, replacing electrical outlet coverings that had been removed when they painted the walls, power washing the deck, mowing the lawn, rehanging window shades, loading two pickups with stuff to go to the new house and then unloading it when we got to the new place. Plus, of course a couple of trips to the dump.

Mel and Tyler have the arduous challenge of combining two complete households into one: five TV sets, two complete sets of silverware, dishes and glasses; two lawn mowers and lots of garden tools; dozens of bath towels, kitchen towels and potholders; enough pots and pans to fill three kitchen cabinets, besides extra furniture, wall hangings, mirrors, etc.

When we left to head back over the pass, their three-car garage was still plumb-full of cardboard boxes that they needed to go through but for the most part their new house is pretty much set up. They were working on getting the TVs connected, along with the various stereo systems and game stations. The house is beautiful, the yard is just the right size and the neighborhood looks great.

Tyler knows that I’m not a hot-weather fan (the perfect day for me is 76 degrees with a slight breeze) and before we headed over I facetiously asked him to see if he could do something about the terribly hot weather they usually have in Spokane.

And somehow he did. The first day we were there the high was 78 and the next two days I don’t think it got above 82. And the best part was late Sunday afternoon the wind shifted and blew in some rain and lots of thunder and lightning. We sat on the back deck in their new house for about half an hour oohing and ahhing as the storm moved across the sky.

A perfect ending for a great weekend in Spokane.