Run: Day 15

Word Count: 90,026

Summary of Events:

DaNiel's mind continued to wander as they wound their way through the mountains before finally emerging onto an open plain where Ty spied an exit north onto I-82 that DaNiel elected not to take. This drew Ty's ire and they argued for some time, particularly when Ty discovered the water he'd been spying to the north was a river DaNiel suggested was probably the Columbia, which formed the border between Oregon and Washington, strengthening Ty's argument that they would've been in Washington and closer to Seattle if they would've gone north . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Nothing guarantees that Interstate would’ve taken any sort of westerly direction,” DaNiel replied.

“Says the guy who put us on the road to Cleveland!” Ty retorted.

“That was in the dark,” DaNiel snapped.

“Even still,” Ty insisted. “Road signs often tell you what direction the road heads, either in the name or in big capitals over top of the destinations.”

“Typically they only say north, south, east, or west,” DaNiel replied. “So on heading to Cleveland I would’ve only seen north spelled out overhead.”

“But you would’ve seen Cleveland too!” Ty exclaimed. “And if you knew Cleveland wasn’t where you wanted to go when we were almost at Cleveland then you should’ve known that Cleveland wasn’t where you wanted to go before we left Columbus!”

“Maybe, then, by doing this, I’m trying to atone for it!” DaNiel bit back.

“Atone?” Ty asked.

“What, you don’t know what that means?” DaNiel asked, sounding almost mirthful.

“I know what it means!” Ty shouted. “But you think that by going west to Portland instead of north to Kennewick is going to atone?”

“I’m being safer,” DaNiel replied.

“Safer?!” Ty demanded. “How is this safer?”

“Because I know Portland is in the right direction!” DaNiel retorted. “I know Portland is west, which is a direction we want to head in. I do not know where Kennewick is.”

“The sign said north,” Ty replied.

“The sign would’ve also said north to Cleveland,” DaNiel replied. “And we’ve already established that Cleveland was a mistake. A mistake we maybe should’ve noticed sooner, yes, nonetheless, it was a mistake under a northbound sign. I know even less about Kennewick than I know about Cleveland, therefore, going potentially north to Kennewick could be more disastrous than going north to Cleveland was!”

Ty sat silent. He hated to admit DaNiel had a point as he watched the tall, thin windmills on the ridges above, which hid the eastbound I-84 from view, their arms rotating lazily, suggesting there wasn’t much of a wind out, but the fact that they stood on the ridge suggested a decent amount of wind came through the area, as otherwise there was no point in having put them in place.

Considering DaNiel’s point, it was probably better that they were headed toward Portland, that they hadn’t taken the I-82 north to Kennewick.

But, surely, if they’d been able to find a way west from Cleveland they would’ve been able to find a way west from Kennewick if Kennewick was in the wrong direction — and since Kennewick wasn’t exactly a place Ty had ever heard of before, it was likely such a westward route wouldn’t be a toll road like the westward way out of Cleveland had been all the way until they got west of Chicago.

Still, it probably didn’t matter now, there was no way for them to turn around and go back, and it wasn’t really worth it at this point either, unfortunately.