The Shadow Lady needed Gar the Car, and I needed to head into Seattle for a meeting, so I used Flame for the reason we got it for... the proverbial second car.

Driving out of our neighborhood, I was treated to a nice view of the foothills Cascades, with the snowline that continues to creep down the slopes...

I'm getting more used to driving on the ruts on the highway.  They allow studded tires around here, and they eat away the roadways, forming ruts where most vehicles drive.  The problem is that my wheels don't match the ruts, so it gets a bit squirrelly at times, as the tires bite on the sides of the ruts...

Coming out of the Mercer Island Lid, Flame entered new boundaries to the East as I headed over the floating bridge.

Its a bit bumpier than you'd imagine... and the ruts aren't all that fun to deal with, either.

The traffic in town was pretty tight.  The CJ is a small vehicle, so it did fine.

It did turn some heads, though... you don't hear a 350 with headers and glass-pack side pipes very often anymore... the throaty roar is in sharp contrast to the quiet cars most folks in Seattle deal with.

I drove to the parking garage without any trouble at all.

I parked in my normal spot... on the top floor of the parking garage, away from everyone else.

Don't want to get any door dings, or anything!

When my meeting was done, a pigeon was walking on the hood... it flew to the ledge as I got close.

He didn't leave any gifts, thankfully.  :-)

Heading back over the floating bridge, Bellevue really stood out, almost framed by a sunbreak.

This direction is even bumpier.  The ruts are pretty bad, so I rode the "hump"... it put me against the white line, but that's OK.

I didn't notice it when I took the picture, but those skid marks in the road looks like some one had a less than fun incident on the bridge not too long ago.

When I could, I went onto a side road... Old Highway 10, which is sort of a back way that gets me off the highway about 7 miles shorter than my exit would have.

Its a nicer drive, anyway... less traffic to deal with, and a nice view coming into town.

Heading down the road up into the Rattlesnake Foothills, and home, I had a nice view of the mountains above our house...

In all, it was a fun drive, and Flame did quite well. 

Its good to be driving a Jeep again...

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