Day 42 (7/7): Miles traveled: ~ 305

Location: various Eastern Washington sites, ending in Athol, ID

Science: air quality measurements (both particulate counter and MicroTops measurements) at Ellensburg, WA bus station (haze evident, lots of car traffic); Snowberry Campground (Farragut State Park)

Sadly, we dropped Beate off at the Ellensburg, WA (very much a cowboy town) bus station today so she could head back home. Rosie was not happy about losing her aerodynamics pal, even though she got to meet the town mascot --

Beate gifted us with the loan of the fancy Microtops sensor for the rest of the trip. I got trained on using it -- MUCH more difficult than I thought to get the sun lined up correctly with the sensor. 

When we headed out of Ellensburg on the way to Northern ID, haze began appearing on the horizon again:

We stopped in Athol, ID (near the campground -- I can't help it but the name of this town reminds me of that stupid kid joke where you tell your little brother to hold his tongue while saying "apple".....terrible and childish as heck, I know) to get groceries and were informed that there was no ice in a 60-mile radius......apparently Covid19 had decimated the workforce at the ice distributor and there was no one to cut the ice or deliver......Rosie and I had a little ice left in the cooler so we crossed our fingers and did not open the cooler much once we packed it with new food. 

The Farragut State Park campground was fine -- no views of water (honestly I had no idea we were even near water), but the campground was full and campfires were going for most of our stay.

Rosie did her organizing magic in the trailer cabin -- 

and then we played a ton of ladder ball -- I actually won one round --