12
Michael’s parents had been up in Seattle when Michael and Claudia arrived at their home in Corvallis, Oregon. They’d offered to cut short their guest lectures at the University of Washington, but Michael didn’t let them. Instead he’d loaded an old Toyota pickup with enough food to feed an entire action team and enough gear to cripple them, and driven Claudia across the border into northern California.
“Seattle to Corvallis is over six hours,” he explained. “They’re in their seventies now—I was a late child—so it’s a long trip for them, especially with Dad’s bum hip. They usually stop overnight in Portland to break up the time on the road. We’ll climb first, meet up with them later. Maybe we’ll all go out to the coast and build sand castles together. Doubt if they’ve done that in years
