Day 98 - Thursday, October 23, 1997Packwood RV Park, Packwood, Washington - We camped just outside of Grand Coulee Dam last night. We drove out this morning to actually see the dam. It's big. Really big. Dam Big! The dam is a mile long and pretty tall. They originally built the dam to provide irrigation for all the idiots who started farms up there in the early 1900s. Didn't these people look around and see nothing but rock formations and sage brush? You don't need to be a agriculture major to know that you need water to grow stuff. All is not lost since the dam does have three generators.In the visitor's center we saw the actual wheelchair FDR used when he visited the dam. Would you believe that it didn't have any padding on it? It was made out of wood and metal. The story is that that Grand Coulee means "Big Butt Sore," which is what FDR had after wheeling around the mile long structure in that wheelchair. We drove back down to Packwood so we can see Mt. St. Helens Friday morning before heading back to Portland.
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