I was in line of sight to the mountain I had traveled east from my home in Portland on I-80N (Now I-84) and had taken the exit for Corbett. About half way up the to the top, my passenger look North and said, "Look at that."

"That" was an ash plume extending to 20K feet plus. My wife and I have been to the monument. It's awesome. St. Helen looks like an ice cream cone that someone has taken a huge bite out of.

Later in the year, my wife and I had a vacation planed to visit a friend in Billings MT. The route there took us through Spokane and East through Coeur d'Alene. The whole area looked like a grey desert. I had been concerned about sucking ash into the carb of my car. So I used a trick I'd heard that the Washington State Patrol used. I wrapped the air cleaner in toilet paper.

So off we went. By the time I got to Billings, I'd totally forgotten about the TP. Part of our plan was to spend a week in Billings and then head over to Yellowstone for a couple of days and then go South, then West to take a dip in the Great Salt Lake. Every thing was fine until we headed South out of Yellowstone. We were traveling on a two lane road and every hundred thirty or forty mile we'd come to a small town (some as little as 500 population). When we slowed down for the towns, the car ran very sluggishly, nearly dying at stop lights. I stopped at a service station and inquired about a local mechanic and was informed that there was one in the next town. It was late afternoon and I knew that we'd have to spend the night, because by the time we got there the mechanic would be about ready to call it a day. So I decided to get an early dinner.

We stopped a restaurant and when we got back in the car, it fired up and ran just fine, until I got to the street, where it bogged down again. I backed into another parking spot, popped the hood and pulled the cover off the air cleaner. There was nearly a quarter of an inch of ash embedded in the TP. I removed the TP and the problem was solved.