...for those who arrived here after May 18, 1980...

[mileagemike25000]

I'll never forget that date as my wife and I graduated from college on May 18, 1980. I already had a job at Tektronix and had to have AAA change our driving route from I90 to I84! Quite frankly we were scared of the decision to move out here after it blew, but there was no way to justify backing out. We've never looked back and love living out here!

[Dustin DuBois]

I'll never forget that date as my wife and I graduated from college on May 18, 1980. I already had a job at Tektronix and had to have AAA change our driving route from I90 to I84! Quite frankly we were scared of the decision to move out here after it blew, but there was no way to justify backing out. We've never looked back and love living out here!

Ha! Yeah, volcanoes can be pretty daunting but (unlike most other parts of the nation) we don't have a "disaster season" here. The volcanoes don't explode every year like the tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, etc that happen elsewhere. Though, when a volcano does go up, it has a huge impact.

[hlee]

Wow, that's crazy retired jerry! You must've had an amazing vantage point. I'm always morbidly curious about the eruption for some reason, would you mind telling more about what you saw and experienced that day from that vantage point? I guess you probably were aware that there was an eruption possible, since it was all over the news. But I'll bet you were shocked!

[retired jerry]

We just saw a huge column of smoke. Didn't really know what it was initially. Everyone knew about eruption but it was just minor. Harry refused to leave lodge at Spirit Lake...

If we had been the same distance away on the North side, we would have been casualties, but it was just interesting to watch on the South side.

A month or two after, I came back from backpacking at Toleak Point on Olympic Peninsula and dust blew Westward so it took me hours of driving 10 MPH on I-5 to get home. And there was fallout at Toleak Point on the ocean. That was much worse.

Great...I've become an old person telling boring stories to some poor young person that's kind enough to listen

[hlee]

If we had been the same distance away on the North side, we would have been casualties

Really!? Either Silver Star is closer to MSH than I really thought, or the destruction from the eruption was a lot more devastating than I gave it credit for. Or both.

I have just always been fascinated by stories of where people were on that day, and what they saw, etc. I should probably read a book or something, rather than shake people's stories out of them. Actually.... good idea. *goes to amazon*

Also, I'll have you know I just turned 30 today, so I probably feel older than anyone on this board today.

[retired jerry]

Okay - Silverstar is 30 miles South, destruction zone was more like 10 miles North, if it had gone South rather than North I would have been fine. Now if I had been 30 miles Northeast I might have been a statistic...

30 years old? - I wish I was 30 again - well, maybe not - Happy Birthday!

[Roy]

A guy I hike with was in first grade in Salem and his school sent Harry Truman a card saying please save yourself. He rented a helicopter and flew down to assure the kids he would be fine.

We know how that turned out. Being ten years older I remember it on the news.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 12,4344985

A great time to live thru.

[Roy]

I just happened to go for a hike on Silver Star Mt. that day.

Too bad I didn't have a camera with me.

Fortunately, the wind was blowing in the other direction.

Was it closed to orvs then I am sure I was still riding dirt bikes up there and cruising around at times in my buddies 4 wheel drive in 1980?

Yes I come from the dark side.

[retired jerry]

"Yes I come from the dark side."

That's okay. I'm in my RV at the beach

[hlee]

"Yes I come from the dark side."

That's okay. I'm in my RV at the beach

Not near Newport by any chance?

I'm going down to the beach this weekend to stay with my mom in her RV... well, maybe. If the weather looks too dismal, I might postpone it. She's there all month.