REPUBLIC, Ferry County — Thursday, Sept. 29 — Yesterday, I would have told you Washington state doesn't have aspen trees. What did I know.

At 5:42 p.m., 10 hours and 305 miles into my trip, I crossed into Ferry County, greeted by a blaze of gorgeous yellow aspen trees, in full fall color, punctuating the deep green of spruces and pines just east of Wauconda Pass.

This was new country for me, the first of nine counties I plan to visit in coming days — Washington counties I've never set foot in, though I was born in the state and have lived here most of my life: in Seattle, Mount Vernon, Yakima, Vancouver and Bremerton.

Far behind me was the city, and also the pouring rain of the morning. Now, the sun dodged in and out among rolling clouds. As I drove eastward from the North Cascades, alpine scenery gave way to freshly mown fields, their silver-yellow stubble gleaming in the afternoon sun. Passing in the other direction, a big pickup hauled a flatbed trailer of green hay bales. The driver wore a black cowboy hat.

The morning deluge had stopped where the mountains stopped.

"We saw a few sprinkles this morning, but not like THAT," a friendly cashier had told me at an Internet cafe in Winthrop. "That's why we choose to live over HERE."

The landscape was different, and even the highway signs. Outside of Twisp, a sign quoted this year's "Methow Valley Deer Kill" numbers — the toll of deer killed on highways. As I drove the Car of Discovery toward Republic, deer crossing signs included the blunt warning, "High Kill Area."

A benchmark of any road trip: The journey's first windshield bug splatted across my field of vision at 3:40 p.m. just east of Loup Loup Pass, where signs pointed to areas for snowmobiling and skiing.

Even though this is nowhere exotic or far away, I'm intrigued with every bend of the road as I venture farther into new territory. Entering the windblown town of Okanogan, a giant dustcloud from farm fields shrouded an entire hillside, like a storm enveloping an island at sea. Suddenly, it was hot and muggy outside — 82 degrees.

Slowed by rain, construction and lumbering RVs, I was running late for my afternoon arrival at the K Diamond K Guest Ranch outside Republic. I stopped to gas up — $2.97 a gallon in Okanogan — and called ahead to let them know.

"That's OK, you're about 70 miles away, and we'll wait dinner for you!" chirped June Konz, my friendly hostess for this evening, who also serves as the area's "call at any hour" veterinarian (at age 70).

From the agricultural town of Tonasket (rhymes with "bread basket"), I had Highway 20 virtually to myself — just the Prius and a lone FedEx truck, zooming through rolling hills with pines on top and yellow-flowered sagebrush at the bottom. At one corner, a handpainted sign pointed down the road: "Taxidermist." That's not something you see in Ballard.

At 6 p.m., I pulled up to the log house at K Diamond K Ranch, the 1,600-acre horse and cattle spread built and run by the Konz family. A family-style dinner of chicken, Spanish rice and salad was a pleasant time to get to know the family and ranchhands and trade stories about our travels around the state.

I'm to sleep in the Cheyenne Room, complete with a very large, very real (though not alive for a while) wild turkey, which apparently visited that taxidermist before coming to roost above my bed. (There are also cougars, coyotes and bears in these hills, I'm told.)

I'll dream of cranberry sauce, and look forward to tomorrow's horseback tour of the K Diamond K, with an afternoon of digging fossils in nearby Republic.

See you then, and I'll tell you more about the Konz family and their ranch.

Reader tips

Here's a selection of reader tips from this afternoon and evening:

Visit Asotin! We're the only city in Washington located east of the Idaho border, plus it's the greatest little town in the state! I should know, I'm the Mayor!
—Steve Cowdrey Asotin, Wash.

I'm currently enrolled at WSU, and as a westsider gone east, you must eat at the Old European in Pullman. Try the Aebelskivers, they're heaven in a pancake.
— Nick Farley, Seattle, Wash.

When you're crossing Ferry County on highway 20, make a short detour to Curlew Lake, NE of Republic. It's a beautiful lake and has good fishing. My family goes there every summer, staying at Fisherman's Cove Resort.
— Steve, Mercer Is., Wash.

If you get a chance, the sunset from Steptoe Butte in Whitman county (outside of Pullman). Unfortunately, you're too late for the Lentil Festival..
— Katie Baker Seattle, Wash.

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