In the wake of Washington voters' passage of Initiative 695 in the November elections, local transit systems are scrambling, trying to figure out whom they're going to lay off, and which routes will be pared back or cut entirely. For those of you reader from outside the green glorious state of Washington (I refuse to refer to my home as "Washington state" as Dan Rather and those of his ilk to do differentiate between that reclaimed swampland along the Potomac, and that vague forested and eternally damp territory somewhere out west, and near Canada. "Washington State," on the other hand, is some lame cow college in the eastern part of Washington, along the Palouse River, where kids who couldn't get accepted at UW (pronounced "yew-duhb") learn how to chain-belch generic beer and inseminate farm animals, hopefully artifically), Initiative 695 repealed the previous auto excise tax, which was based on the value of the vehicle, and will substitute a flat $30 excise tax, regardless of the value of the vehicle. Until now, the money that was generated funded, among other things, interstate highway repair, public health departments, and transit systems, including both buses and ferries. That right there is what affects this magazine, and our ongoing column, Backpacking by Bus.

I'm actually interested in finding out just how many of you have used information gleaned from our magazine to use public transportation during backpacking excursions in western and central Washington. This is a question: email us and let us know. Did it work for you? Would you use it again? Would you like us to carry similar information for other Pacific Northwest hubs such as Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver British Columbia? What suggestions would you make to improve the column and/or its presentation? Send them to us!

Back to I-695: I have been talking to people with the transit systems that will be affected, and they tell me they're in conference, trying to figure out ways to maintain service in spite of far fewer bucks to work with, which outlying routes will be cut, and which inter-county connections can be maintained. These outlying routes and intersystem connections are what have made Backpacking By Bus possible, so I'm very concerned (for my own selfish reasons involving loving backpacking and not having a car, as well as wanting to pass that information on), and will update the column as necessary as soon as I learn more. Watch this space.

One small glimmer of hope for western Washington transit riders in that Sound Transit, the relatively-new regional mass transit system, will not suffer any cuts as a result of I-695, as they get their funding elsewhere. And I, for one, am so glad of that! For any of you who have driven Interstate 5 between the Canadian border and Portland, Oregon, the traffic is a bitch. And Sound Transit is part of the solution: fast, frequent, nice new buses that shoot the I-5 corridor between Olympia and Everett, and also connect Bellevue-Kirkland-Redmond, home of Microsoft and knows to locals as "The East Side" with downtown Seattle and Everett.

The Sound Transit runs between Seattle and Everett, and "the East Side" to Everett were added just this September, and utilize their own on-ramps, off-ramps, and several Park and Ride stops. I am so happy to see them, as the old method of getting from Seattle to Everett involved more than two hours along the linear altar to American Automotive Culture known as "old" Highway 99 on two separate buses that made every stop every couple of blocks for thirty miles, past auto repair shops, waterbed showrooms, massage parlors, drive-through fast food, drive-through pharmacies, auto customizing shops, with not a patch of green anywhere, and never ran on schedule. Snohomish County's Community Transit, running out of Everett, had express runs, but they were almost entirely commuter-directional, running south toward Seattle in the morning, and back toward Everett starting in late afternoon. Not at all conducive to backpackers heading for the North Cascades via Everett. Now, thanks to Sound Transit, it's 55 minutes from downtown Seattle to downtown Everett, all day long, for two bucks (and they even give you a transfer to use on Community Transit).

This makes possible day hikes into the Boulder River Wilderness northeast of Everett, even on short December days. Sample times: Seattle to Granite Falls, with access to nearby Mount Pilchuck and Goat Flat, 1 hour and 40 minutes; Seattle to Darrington, with easy access into the Boulder River Wilderness, 2 hours and 40 minutes. So far these trips are not in Backpacking By Bus, but the will be very soon, provided we all live through Y2K (first time I've ever typed that acronym).

My own opinion of that whole millennial dread is that it'll end up being like the comet Kahoutek (if you're too young to remember that, ask an old person). But if the human race is not smart enough to live through 1 Jan 00, it doesn't deserve to.

If it does, and we're here from our January 00 issue, I'll have to revise Backpacking By Bus as transit schedule charges dictate. So this would be the time for those of you that have actually used the column "to get lost" to give feedback and make suggestions so we can put together a better column.

Thanks for a great year.

Author Dave McBee went this issue for the World's Record for longest embedded parenthetical, currently held by Your Editor. He took the prize package (which consists of a Funk & Wagnall, Roget's, Hoyles, Robert's Rules of Order, and Marquis of Queensbury) in a dazzling pointless ramble that makes perfect grammatical sense but very little practical sense. It explains why McBee is our highest paid contibutor.