The Slice: Of course, your mileage may vary

Today The Slice presents Turner’s Axiom.

Feel free to disagree. But here it is.

The happiness of your marriage or most significant relationship determines in large measure how you feel about Spokane.

Let’s move it on over.

(That variation is for Slice readers who remember George Thorogood.)

Highs and lows: Readers were asked who around here has lived in two cities with the greatest disparities in elevation.

First up, Millwood’s Ivan Urnovitz.

“I may be a contender. I lived in Bothell, Wash., elevation 75 feet, for 10 years and Leadville, Colo., elevation 10,152 feet, for three years. Disparity in elevation – 10,027 feet. Working in the mining industry brought this about.”

Patrick Bradley shared this. “My wife, Priscilla, was raised in San Luis, Colo., elevation 7,979 feet. We lived in Vineland, N.J., for seven years at an elevation of 98 feet. This is a difference of 7,881 feet.”

Those who lived in Denver and also some coastal location can’t compete with that. Nor can onetime residents of Laramie, Wyo., or Flagstaff, Ariz. But I suppose they could all swap high altitude baking tips.

In the international competition, Kathryn Aguilar filed this report.

“We lived in Bogota, Columbia, which is over 8,000 feet, for two years and then were transferred to Lima, Peru, where we lived in a beach neighborhood. So that must be sea level since I could see the ocean from my street.”

Memorable Breakfasts Dept.: “Watching my grandmother make pancakes in her iron skillet was like a magic show,” wrote Jodi Hodge of Moscow, Idaho. “There was no end to them.”

Head out on the highway: “Since May, when I began commuting to Hayden, Idaho, daily, I have become a bit obsessed with headlight use,” wrote Wade Griffith. “I admit that. But there is an old adage that states: If you sit down at a poker game and you can’t spot the sucker at the table, leave quickly. Similarly (in my experience), if you enter I-90 in the dark/fog/storm and you can’t spot the idiot who does not have his lights on, check yours.

“Be thankful you ride the bus. It’s scary out there.”

Warm-up question: Ever have a birthday you found unexpectedly hard to deal with even though it wasn’t one of the classic milestone years?

Today’s Slice question: When people are trying to decide between moving to either Spokane or to Spokane Valley, what usually is the deciding factor?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email pault@spokesman.com. I always enjoy Slice mail sent from jail that starts off with “Star Wars” observations.