From Pullman, we boarded Ralph the free speech TinkerMobile for our final long trek and headed west —

saying goodbye to the Washington State University “Cougar Country” of Eastern Washington…

Over the Cascade Mountains…

Source: Washington Dept. of Transportation

And landing in emerald green Western Washington where we kicked off Wednesday with a visit to the beautiful campus of Green River Community College in Auburn, Wash.

There we caught up with our good friend and host, Prof. Brian Schraum, who advises the campus newspaper, The Current. Brian, who worked many years with the Student Press Law Center, was a giant help as we launched the Tinker Tour.

We spoke to a class in the morning…

followed by a general campus talk and small section discussion group in the afternoon…

…meeting lots of new friends along the way…

As well as catching up with some long-time First Amendment heroes of our own….

“First Amendment Fern” Valentine, a legendary Washington State high school journalism adviser and free speech advocate dons her Tinker Tour armband during an April 30 stop at Green River Community College