Yeah - my post, above, was actually a less-than-verbatim quote from some seismologist (Susan Hough?), who pretty much said "Every new quake is a complete surprise." Maybe John V. remembers it. IIRC it was in the media, quite a few years ago.

BTW, Penny, thanks for recommending "Fire Mountains of the West." It was a great read, and will serve as a good reference - and travel guide should I ever get up there. My only complaint is that it provided only the most cursory explanation of how the Cascadia subduction zone is responsible for the volcanos.

Mike W.