Oregon Back Roads and Learning on the Fly

So, it turns out that we learn slower than we thought, or would have hoped. I will explain:

We awoke bright and early this morning, hoping to make a “short” 3-4 hr drive, past Crater Lake, and on to a free campsite (This one stated, quite clearly, that it was on paved roads.)

Morgan began the drive so that I could edit, which actually worked well, as Morgan is a fantastic driver, the roads were relatively straight, and I had mint ready to hand.

When I took my turn driving, Morgan helped me edit more, reading aloud the prose I had to summarize and rewrite, and typing up my dictation of the new material.

**Josh hands Morgan the computer so she can finish typing tonight’s blog entry**

This is Morgan, taking over. We are both exhausted, because we drove for almost 10 hours today. We switched off three or four times, sharing the driving load.  We went to Crater Lake, having to drive several miles to get to the entrance, only to find that it was closed due to the several feet of snow sitting where we wished to drive our car. We went back the way we came, getting to a small town in Oregon (the “town” had five commercial buildings: one gas station, three markets, and one restaurant), where we stopped at the first market and bought ice cream, because it was three in the afternoon and we had not yet stopped for lunch.

We then continued onto what we thought was our ideal campsite, the road taking us high up into the mountains, through gorgeous areas, where I, being the driver, held up several cars because there was absolutely nowhere to pull over. Most of them went around me, illegally.

We started playing a word game to pass the time, and I missed the turn off by a few miles. Retracing our steps, we found that the turn off was, not too surprisingly, gravel. Then, Google Maps found an alternate route, which was also gravel.  This, being unacceptable, we decided to push for I-5 and stop at a rest area.

On the way down Oregon 66, I have never driven such steep mountains without a guard rail. I, inadvertently, ran the brakes too hard, and thankfully opened my window to make a picture easier to take for Josh, just in time to smell the burning rubber, before I destroyed them completely. This is where I learned engine breaking, one of the oddest things I’ve done, yet. I then went 15 miles an hour for the next 15 miles (aka one hour), down the slopes, without touching the brakes or gas, just dealing with the wheel and asking Josh repeatedly to take pictures of the lavender covered mountain sides.

We made it to Ashland, where we joined up with I-5, and I, then, proceeded along I-5 going roughly 35 mph, because we were going uphill, and I had my foot to the floor. Semi trucks look so fast at that speed. I coasted down the grades into California, and, now, we are sitting in a Black Bear Diner parking lot, having eaten a meal that we did not have to prepare and drank coffee that was freely refilled. We will go from here to the Walmart, next door, where we shall sleep, then wake, and continue on our way home.

This trip has been eye-opening, for it has shown the vulnerabilities of our seemingly all-powerful smart phones, in that they have failed us almost every time we have needed them. When I get home, I’m going to print information onto paper, dozens of sheets of paper, which have no battery that can die, and no data that can be intercepted by mountains that we may be beside. I will then compile this paper into a 2.5 inch binder, which we will bring with us when we tour the country, and it will be our main reference rather than the fickle internet and downloadable applications. I am greatly excited for this gathering of information, and my only concern is that I do not know where I will acquire the 30 extra hours a day I would like to have to do this very task.

Oh well… we’ll just have to make do.

The sun is down, which means we need to be as well. We hope that you had a wonderful day and a restful night. Safe travels tomorrow, wherever you may be going.

Good night,

Morgan and Josh

Final thoughts, from Josh:

1. The sink was never, actually, clogged. After one or two more clog like incidents, we realized that our grey water tank, “Full” indicator was broken. The backed up sinks were simply an early warning system for complete catastrophe.
2. The burn on my eye is completely gone, proving to me, once again, that, while I am clearly not Superman, Wolverine is still in the running. ;)
3. Morgan’s hands have been downgraded from gauze and surgical tape to a band aid, much to our combined happiness.
4. Naga is still escaping, periodically, but he comes back faster now, especially if I ignore him, as odd as that is to me…
5. The solar panel is working great, and, as the sun is not likely to fail in the near future, our electricity needs are, henceforth, taken care of.
6. We will get home tomorrow, on the eighth day of our 5 day test trip, and that doesn’t feel like a contradiction…
7. Never say never, because you will never be right. :-P

Good night, and, if those who are dizzy feel like the world is spinning, aren’t they right? :-D