OK, so you remember the grungy bathroom/shower from yesterday?
When I awoke around 5 AM and went to the bathroom, there was a guy sleeping on the peeling-paint bench right by the shower. I know what you're thinking: "Aw, poor homeless man is so desperate that he's sleeping in the foul bathroom." No, this was a normal, clean-cut 20-something in a bathing suit and T-shirt. He woke up when I walked in, and I asked him "Was it too cold in your tent?"
"No," he said, "I couldn't find my campsite!" He got up stretched, and walked off, saying "Boy, that's a bad night when you go camping, and can't find your campsite."
The sun was just coming up, and I got the pancakes going by the time Lena got out of the tent.
Today was strength-training day, which included barbell squats using Lena's 300-pound duffel while the tent dried out.
Then we packed up and headed off.
We had thought we'd had great luck in finding a campground soon after dinner even though none showed on the map. But it turned out it was bad luck, because if we hadn't seen the Bully Creek Reservoir site, we would have stopped here, at this dreary, depressing private campground.
So, I know what you're thinking now: "Al. That doesn't make sense. Why would it be bad luck to stay at a nice campground, and good luck to stay at a dreary depressing campground?"
Well, here's the answer: "Because at the dreary campground, there was big lightning strike, right across the road, and we could have had a front-row seat!" We stopped here for ice, and the campground owner showed us the tree that had been struck by lightning the night before.
The strike came right down the side of the tree, exploding off the bark and sending it flying hundreds of feet away. Yeah, win some, lose some.
So anyway, we continued on, as today we would cross most of Oregon. The central part of this state is surprisingly scenic, with dramatic canyons and desert lakes. I saw some great thunderstorms, but we didn't have that much rain on the car.
For lunch, we stopped at a small rest area in the desert and had tuna sandwiches.
We encountered more interesting cloud formations like this one. It is completely unretouched.
These next photos will give you a feeling for the view around Lake Abert in Central Oregon. Be sure to click on them to get the full impact.
We were trying hard to find a coffee shop with wifi, but weren't having much luck. Two of the actual responses to "Do you have wifi?" we got were "Wi What?" and "Who?" so we knew we weren't likely to find anything.
At one place that had a big WIFI! sign on the outside, the proprietor told me that it wasn't hooked up. But right by the restaurant there was an information sign that showed info about "The Perpetual Geyser" in Lakeview, so we kept our eyes open.
It was shown on the map, but when we got to Lakeview, there were no signs for the geyser. We found it anyway, this lone geyser in Oregon, just on the side of the road, with a fence around it to keep people from burning themselves. It was actually better than Old Faithful, because it went off every 90 seconds or so.
We had planned to drive to one of the campgrounds at Crater Lake, but stopped instead at Collier State Park. That was lucky, as it turned out, because the campgrounds at Crater were closed (too much snow).
This was the best-maintained campground I've ever seen. For example, the fire ring had apparently been vacuumed out before we came. Ironically, there were signs posted saying "Due to lack of funds, we have cut back on maintenance."
It was raining lightly, but with loud thunder, while we prepared some dinner-sized breakfast burritos.
Afterwards I showed off my ability to enjoy chocolate chip cookies with beer.
That photo also shows something I've gotten tired of on the trip: breathing in smoke.
We retired as the rain got heavy, and slept with great confidence in the waterproof properties of our tent. It was also a little sad because this would be the last night of camping on the trip. But just a little.
Stay tuned for Crater Lake.
So, you see, we actually followed the original plan:
