After a week of visiting Dan and Melody (and Laurie and Michael and Mary and Andrea) and Owen (and Troy and DJ and Josh), it was time to migrate south for the winter. We got up early and had breakfast together in a cafe in downtown Gresham. After hugs goodbye, I got on the road around 9:30 am (or simply “a”, as the hip young kids denote the morning hours these days). Six weeks since the end of the road trip, it felt good to be on the road with the bus again. I exhibited extraordinary patience by waiting until I was an hour and a half from Gresham before I recalled that I had left my pillows at Dan and Melody’s. Sleeping in the bus can only be considered decadent in contrast to sleeping directly on the cold, hard ground. Sleeping without pillows cannot be good. I suppose I can make do with my wadded polartech jacket. As long as I survive without an indelible impression of a zipper on my cheek, I should be fine.
When I woke up in Gresham, there was a steady rain, but by the time I started driving it had become intermittent. As I drove south on I-5, I passed through brief showers. Once I was past Eugene, California’s proximity exerted its typical influence and clear skies opened in front of me and things warmed up considerably.
About that time, I spotted a pair of college-aged boys hitch-hiking and I decided to give them a ride. As it turns out, Chad and Christian were going as far as Medford today (before resuming their hitch all the way down to SF), so they only rode with me for 45 minutes or so. I even fell for their tale of woe and (figuratively) threw some folding money their direction as they disembarked.
I had completely failed to pack sandwiches the night before, so I stopped in Weed, CA and found a small market/deli where I purchased a sandwich for the evening. The bus is packed with ample noodles, soup and the like should I decide I simply must have warm food, but I doubt I’ll bother. Camping by myself, and only for the one night, it hardly seems worth the bother.
I got to Castle Crags state park by 5ish and found a nice, if sloped, camping site. I last camped here many years ago (10?) with an ex. At the time, I owned a pickup truck with a shell on it, and we twice or so loaded a futon in the back of it for some approximation of car camping. I’m happy to find that the bathrooms are unlocked this time, but the campground is otherwise deserted. I guess October is past the usual camping season for Californians. I was happy to find some firewood in one of the sites. My elbow is far too gimpy to consider chopping wood, but this find allowed for a nice fire, and a chance to burn yet another year of tax and financial records from the distant past (1995, I believe).
Although the afternoon and early evening had been pleasantly warm, it got very cold rather fast around midnight, and I needed every bit of blanket that I had. A large polartech blanket might be necessary for any subsequent camping this year.