Hello again, Haggy is here to regale you with tales of our exploits!
We have been very busy the last two days so we have not had time to update, sorry!
Sunday morning we left Portland early, and started our trip to San Francisco via Crater lake. The drive was nice, Oregon takes good care of its roads and there were few problems. The fuse had bitten the dust again, so we stopped in Springfield. There we bought more water, some fruit, got lost for a bit (confused GPS is confused) and got to a NAPA Auto Parts. The guy at the counter (who was very helpful) told me it could be a short in the system, but nothing to be concerned about (i.e. not a fire hazard), so I bought some fuses and drove away.
Then we were on our way to Crater Lake, which is the deepest lake in the USA at 592 meters deep! The drive to the park was not too far off from the normal course, but the roads were much slower. On the way we grabbed lunch at a "Steak and Eggs" place that had all day breakfast! The portions were large and tasty and the prices were low, so it was a good lunch all around (the leftovers were eaten today).
The Park itself is spectacular. The crater was caused by the explosion of a volcano! We drove around the lake and stopped for pictures at a few locations!
We decided it was time for a hike, so we took the short Watchman trail (2.6km) to an old Fire tower, on which rangers used to look for wild fires. Though the trail was short it is almost all uphill. The elevation at the top is also pretty high (2442m above sea level) so although breathing is not hard, it is easy to lose your breath.
After the hike, we set off for San Francisco. The fuses were burning out as soon as we put them in at this point, so the driving became more stressful. I slept in the back of the car until 7ish when the sun went down and then took over. Driving at night is always an experience; whether it is someone following you/coming at you in the other direction with their high beams on, a truck whose load looks to be swaying, or improperly marked turns, it is always time to be alert, even when you might be at your sleepiest. Tak and I have been careful on this trip about night driving, and Alexei is always next to us to make sure we are awake, which has been, and continues to be, a boon. That night was no exception, the difference was: no turn signals, and let me tell you, hand signals are hard to see at that time of night. So I did the only thing I could: I picked a lane and stuck to it, only passing when there was no one else behind me, and it worked out pretty well.
It is amazing how the lanes change on a highway. They get added, removed, and change position. After leaving Oregon, the highways descended from the mountains. Then lanes would get added, sometimes after an exit or an entrance, sometimes from the left or right, but what amazed me was how my lane would change. I started in the right (slow) lane, which then became the middle lane, then the left lane (there were now 5 lanes) then, after a while, the far right lane again (4 lanes)! This was lucky to me, I was able to pass, get passed, and stay awake, with no effort!
After all that driving (12-14 hours that day), we arrived in Berkeley, CA, at 1:30 am, found a reasonable motel (Knights Inn Capris), unloaded everything from the car, and went to bed (well Tak and Alexei used their laptops and I watched an episode of the old black and white "Twilight Zone").
That is it for now. I will also be writing tomorrow about San Francisco!
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