Day 22: Crater Lake & Central Point, OR

We slept in late today and mosey'd around until check-out. Today was supposed to be a long riding day and it was! I think Oregon miles are equal to 2 regular miles because they just seem to never end! We got about an hour down the road and realized we missed our turn. It added about 15 miles but it wasn't really a big deal...we just missed a short cut to the road we were going to. We eventually got to Eugene, OR where we stopped and had a Subway lunch. Just a mile or so after that we got on the interstate. Now, google maps had told us to take exit 188A, but all we saw was 188. So thinking it was just past that we kept going. It wasn't. And the next exit was 182 (5 miles). We stopped for gas at that exit.

In Oregon they don't let you pump your own gas. It's against the law. There is some wiggle room for motorcycles and fortunately Devin has been able to pump his own this whole time. However, the attendants have to do the paying. At this gas station it was, well, weird. It didn't want to take my card so we had to do cash and the cash we had readily available wasn't enough and we didn't want to overpay because then you have to go back in the store to get your change... So we filled up half-way and started back-tracking to the right exit (which, going north, WAS 188A)...

We found a gas station a little further down the road that was more user-friendly and topped off. We headed towards Crater Lake National Park. We made it up to the lake about 6:30. It was really spectacular.

It was cool and there was still quite a bit of snow around. Thankfully it wasn't very crowded. The only thing was the sun wasn't hitting the lake so we didn't get to see the blue as well, but it is still really impressive.

We had excellent riding all day. We set up camp and let our tent dry out; it was still wet from the rain a couple days ago. I ate the rest of my Subway and Devin made chili. Before we left we bought dried soups and that was one. He had a wood fire this time and no problems boiling water. After we ate we had coffee and hot chocolate. The internet had a solid connection so I worked to make reservations for the next several days, then got quite a bit of other work done too. Devin worked on the blog while I took a shower.

The shower is an interesting story. They had navy shower heads, the tiny ones that spray hard. The first shower I went in it only sprayed out halfway, basically misting, and I was freezing. So I went into the second, which was a good shower head but the handle wouldn't turn all the way so it didn't get very hot. Now I was shaking hard because I was wet and cold. Like the three little bears, the third one was juuuuust right. After all that I stopped and thanked God that I was lucky enough to have a soft bed, a full belly, a warm shower, and someone to spend my time with on this amazing trip. Sometimes its easy to get frustrated with things that are actually blessings.

Today we traveled 374.6 miles for a total of 6240.8 miles across America.