by US-101 and US-199 continued their winding and mountainous assault on MandDy and I. US-101 threw a couple of curveballs in the form of a very skinny bridge, and some rock slide cleanup that was terrifying to drive over. Previous wildfire damage was often visible on both roads. I may have broken my record for shifting an automatic transmission more on these two roads than every car I have ever owned. Of course, mother nature couldn’t let us have the smooth part of the road to ourselves. A deer jumped out in front of us and I had to stand on the brakes to avoid hitting it. MandDy does not need a new hood ornament! MandDy took the beating like a champ and we made it safely to Grants Pass, OR.
We made it in time to visit Crater Lake before sunset so we quickly set up camp and headed out. But of course not before we had In-N-Out for dinner. We made the crater just after the shops closed so we were not able to get a stamp in our passport but we were able to drive the Rim road. There isn’t much to Crater Lake. It is a volcano that is partially filled with water… but the lake is huge, beautiful, and from the information we received it is no warmer than 55 degrees in the summer. We were not bold enough to hike down a mile of steep rock to feel it for ourselves. While we were driving around the Toadies, Possum Kingdom, came on the radio and Kori did in fact want to “walk around the lake at night with me, by my side”.
We returned to our campground around 9 PM and quickly went to bed. Tomorrow is another day and another adventure. On to Washington and Mt. St. Helens (303 Miles).
