Thursday, October 5

Sacramento

I rode close to 400 miles today. Route 5 through the mountains was great, but got dark and boring about 100 miles from Sacramento. Once in the city I looked for a Mexican restaurant I had eaten at when I was here for a few days last summer, and with help from my phone's GPS program I found the right address on the 2nd try and made it here. Very yummy. I'm so exhausted though, I look forward to checking into a motel somewhere in the city and sleeping very well. Then I go to San Francisco in the morning, do some errands, check into the motel and pick up Tristyn from the airport. Big day tomorrow!

Medford, OR

I got into Crater Lake yesterday afternoon, rode around the "rim drive," and camped there last night. It was around 40 degrees at the campsite when I got there (colder in the morning), so I collected dead wood from the area and made a campfire to warm myself up. I think it's the first time I made a campfire by myself from scratch. I used gasoline (siphoned from the bike as with my stove) as a starting agent, and it works much better than lighter fluid: it burns longer, giving the wood time to catch, and doesn't explode as much when it catches. So I had a nice fire for an hour or so, until the wood I collected ran out. I also lit my stove and made some dinner. With hot cocoa of course.
I thought I slept well, but I've been tired all morning so I guess I didn't. It was raining when I woke up. I collected more wood from a wider area and made another fire, the gasoline working again despite the damp wood.
I left the park while it was still raining, very much in need of a gas station, which I found in the little town of Prospect. Now I'm in Medford, Oregon, at a McDonalds, recharging all my electronics (my ipod especially, as the interstate will be boring without music) and drinking a huge cup of coffee to wake myself up. Then I get back on route 5 and continue south into California.