It was so dark at night when I opened my eyes, I couldn’t tell that my eyes were open. New moon plus tall redwood forest equals pitch black. Ellen woke up about 5:30am to go to the bathroom, so I took her. No bears...No Ewoks either (Return of the Jedi Endor scenes were filmed in the California Redwoods. I don’t think it was where we were, but now I need to go back and re-watch it). I made oatmeal while Jada and the girls worked inside the tent packing up sleeping bags and Thermarests. After I finished my breakfast, we swapped, and I packed up the cots while the girls ate. We didn’t even bother doing dishes this morning. We just closed things up, put them in Ziplocs, and packed them in the car. Everything was packed, and we were rolling by 7:02am. Hopefully they know we left since there wasn’t anywhere to drop off our slip that we could find anyway.
The Garmin was having trouble acquiring satellites when we left, but we had already checked on a map to find that the Oregon Caves National Monument just so happens to sit along highway 199 that we were taking to I-5 through Grants Pass, OR. We figured what’s one more National Parks badge the girls could get, and neither of us had ever been there. It was only about 20 miles or so off the highway. It opened at 8:30am, but we were there by 8:20am. We got our tickets for the first tour at 9am. $8.50/adult, $6.00/kid. We also got Junior Ranger books for the girls. The kids had to pass a test for the climbing to make sure they could handle the 528 stairs in the caves on the 90 minute tour. It was quite a tour. The girls were the only kids on our tour, and they did a terrific job in the cave. They listened to the Ranger and followed instructions. We took up our usual place at the front just behind the ranger so they could see everything well plus Phoebe likes to walk right behind the rangers so she can ask questions and talk to them about pretty much anything. There was lot a stooping and cave walking for me (sort of like the zombies dancing in the Thriller video when they’re walking with their hands on their knees. I’ll give you a second to recall that.. Yeah. There you go.). We had to not touch the walls since our skin oils disrupt the cave building process, and fibers on our clothes can do the same. It was a constant 44 degrees in the cave, so we were all bundled up. The coolest feature of this cave was that it was still extremely active. There is a disappearing creek from the Big Hill Lake that goes underground and comes out in this cave. In the cave, they refer to it as the river Styx. It’s still carving the cave, and the entrance we went in was right over the creek that comes out, crosses under the sidewalk, falls into a pool in front of a Chalet there on the site, flows through that Chalet and out the other side. It’s really cool. The tours are smaller here too. They only take 16 at a time. Our ranger had a very high voice, but she was very personable and knowledgeable. She definitely knew her information. Following the tour, the girls finished their Junior Ranger books and got sworn in along with their badges by a Ranger who grew up in the Beaverton area. I didn’t find any stickers here either.
In the parking lot, we doffed our warm clothes and packed everything back up in the car. Jada made some peanut butter sandwiches out of the back of the car for lunch, and we were on our way home again by 11:30am. We stopped for gas in Grants Pass, Or, and I got out of the car to pump it when someone came over and asked what I wanted. I had completely forgotten that I didn’t have to (or get to) pump my own gas in Oregon. This was the last stop we made before Beaverton. We drove hard due north on I-5 for the next 4.5 hours. I don’t think anyone wanted to stop. We were all anticipating getting home. We did stop at Red Robin near the mall for dinner at 4:20pm. It was sprinkling and cloudy when we got there, but at least it was 80 degrees.
After dinner we pulled into our driveway at 5:10pm. The house was still standing, but there were quite a few spider webs in the garage. We found a wonderful painted bench in the place of the ugly old one on our front porch (We had commissioned our friend Gretchen Wright to repaint our ugly old one into a beautiful new colorful one before we left, and she delivered it while we were away.) I got the entire car unpacked and the box off the top of the car in a little under 20 minutes. The car definitely looks different, though we still have mud all over it from that storm in Nevada. Both of the girls got showered, and I had them into bed by 7pm. Jada had already showered and headed over to her mom’s to let her know she was back. I got all the electronics turned back on, and the computer had a lot of updates to get done while I unpacked the coolers in the kitchen. The hot water was used up by the girls, so I was waiting to take my shower until later. We’ll get Scarlett back tomorrow, which is kind of nice not having to worry about her getting readjusted at the same time that we are.
(Here’s the Doogie Howser ending) So, What have we learned? The biggest thing is that we can do it. In a Subaru. For 6 1/2 weeks. Camping, hotel-ing, and mooching off friends and family. Planning is key. It’s not something you can do on a whim. Reservations all need to be setup ahead of time, a route selected, and activities planned. That’s what gave us the leeway to alter our route when it was convenient to stop at other places that may meet our fancy. The second biggest thing is having something to keep the girls busy for 5-7 hours a day in a car. Luckily, we have 2 voracious readers, but this is where Jada saved the day with a curriculum for the girls to adhere to every big drive day. Each girl had a book or two to read and do a readers’ response. They also needed to do a journal to keep track of things they found interesting on the trip. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to transcribe them for the web journal at some point. Plus the 15 different Junior Ranger programs they completed. Of course, they’re still little kids, so we had blow-ups and times where we all got on each other’s nerves, but at the end of the day, we were still on a grand adventure. Next time, we need a better first aid kit with a better set of tweezers for splinter extraction. More Band-Aids would be good as well. The National Parks are all beautiful, but they are quite different in their administration, so it pays to be prepared for everything. Baby wipes were a big help since not all bathrooms in the parks had soap dispensers. The camping really was easy. The key is not to treat it like your home. If you bring too much stuff, it makes it way too difficult. We limited ourselves to what we could carry in the Subaru Outback and car top box. 4 duffel bags, 2 storage containers, a sub-zero cooler, a milk crate with camping essentials like 6 propane canisters, hatchet, mallet, hammer, lighter, etc, a bag of books packed to the extreme (exchanged with a new set of books that had been shipped to the Pekin, IL stop), and, of course, an electric Yamaha 66 key piano in the back. A camp stove, grill, sleeping bags, Thermarests, 2 cots, 4 fold up chairs in the box. We had our campsite cleaned up every night before bed, and tidy while we were out all day. In bear country, we used the bear boxes or our car for food and clothing storage. It can be nerve wracking, but we didn't see any bears or other wild animals in the middle of the night. Keep the site clean, and your likelihood of being visited by unwanted wildlife is pretty low.
After 8,314 miles, we had a great time, saw some fantastic scenery, and met some nice people. We laughed, we cried, and I think we all learned something about our country... and about ourselves. I think we’d do it again. We’re thinking the American desert southwest. Who’s with me?