Made it to Portland!.... well Wilsonville anyway.

After driving a total of 23 hrs and 11 mins and 984 miles I made it to my friend Russ' house in Wilsonville Oregon. The driving is becoming easier, I can now drive five hours straight no problem. What I learned about Oregon so far is that there is no one here. I think I drove for about two hours on my way to crater lake and didn't see a single car or town, just forest. I was getting kinda worried, again starting to get hungry and trying to figure out when I would have to turn back so I wouldn't run out of gas. Then I came across a lone bathroom.. well pit toilet, and a sign in the middle of know where. As I got out after not seeing anyone for hours I felt it at this moment it wouldn't be a good thing to see someone, because I was starting to wonder why anyone would be out here? Luckily the sign reveled that Crater Lake was not only close but had a restraunt, campground, gas, store, and lodge. Thank goodness I needed all of those things. I set up my first tent and spent the night camping at crater lake. It was really fun. They had a park ranger thing at night where he talked about the lake and things to do while in the park. I got to use a public shower, super fun, and realize how uncomfortable it is to sleep on the ground. I think the thing I came to realize the most about camping is that at night all you hear is people closing and opening car doors. Then at 3 in the morning it's completely silent, the bugs and everything on the planet is asleep, except for me.
Crater Lake was pretty cool, amazing views and vistas of the lake and Oregon. I think you could see all the way to Washington from up there. Other than driving around the lake I didn't do much, except hike down a mile to the lake to touch the water. There is only one way down to the lake so it was pretty crowded, although it was the only place in whole park except the cafe in rim village that was crowded.
Then a short 4 hours later I was in Wilsonville Or. where I met up with my friend Russ and his family. We had a fun time driving to Portland and walking around. Seems like a cool town. The on Sunday I took off to spend more time walking in the woods. So I'll write from Seattle where I'll meet up with Amy.

-stephen

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