Cross Country Day 6: The redwoods, Bigfoot, and the finale

The final day of our voyage had arrived. We loaded the car up for the last time, a lot less cat food and litter than when we started, nearly 3,500 miles more on the odometer. The last day would be a short and relaxing drive mostly on a highway that we had driven before when we visited Oregon. We would get to Portland well before dark, and we had allotted enough time for a few stops along the way. First we would visit the Redwoods on the northern Californian coast. Then we would take the I5 to Eugene to visit Hayward field at the University of Oregon where some big running thing was going on. Then it would just be a short few more hours before we would reach our final hotel.

We left Eureka as fast as we could that morning. The cat carriers still had a smell to them, so we bought some Febreeze. It helped a little. The quicker we could forget about that town the better. After about 45 minutes of driving north, we entered Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. While we had seen a few redwoods in the mountains while driving the night before, we still had not seen them up close. Before we could stop at a trail head, we saw a sign warning us of elk crossing the road. Oh how wonderful it would be to see elk. Well, of course the signs don't lie in California, and as we rounded a bend, in a field to our left, we saw a herd of elk just lounging in the morning sun. We got out to get a better look, but heeded a sign warning us not to approach on foot. We continued on to a trail we picked based on it's name. BIG TREE. Hmm... they probably could have come up with a better name. We left the cats in the car with the windows down and took a short 20 minute hike through the enchanted forest. It was so lush, so quiet, so massive, and so unreal. We played on fallen trees, hugged quite a few ginormous trunks, but mostly quietly walked through the forest, taking it all in one breath at a time. It looked like the dinosaurs lived there. All of the ferns that filled the ground were huge. It was a short adventure, but we will be going back in April.

The morning was going so well, with me crossing "hug a sequoia" off of my bucket list. The sun was shining and we were just about to cross into Oregon, our destination state. The road was following a river through the mountains. And then again, just like with every other state border, the scenery rolled up and before us we saw wide open land, dotted with lumpy hills, and snow covered mountains in the distance. Although we had probably unknowingly been driving by a lot of it in the mountains the night before, we started to take note of a lot of Bigfoot stuff in southern Oregon. Lot's of Bigfoot gas stations and signs and restaurants. This was before me and Tim had started getting into all of the Sasquatch stuff, so we just found it amusing.

After a few hours we came upon Eugene. I was far too exhausted to pretend to be enthused by this track event, so Tim went in alone while I stayed with the animals in the car. I watched from the street as Tim found the unguarded entrance and sneaked in, happily for free. I took a nap, a lovely sunny nap in the car.

Once back on the road, the time flew by as we drove through the Willamette Valley, passing vineyards and things we had seen before. And then all of a sudden, we saw it in the distance. Whitey. Mt. Hood. He was tiny and probably hundreds of miles away. But we knew that meant we were getting very close to Portland. As the snow topped mountain grew bigger and bigger, we felt more and more like we would actually make it, like the car wasn't going to break down, and no one was going to die. The sun was starting to set and the sky was turning pretty colors. We exited the highway and there we were. We had made it. We passed downtown and saw the Made In Oregon sign. We crossed the Morrison Bridge. It hadn't set in yet, but we had actually drove across the entire country, taking the long way, down through Texas and up the Western Coast. Passing through eight states, driving about 4,000 miles in six days, with three pets, one car completely full of our only possessions, and just a bit of courage. Just enough of it to up and leave everything and everyone we had known, for a change of scenery. No other plans beyond just making it there. No house to go to, no jobs to make money with, and no one but ourselves to rely on. Maybe it wasn't courage, maybe it was insanity. Either way, we did it.

It was exhilarating and exhausting to think about. The culmination of over a years planning and strategizing. It felt good to have accomplished something that not everyone gets a chance to do. We gave ourselves a fresh start, a jump start. A clean slate and all of those other cliche things people say. We'd succeeded.

Elk Crossing

Woodcarving

A little camp park across the lake.

Elk Herd!

You can just make out their racks above the grass.

Beautiful ferns.

Big Tree!

Yikes! 

Using my scarf as a pupoose to carry Persie.

This guy was "Big Tree." He's a modest 1500 years old.

I guess he is pretty big.

Climbing things.

Persie tags along when I climb things.

Hello tree friend. I love you.

This mammoth guy fell on these other guys.

Hiding in the tree centers.

Giant clovers!

If I was a squatch, that's where I'd stay.

Not even close, Tim.

Strolling among the giants.

Not the fattest, but the tallest redwoods.

Spiral bark.

Almost Tim, almost.

I want to run and leap through this forest.

Big 'ol root bunch.

Tim in the root ball.

So tall you can't even "picture" them.

Leaving the redwoods and the ocean behind.

Following the river.

Avoiding falling rocks.

Hello, Oregon. You need a bigger and less graffitied sign.

I didn't know Bigfoot could use a credit card.

Every gas station was called Bigfoot.

Oregon's mountains have snow in July.

Pretty tree tops.

Hello, U of O.

Tim has found his point of entry.

Made it inside, like a ninja.

I'll live on that hill.

Yep, mine.

A tired cat. Poor Iggy and Julian.

Whitey makes his first appearance!

Vineyards

Too bad we couldn't go there.

Only like a half hour from Portland and Persie just had to go.

She likes to go on low lying bushes and tall grasses.

Cows hanging out with the irrigation system.

Hi buddy.

HolyCowCountry.com

Sunset

Mt. Hood and Mt. Scott to the right.

Whitey and the Ross Island Bridge

Mt. St. Helens in the distance in Washington.

Downtown

The convention center

The Steel Bridge