My hotel neighbors decided they wanted to start slamming doors at 1AM this morning, it startled me awake. Normally getting awaken suddenly makes it hard for me to get back to sleep. I didn’t appreciate those neighbors from the moment I saw them check in front of me – I knew they’d be trouble. But I got right back to sleep.
When I woke up in the morning I walked back down by the river. There wasn’t a real good view of the sunrise. I did see a group of three deer eating in the field next to the river and they let me snap a few photos before they moved on. Speaking of moving on, I did the same, got packed up and headed for Crater Lake.
As I got closer across the mountains it became apparent just how bad the smoke has been in Eastern Oregon this summer. A gray haze hung around inside the crater. The blueness of the lake shown through though. It was truly calming to see. I hiked up a trail and just took a few minutes to let the silence overtake me – Also to catch my breath o_o. I crossed paths and gave a good morning to others along the trail.
I noticed that unfortunately my film camera I when I took a shot was catching, so I had to open and re-attach the the roll, causing the first few shots to get exposed. I’m hoping though the rest of the roll ends up fine. This is the frustrating part of shooting on film, one mistake and your roll will be ruined. Good thing i have my digital camera as a backup. I got a bunch of cool shots at the lake and up at the lodge. I made my way around the rim as far as I could. The north end was closed for road work.
My drive down 97 is a familiar one, was nice. I was doing bettr than expected on time and gave me a chance to pull off and get some shots of mt Shasta. There was still a bit of haze in the air but it was clearer as I got into California.
I recorded a video to help pass my time on I-5 as I came up to Sacremento. I shared some stories about my previous road trips down the 5 as they say in California. My first experience driving long distance out of the state was to Sacremento for Linkin Park in 2007. Since then I have put 10’s of thousands of miles on my cars over the years.
My favourite California road trip though was when I decided to follow the Menzingers and Sincere Engineer on tour from Seattle through LA to Pamona. I did it on a whim one spring after Covid. By the 3rd show in Berkley a couple band members noticed me outside the venue, first in line. He goes “Hey man weren’t you in Portland?” I got “Yes and Seattle”. We talked about what my plans were and how far I was following for. By the end of the five dates I had met every band just outisde the venues. It was a really cool trip until I caught covid and lost my taste and smell. It made me return plans going up the PCH and 101 back to portland. Not being able to taste any of the amazing food really sucked.
Tomorrow I will continue my way south after going to Yosemite. I plan to spend the day around the park before going to Fresno for the night. I have an Amazon order I also need to pickup since they decided to not deliver my lens case before I left. From here on out though driving shuld be easy, no more than 5 hours a day Though my 12 hour day today wasn’t bad, but that can easily start to compout.
