Looping around the High Country

 We tried to navigate a short cut through to a hot springs on the Umpqua from Oakridge but by the 4500 foot level we were getting concerned as the snow was a foot deep. Just short of what appeared to be the pass we got bogged down and Michael had to do some shoveling and gunning to get us either forward or backward.... much wiser was backward and we were able to retrace our tire treads.

 Michael processed veggie oil at this pull out where the reservoir on the Middle Fork of the Willamette usually is. (All the Oregon reservoirs we've seen are very low.)

 There was only a brief respite before the rain came and lasted through the night.

 But in the morning we were far from there. (Without any solar gain we had to run the engine to recharge the batteries so we drove into the night, which we didn't enjoy doing.) We were again by the Willamette, but on the road between Oakridge and Eugene and woke to wet, mossy green again.

Many of our days pass without talking to people except in the cursory way of obtaining good and services. We listen to radio, play Scrabble, and read during the lengthening evenings. Soon we'll be with friends again though and that shift will accompany the end of one kind of adventure and the start of a new one.