just 3 days after my birthday, i packed up what i had of my worldly belongings into my car and cartop carrier, and headed out of ely.
my trip here was kind of wacky. i left around 9:18am according to my clock, which i had already changed back to pacific time since i didn't need to worry about wendover time anymore (i previously had the clock set to mountain time zone, from a previous trip where being on time in that time zone was important). i drove up 93 toward wells and past the spruce mountain turnoff (about 2 hours), got gas for the car, continued west on i-80 to winnemucca (2.5 hours), got gas for the car again, drove northwest up to lakeview OR (about 4.5 hours), got gas for the car yet again, then headed up toward the east side of crater lake on hwy 97, which would have led me to a cutoff toward i-5 (hwy 58), and about 4.5 hours after leaving lakeview i would have been here. in this time i also met up with some kind of cattle drive coming down the road right toward me, with people driving their trucks all crazy trying to get the cattle off the road and some lady jumped out of her truck excitedly yelling and waving her arms for the cows to "mooooove over!".
except not quite to the cutoff, or even any other major road out of there, there was some kind of hold up on the road. i mean traffic was stopped on my side, and there were NO cars coming down the other side.
i called a few people, trying to get someone who had some info, and eventually found out there was a 20 minute to 2 hour delay on this road. the oregon dept of transportation said it might not clear for another 2-3 hours. at this point i think it was already 8-9pm, and i didn't want to sit there for another 2-3 hours, and then drive another 2-3 hours. and there was no where to pull off either, and the shoulder was questionable because you know how sometimes people think they're more important than everyone else and zip down the shoulder to try to beat traffic? (maybe that doesn't happen in anywhere else) anyway i didn't want to get smacked into by some wiseguy thinking he was more important than everyone else, flying down the shoulder.
so, after sitting there for almost an hour, i turned around and headed back south, to find some other road i could cut across on. The one i chose led me right by crater lake, which would have been great if it was light out. i sped down the road, up a pretty tall hill/mountain and then coasted down trying to save gas. at this point i could have cut north on this other smaller road (227), but the issue now was gas. in oregon, they pump your gas for you, so you can't just pull up to a station in the middle of the night, swipe your card, and then fill up. the station has to be open and someone has to be there in order to get gas. so i didn't think i could just roll into some tiny town and expect there to be someone to fill my tank at midnight. so i drove all the way to a town called medford, which is on i-5, about 210 miles south of where i needed to be, and it was around midnight at this point.
i found an open gas station, and a taco bell (it's been YEARS since i had taco bell!!), and continued. apparently it was supposed to take me 4 hours from medford to here, but due to my tactical driving skills and caffeinated state of being, i made it in around 3.25 hours, which put me here around 3:36am. so i like to think the trip took me 18 hours and 18 minutes. that's a lot of driving for one person, in one day! more than i've ever done before. my legs were all cramped and i was tired at that point, but it was good to be done with driving. i'd driven to oregon before and it had taken less time, but this time the hours passed quickly, and i was surprised at how far i'd gotten so fast, that is until i got stuck in late night 'traffic'.
oh i almost forgot, while on my long drive, i listened to cold mountain (which was abridged, but i enjoyed it - i'd seen the movie but forgotten some parts) and the pleasure of my company by steve martin, which was pretty funny, especially since it was read by the author (i recommend it, as well as shopgirl, also by steve martin [yes, the actor/comedian guy]). i tried listening to tony hillerman's the blessing way, but the author was reading so fast, and i was tired, and there were so many characters and names i couldn't keep them straight, so i put in a music cd to stay awake instead.
and i made it!
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