10:00 AM Entered Oregon; 40 Miles on Car #3.
Since the car was delivered to me on August 11, I did not know where their main office was. But their invoice showed the address, and the phone book in the motel room contained a map of Richland. I left a message on the U-Save's answering machine saying I am coming there to drop the car. We saw where to go, then left in both cars (after ripping out the map page from the phone book).
At first, we did not find the shop. We kept driving, realized we had gone too far, then turned back towards the motel. On the way back, I suddenly saw their sign on the left side of the road and turned into the parking lot. Since it was early on a Saturday morning, no one was there! We walked to a shop next door and asked one of the workers there if he knew where the U-Save people are. He said there is only one person who owns the company. He very rarely comes to work on Saturdays!
Dad had a plane to catch in Portland, and we could not afford to stay in Richland any longer! Now, the only option was to leave the car at the motel and the car key at the motel's front desk. I wrote a note to the same person who gave me the car and stuck it inside the office door. The note explained everything I did to try to return the car on time. It also said that we would be leaving Richland no later than 10:00 AM. If he wanted his car back, he should come to the motel and pick it up!!! The key would be left at the front desk.
A little while after we got back to the motel, a call came from U-Save Auto Rental. I went there almost immediately to drop off the car. I mentioned I had been in an accident the previous morning, but there was no damage to the car. He checked the front bumper and confirmed this. I offered to give him the name and address of the other driver, but he said there was no need for that. Since there was no damage on HIS car, it was not his concern who the other driver was! He did not charge me any late fee for returning the car an hour late. The bill for eight days was $296.13 -- almost one hundred dollars more than what I had received for selling my car.
I had driven a total of 1,936.2 miles on the rental car on this trip.
When we left the motel in Car #3 (1988 Mazda 323), I reset the trip meter on that car to 0.0 miles. I was driving. I left the motel and the town of Richland for the last time. It was 9:20 AM, and we had enough time to drive to Portland for the 3:00 PM flight. During those few hours, I again had some company on this trip. After that, I would be alone again, driving in a car that was not mine, and finishing a trip that I did not want to finish in someone else's car.
But now, I had no choice.
10:00 AM Entered Oregon; 40 Miles on Car #3.
We were driving on I-84, which goes next to the Columbia River all the way to Portland. That region is considered to be one of the most scenic areas in the country. I liked it very much, but I did not rate it. It was just a scenic drive, much like driving along the Florida coastline.
The Columbia was very wide and very blue. I had crossed all of America's major rivers on this trip. Every single one of them were as wide (or wider) than the Columbia River. But unlike the Columbia, NONE OF THEM WERE BLUE! At least, not as blue as the Columbia. Also, I was very surprised to see how clean this river was, compared to the Mississippi, Missouri or Ohio rivers. There was no brown "guck" floating in this river. I especially noticed that this river was liquid, unlike the Mississippi, Missouri or Ohio rivers, which were all mostly solid from all the industrial waste being dumped into them daily!
During our drive, Ishaan asked me "Did you get bored during your drive up to Richland?" He was trying to make a point. After he had come back from his last trip, several people (including myself) had asked him how he could driven across the country by himself without ever getting bored. At that time, his answer was "I do not know. I guess I was too busy to get bored!". I did not understand that then. I did now. I had driven continuously for two and half days by myself. During that entire drive, I never got bored. I was too busy to get bored. I did not even have a radio to listen to! I realized the point he was trying to make -- there were plenty of things to see and do along the road, which always kept me busy. He also told me he never got bored on this trip, "just lonely". I understood that too. There is a difference between being "lonely" and being "bored". It is possible to keep yourself busy so you will not get bored, but that does not mean you do not get lonely.
I was telling Ishaan about my drive up to Richland. I told him I also did some sightseeing, and recommended some places for him to see. One of these places was a restaurant in the town of Cascade Locks, OR. I had stopped for dinner here on Thursday night. The restaurant offers a magnificent view of the Columbia River and the ships passing by on the river.
It is a cafeteria-style restaurant, where we would get in a line and pick up whatever items we wanted, then pay for those items at the end of the line. I asked Ishaan if he wanted something for dessert, and he refused, which was very uncharacteristic! I thought he may have been short on money and that may be why he did not want any, so I offered to pay for both our lunches. He said "Fine, you pay", but he still did not take any dessert!
Before leaving the restaurant, I asked Ishaan to call Bhindi Jewelers again. He called, but was told to call back later. Our next stop was Portland airport.
Ishaan was still driving when we entered Portland. We passed a sign that said "Portland City Limits". Ishaan picked up his notebook and scribbled in there the time and the mileage (he did this while driving). I asked him what was so special about Portland that he had to write down exactly when he entered the city, and to do this while driving! To that, he simply replied, "I have been doing that for all the major cities during the later half of my trip." His keeping such a detailed log of his trip was unnecessarily obsessive!
2:00 PM On The Road By Myself Again.
Dad had recommended a few places to see in the immediate vicinity. Unfortunately, they all sounded interesting, and I could not decide where to go! For the next forty-five minutes, I found myself driving within Portland -- without any place to go. Finally, I made up my mind on what to see...
2:50 PM Entered Washington; 276 miles.
An hour later, I had checked in at a motel in the town of Woodland, WA, near Mount Saint Helens. I would go there the next morning. Later at night, I placed an order for dinner to-go at a Dennys restaurant in a town that was 20 miles away. Immediately after placing the order, I started driving towards this town -- Longview, WA -- to pick up my dinner. I did not eat it until I got back to the motel -- 1/2 hour after picking it up.
I very quickly realized that I was on my own again, and that I could do these kinds of things without worrying about the opinions of anyone who might have been with me. Once more, I did not care!
License Plates:
We had plenty of time before my flight, and decided to stop there for lunch.
We entered the city of Portland at 1:50 PM, and ten minutes later, I was alone again.
ISAYWHO
WA
BMW
KYLLO 1
OR
Nissan truck
Expenses:
$296.13
Chase
Rental car return -- U-Save Auto Rental
Richland, WA
$9.25
CB
Gas -- Chevron
Cascade Locks, OR
$9
Cash
Dinner to-go -- Dennys
Longview, WA
Unfortunately, something did happen to my car. Fortunately, what happened delayed the end of this trip.
I took my time leaving the motel -- I left just ten minutes before the final allowed check-out time. I started driving towards Mount Saint Helens National Volcanic Monument.
During the drive, I kept wondering why I would want to see this mountain. I do like to see tall snow-capped mountains, but I knew the area around Mount Saint Helens would be a wasteland! "Why would I be interested in seeing a volcano that erupted fifteen years ago and created a wasteland for several miles around it?"
That is why.
11:33 PM First sight of a mountain that I believed to be Mount Saint Helens. I was right.
Before the 1980 eruption, the mountain was more than 11,000 feet tall. After the eruption, it shrank to 8,365 feet! The mountain itself was not very pretty to look at. Neither was the surrounding area. But the statistics on this mountain made me give it a 
rating, which I would now consider to be a attraction.
Although neither the mountain nor the surrounding region was beautiful to look at, they were both certainly very interesting! The mountain now has a crater that is two miles long and one mile wide. There is a 2000-foot hole on the Northern side of the mountain. Considering that more than 3000 feet had been blown off the top of the mountain, this 2000-foot hole in the mountain was actually 5000 feet of rock that had been blown off the mountain. That was staggering -- two miles long, one mile wide and one mile deep -- that much rock and lava had been blasted out!
As I neared the mountain, I saw a sign that said "Entering Blast Zone". The mountain was still fifteen miles away. That was another impressive number -- EVERYTHING within a fifteen mile-radius of the mountain had been completely obliterated during the eruption!
As I continued driving towards the mountain, I saw more and more effects of the blast wave that originated from Mount Saint Helens 
on May 18, 1980 that leveled complete forests 15 miles away. This was a hilly area, and there were some pine trees that were replanted after the eruption. But, for every tree that was standing, there were at least ten trees whose barks were lying on the ground. Several trees were struck in the middle by the blast wave, and these were especially interesting to look at. 
These "trees" were still standing, but they were all dead. Others were completely uprooted.
As I got even closer to the mountain, I saw the path of the lava flow. It started from the 2000-feet deep hole in the mountain, and had carved out a valley between some hills. Fifteen years had passed since the eruption, yet there was no evidence of life in this valley. Yet, one hill on one side of the valley was full of trees -- all of them standing. This was the first time I had seen a hill within a 15-mile radius of Mount Saint Helens where ALL of the trees were still standing. I could not figure out how this was possible, since there were literally thousands of downed trees everywhere else I saw -- except on this one hill! I would find out the reason later.
Soon, I arrived at the visitor center. I took a ranger-guided walk to various viewpoints. At one viewpoint, we saw the hill were all the trees were standing. At this point, the ranger answered a question that I am sure was on everyone's minds... Why are the trees still standing on that hill, yet almost all the trees on other hills are down? The answer to that question was quiet obvious... I just had to look at Mount Saint Helens a little while longer and I would figure it out myself. Before explaining why those trees were standing, the ranger told us to look at Mount Saint Helens one more time. A little while later, he asked us if we had figured it out yet. A lot of us had, including me. That hill was created after the eruption. That hill was approximately 5000 feet high, two miles long and one mile wide. That hill used to be the top of Mount Saint Helens!
After looking at the hill again -- this time realizing that it used to the top of Mount Saint Helens, I was even more impressed with the mountain and the eruption it caused to create a 5000 foot "hill" by itself!
Back in the visitor center, I learned about more interesting statistics on the eruption. The blast was heard as far away as Montana, yet was not heard twenty miles from the mountain itself! There used to be a lake next to the mountain. That lake no longer existed. Instead, the water from that lake created a new lake several miles away! The volcanic ash from the eruption was so thick that it blackened the skies over a 100-mile radius of the mountain for two days after the eruption! At the moment the mountain erupted, the rock, lava and ash went up 80,000 feet into the atmosphere. There were reports of ash from Mount Saint Helens falling in Sydney, Australia and Calcutta, India -- half way around the world! This was the most violent eruption of any mountain in the continental United States in recent human history. Yet, geologically, this eruption is considered to be a "minor" eruption!
I left the visitor center and started driving back the way I came, this time taking some pictures of the downed trees and the signs "LEAVING BLAST ZONE" and "ENTERING BLAST ZONE" (on the other side of the same sign).
An hour later, I checked in at a motel in the town of Centralia, WA. This was at 5:10 PM. Later at night, I ate my "meal-of-the-day", ordered from a Dennys restaurant and eaten at the motel. Unfortunately, this Dennys restaurant was in the same town as my motel, which meant I would not be able to repeat last night's experience.
This day turned out to be the first day of the last week of this trip.
Miscellaneous:
| Bumper sticker: | IF THIS WAS AN F-16, I'D BE HOME BY NOW. |
| Bumper sticker: | IF YOU'RE RICH, I'M SINGLE. |
| $41.39 | Chase | Woodlander Inn | Woodland, WA |
| $6 | Cash | Gas | Castle Rock, WA |
| $6 | Cash | Meal-of-the-day -- Dennys | Centralia, WA |
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Go to start of this section
It took me an hour after checking out of the motel to enter "Pacific Coast Scenic Byway". That was just a fancy way of saying "U.S. Highway 101". It may be a Pacific Coast Byway, but it was not very scenic -- for the first hour.
11:55 AM Entered Oregon. Also the last crossing of Columbia River at the town of Astoria, OR. The river width at this point is 3.8 miles, which is wider than the Mississippi River at any point.
There is a small river that empties into the Columbia just outside Astoria. There is a drawbridge on that river. When I arrived there, a boat was passing by and the drawbridge was up. That created a long line of cars on both sides of the drawbridge. During this trip, I had been stuck like this often, but all those times, I would be waiting for a freight train to pass. This was the first time I was actually waiting this long for a boat to pass!
I bought my lunch to-go -- again at Dennys -- in Warrenton, OR.
From here, the road was scenic. There were several nice views of the Pacific Ocean. I came to the town of Seaside, OR. Seaside is a small town, but there were a lot of tourists there. Almost all of those guys had come there to surf, the gals had come to look at the guys surf, and the guys would look at the gals looking at them. I parked the car at one of the beaches and ate my lunch, looking at the people who were looking at the people who were looking at the people who were looking at them back.
After lunch, I left Seaside and started driving South again, occasionally stopping at beaches, of which there were several.
After a full day's of driving, I checked in at Tropicana Motel in Reedsport, OR. Walked to a plaza next to the motel and ate dinner at a Subway.
Miscellaneous:
| Bumper Sticker | My keys are on the front seat of my BOXER. |
| BIKE4US | WA | Subaru (with three bicycles on a rack behind the car) |
| BUBATRK | OR | Chevrolet Blazer |
| BOGER 1 | OR | Chevrolet |
| EWING 7 | Ont | Chevrolet Cavalier (Ontario, Canada) |
| WAGON-5 | OR | Ford truck |
| OCEANIC | WI | Chevrolet Corsica |
| S RAD | OR | Honda Civic |
| US 1 | OR | (Transam)? |
| $39.49 | Chase | Huntley Inn | Centralia, WA |
| $9 | Cash | Gas -- Texaco | Astoria, OR |
| $5 | Cash | Lunch to-go -- Dennys | Warrenton, OR |
| $10 | Cash | Coke -- 7-11 | Reedsport, OR |
| $3 | Cash | Dinner -- Subway | Reedsport, OR |
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Go to start of this section
On the way, I stopped at the town of Roseburg, OR and picked up my lunch to-go at the Dennys there. I had ordered a "triple-decker" sandwich, which is quite messy to eat. I had also ordered a "Key Lime" pie, which is also very messy to eat. On this trip, I had done many things while driving, but I had never eaten an entire meal from Dennys while driving. For the next half hour, I ate the triple-decker sandwich and french fries. After I finished the fries, I dumped the plastic plate into my trash bag in the back seat. Then, I opened the box which contained a slice of Key Lime pie. I placed the box on my lap and ate the pie with a spoon. I never stopped the car.
I had started eating/driving at 1:20 PM. Half hour later, the road started to curve a lot, and I had not finished the pie slice. I found I could not eat the pie with a spoon and maneuver the car through sharp turns at the same time, so I pulled over to the side of the road and finished eating. After eating, I started to feel a little drowsy, so I also took a short nap before moving any further. It was a VERY SHORT nap, and fifteen minutes later, I was driving again.
I entered Umpqua National Forest and the road became very scenic. Five minutes later, I came to a full stop because of road construction.
2:42 PM 1,000 miles in Car #3.
3:20 PM Entered Crater Lake National Park boundary.
3:42 PM First (ever) view of Crater Lake.
Crater Lake is famous for being one of the bluest lakes in the country. The lake was dark blue -- darker than the blue jeans I was wearing that day and certainly a lot darker than the sky. It was well worth the time to come here, so I gave it . I left the park at 5:00 PM.
6:40 PM Checked in at Cedar Lodge Motel in Medford, OR.
Again, I ordered dinner to-go at a Dennys restaurant. This time, I did not eat it while driving -- I came back to the motel and ate it there.
Miscellaneous:
| Town: | Norway, OR |
| Town: | Remote, OR |
| $37.45 | Chase | Tropicana Motel -- paid at check-in | Reedsport, OR |
| $8 | Cash | Gas -- Texaco | North Bend, OR |
| $8 | Cash | Lunch to-go -- Dennys | Roseburg, OR |
| $7 | Cash | Dinner to-go -- Dennys | Medford, OR |
| $7 | Cash | Gas -- B.P. | Medford, OR |
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Go to start of this section
After more than four months of surprises, I had still not understood that there is ALWAYS something new to look forward to!
I left the motel and started driving towards the coast. Since I did not want to miss any portion of the scenic Highway 101, I first drove North to the town of Roseburg, then West to the Pacific Ocean, on the same road I had used to come to Crater Lake. I picked up my lunch at a Taco Bell in Roseburg, started driving again, got lost, drove by some lumberyard somewhere, found my way, and continued driving towards the ocean.
I would often stop at viewpoints along the oceanside to enjoy the scenery. At one of these viewpoints, I saw more than just the ocean...
When I parked the car, I saw some people looking at the ocean with their binoculars. My first thought was that these people are idiots -- binoculars are not required to look at water. When I got out of the car and walked up to the viewing area, I realized I should go back to the car immediately and get my binoculars too! For the next ten minutes, I was looking at a whale which was too far away to photograph. I wrote in my notebook that it may have been a killer whale, since it was black and white. But I had known that killer whales usually travel with their families, and this one was alone. None of the other tourists there knew what kind of whale it was either.
I left that viewpoint at 3:50 PM.
5:05 PM Entered State of Trip Origin (California); 1,436 Miles on Car #3. 28,387 total miles on this trip... and counting...
After taking four pictures of the sign, I started driving again.
An hour later, I checked in at "Motel Trees" in Klamath, CA.
There was a restaurant next to the motel, but I did not feel like eating there. Besides that one, there are no other restaurants in Klamath.
10:00 PM Suddenly, for no apparent reason other than that I was hungry, I picked up the phone and called a Dennys restaurant in the town of Crescent City, which is 15 miles North of Klamath. I placed a to-go order and asked for directions on how to get there. After hanging up the phone, I left the motel at 10:05 PM, drove 15 miles to the Dennys in Crescent City, picked up my dinner, and drove 15 miles back to the motel. I came back to the motel at 10:55 PM, then finally ate my dinner.
Miscellaneous:
| Bumper Sticker: | MY MERCEDES IS IN THE SHOP TODAY. |
| PAISH | CA | Acura Legend |
| BIGCAR | OR | Lincoln Towncar -- a car that lives up to its license plate |
| DUNSH | OR | Honda |
| MY HUNK | OR | Chevrolet Lumina -- a hunk of tin; also a car that lives up to its license plate |
| $39.22 | Chase | Cedar Lodge Motel -- paid at check-in | Medford, OR |
| $2 | Cash | Lunch to-go -- Taco Bell | Roseburg, OR |
| $2 | Cash | Potato chips -- 7-11 | Roseburg, OR |
| $7 | Cash | Gas -- Texaco | Bandon, OR |
| $6 | Cash | Dinner to-go -- Dennys | Crescent City, CA |
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Go to start of this section
Continue on to August 24