Another North American Road Trip - Day 1 - Oregon Caves

                                                Another North American Road Trip


Day 1:


Friday, June 19th



We set off early from home in Vancouver, Washington with the hopes of getting through Portland before rush hour traffic. 


Almost immediately we crossed the bridge into Oregon, and we were two states into Another North American Road Trip. 


We drove about five hours (with a rest/stretch stop or two) to Oregon Caves, where we ate cold, homemade pizza for lunch. 



We didn’t realize you should register for a tour prior to arriving. So we walked up to the park ranger at the visitor center desk and asked if we could get added to the schedule. She looked at her list, and it sounded like we might be waiting quite a while for the next available tour (all the others were full).  Then the ranger about to lead the 12:30 tour walked by and she asked if she rang us up really quickly if he would take us with his group (which was smaller and had room for us.)  He agreed!  


We enjoyed the cave tour, and the ranger did a good job of telling stories that brought the history of the cave to life. The cave itself did not disappoint. It had all the features (stalactites, stalagmites, columns, flowstone, etc.) that make touring a cave interesting. Also, there was a little brown bat, sleeping near a natural entrance inside the cave. I was thrilled to see it. 




When we exited the cave, we chose to take a little hike up to a viewpoint before stamping our passports at the visitor’s center. While we were there, Desmond got his first Junior Ranger badge of this trip. My list shows it is his 43rd overall. 😁 






I fell in love with a soft, tiny bat stuffie keychain and bought it with much joy. When we got back in the car I hung it so its cute little brown face smiled at me from in front of the glove compartment box as it “flies” happily as we drive along. 


We got back on the road and headed for Redding, CA. As we went along, the temperature gauge on the dash showed the engine suddenly overheated (to the max). No check engine light came on, and we didn’t have any other sign of the engine actually overheating - and the gauge has acted wonky before, so we kept driving until we got to a rest stop. We turned the cruck off and gave it a minute while we stretched and used the facilities. When we got back in, the gauge was back to normal. Yay! 


As we drove along I listened to my audiobook, “Becoming Mrs. Lewis” about C.S. Lewis’ wife. 


Not too much further, the heat gauge popped right up to full again. And the “check engine” light came on. Boo. So we looked up where we could have someone run a diagnostic and check the engine for us. Because if there really was something wrong with the engine, on the very first day of our roadtrip, our roadtrip might not get to happen.  We found an O’Reilly’s and a man came out and plugged a handheld device in below our steering wheel.  He grumbled as he did so, about it all being completely digital.  “Ah… you have a spaceship.”  Finally he was able to get the readout he needed, and took it back into the shop to hook it up to the computer.


The conclusion of the matter is that the vehicle wanted us to know that we were getting intermittent readings from the thermal gauge that were basically suspect.  So, great news is, that is not an engine problem.  So we are feeling quite grateful that the road trip gets to happen.  


We ate some Chipotle dinner, and then headed on down the road again towards Redding.  We arrived at the Home2Suites and Desmond was pleased to learn that it had a pool.  Desmond and I put our suits on, but the water was a bit chilly for me, so he ended up playing with some boys that were there on a trip for their swim team, while I talked to their mom about national parks.


As it got dark, I let Desmond know it was time to head back up to our room.  We called it a night.  Tomorrow we head toward Yosemite National Park!

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