Wow, this morning I woke up surrounded by moss covered trees in the very quiet Milo McIver State Park in Oregon near Mount Hood. Tonight I fixed dinner parked at the edge of the Pacific Ocean watching the sun go down. It doesn’t get much better than this.

Pacific, here I am

I am constantly trying to digest the days gone by, which is not that easy. One day I drive through the desert the next I am looking at vineyards or drive along rushing river through the mountains. The impressions are endless and I have to pinch myself from time to time to make sure everything is real. I can’t believe that I have been on the road now for five months. The time just flew by. Winter is coming soon and I have to figure out where to spend the cold months. I like to say that I am very fortunate, not lucky, that I can go on a trip like this; leave New York City for a year and basically just travel. I distinguish between fortunate and lucky, this trip was not simply handed to me, I had to work hard to get to this point. I am lucky, however, to have a boss who lets me continue to work for him from the road, thank you David.
Not every day is rosy. Yesterday was a hard day and I was completely exhausted by the time I arrived at the campground. A 200 mile drive took six hours! That’s hours of driving against strong head winds along the beautiful Columbia River at about 40 mph, followed by driving up and down mountain roads at 30 mph. No cruise control, just pressing the gas pedal down really hard with my right foot. I don’t enjoy those days. I can’t appreciate the scenery (Mount Hood in front of me and Mount Rainier in the rear view mirror) and my body, especially my right knee, just aches. I was in bed before 9 PM and slept for eleven hours.
Good thing days like today by far out number the hard driving days. Tomorrow I will be in the rain forest, what a country!