Ashland, Oregon

Call us crazy, but we woke about 0300 again and headed due North with intent to spend the night in Redding, CA. After reading some of the weather reports, we decided to keep going and get through Mt. Shasta and the Siskiyou summit while the going was good.

Eager to get on the road neither Carl nor I realized how tired we were. It took about two hours before we realized this stretch would require some modifications...we had to do shift driving all the way there.

We made it by early afternoon leaving us time to walk around downtown Ashland, visit the co-op, and have a nice meal out before crashing for ten hours.

Ashland has a special place in my heart. Every year, they have a Shakespeare festival. My grandma used to go to a similar festival in Utah every year until she could no longer go due to cancer. I couldn't help but feel the magic of her all around me just being in the same place as a festival she loved so dearly. The festival runs February to November every year. Although Carl and I decided to opt out this round, we've decided to go back and make a time of it and see a few shows.

Ashland was the last stop on our tour. We were both ready to head home and prepare for the upcoming school and work ventures.

The only problem with returning to Portland was our bed. After staying in hotels (and motels mind you) with better beds than our own we decided it was time to change that.

Thank heaven for IKEA.