Going Dark

Location: Driving thru the Cascades, Oregon...

We are heading up the backbone of the Cascades for the next couple of days and not expecting to get internet connection. So, to our hubbies out there...we are safe, having fun and hope to connect soon. (We are women hear us roar!)

Last night was a hoot. After square dancing and hitting the showers (ahh...nothing like a nice FREE hot shower after a day of hiking, biking and dancing. I'm so impressed with this USFS campground. $15 and you get flush toilets, running water and free showers. Our tax dollars at work...thank you!) We finally get back to the campsite around 10ish in the pitch dark. Denise was awesome guiding me in the total blackness. We had to back up into the campsite, avoiding trees and lining up with the leveling chalks. That was no easy feat considering I couldn't see a darn thing AND we took a short cut and went in the wrong way. This made angling into the site all that much harder. Well, after about 10 minutes or so of Denise shouting out to me, "Turn the wheel left, no the other left...go straight...no, no, turn the wheel"...you get the drift. Well, all of a sudden Denise yells out, "Someone stole our chalks!" and then "Oh damn, they stole your bandana hanging on the tree and the BIKES!" A pit formed in my stomach and I was trying so hard to be calm. A brief pause, then that "aha moment" when we both realized that we were in the wrong campsite!!!! We are still laughing about that! I like to think we were just so tired from our adventures and not just a couple of ditzy women. Yes, hubbies enjoy this story, but not to be used against us at any future time. (Dad, that goes for you too!!).

We started the morning with a 13.5 mile bike ride. It was freezing cold (40 degrees), but warmed up nicely by the end of the ride. It was fun riding past the aftermath of the square dance festival and seeing all the men out there with their cordless drills unscrewing the dance floor. The beauty of starting out so early is that we had the bike path to ourselves and could really enjoy riding along in the early morning with our cups of coffee. Enjoy today's pics!