Day 12: 9/27/2010
Alturas, CA-Portland, OR: 385 miles
http://goo.gl/maps/dRhF

Richard and Elona had an appointment in the morning in Sacramento so Mathew and I got up to say goodbye at 2:30am... Oh no wait, we woke up about six hours after they were gone, having said goodbye the night before :p We did a bit of last minute laundry and Mathew made a fabulous breakfast, yay! I love him :-) Then I called the dealership in Portland to get an estimate of when it would be done (12-2pm ish), and then Mathew pointed out how long the drive would be... oops. We made a dash for the door after quick goodbyes to Bungie and Sylvester because by then we'd just be able to make it before the dealership closed... Note to self: just because Alaska is bigger, doesn't mean everywhere else is close together!

We made it about 30 yards down the road before looping back for the forgotten leftovers, our lunch, and then on the road again! We stopped to get gas in Rescue Car and then north to Eugene to take I5 to Portland. We saw one of my favorite signs of all time on I5: "You are halfway between the equator and the north pole." Lol, love it! We made one stop on the way for restrooms and otherwise just drove... and drove... and drove... and made it with 15 whole minutes to spare! It was quite fun trying to call the dealership while driving through the Cascade Mountains, too... great continuous service up there.

Mathew dropped me off to do the paperwork and then went to fuel Rescue Car. Then we somehow managed the get everything back into Pretty Car and off to dinner! At first we decided to just drive and find a local place... But the row of uh... dance halls... we were passing, did not cry "quality establishments." Lol. So we put Applebees in the GPS and off we went! We managed to stop eating soon enough to have decent leftovers -and- try out the dessert shots! Non alcoholic, but something about a shot glass with chocolate in it... sigh.

After that, it was time to find REI to replace the missing items from before... Some navigation fun going through extra parking lots finally got us there about 14 1/2 minutes before closing time, and I dashed in saying I needed a sleeping bag and pad. The associate who helped me out was quite fun, he used to work in fisheries management or some such in DC and commented he loved dealing with one of my favorite ex senators... sarcasm on both counts :p He found me an awesome sleeping bag, still down and rated to 15 degrees, but I can move around in it more -and- the pad goes inside it! Awesome!! The pad I got is similar to the Thermarest ones, but it's shaped like a mummy bag instead of straight, and veeery comfy :D We also got a Thermarest pad for Mathew, as we'd been swapping the pad and the yoga mat before. On the way out of the store, several minutes after closing time, I heard the cashier announce the amount I spent, which I thought was hilarious.

Then to the camping site Mathew looked up that morning that was 45 minutes south... Or not. We both agreed that the long drive and stressful REI finding mission meant we were allowed to hotel it again. Priceline returns, followed by the same Ramada Inn as before, yay! We played a few games of Ziggity, a card game. Mathew one two out of three, but I went out with a BAM the time I one... no really, I spelled the word BAM to go out... Night all!