The Research Road Trip

For years now, I've been wanting to do a road trip that follows the route in Evva's story. It should be in the late spring/early summer, so I could see what the plants and animals are like during that time of year. But I never seemed to have that time free.

Finally this year I made myself go. No one wanted to come along, so I planned alone. And because Evva usually camps out, I figured I would do the same. Plus, it's cheaper XD

Booking the campsites ended up being a nightmare on its own. The maps were confusing. A lot of them seemed unavailable for no real reason. Other places wouldn't let you camp for one night - it had to be at least two. And when I finally got all my campsites booked, one contacted me to say that the reservations was cancelled, so I had to go through everything again. 

It's a long drive to Portland. I've done it all in one day. Correction, I've been in the car while my uncle drove all day. But I hate driving. Plus this whole trip was for research. So I broke the trip up into three days each way. 

Apple Maps was a lifesaver. I hate listening to that robot voice, but because of it, I was able to drive places without having to stress about whether or not I missed my turn or anything. And I could randomly decide to go somewhere new, and not worry about plotting the course (unlike in Europe, where my phone was mostly out of service). 

I sat in cold rivers on hot days, taught a little girl about pipevine caterpillars, explored amazing caverns, and woke up with the top of my tent covered in dozens of earwings. 

(there was a cool light show in the cave, hence the colors)

Some of the plants are delicious too! My cousin told me about native edible species that aren't from my area. And I rescued a mole that got stuck above ground. It was so silky soft! We found a dog along the road and helped him get home too (the enighbors said that the little dog gets out all the time, right next to a busy, dangerous road. I encouraged the neighbors to report it to the SPCA). Found out that my cousin's kid is now taller than me. Damn. 

It really helped my story research - parts of the route were much different than I expected. I learned a lot about the species of the area. After I reached Portland, I even went camping along the Columbia River with a couple of my cousins. The cottonwood fluff was falling like snow, and gathering in drifts. I've never seen so much of it, and even my cousins were amazed at the amount of it. I gathered some of it and tested it as tinder. It burned like gun powder. I gathered a little nest of it, setting it on a protective wrapper. I got to show off starting a fire with a bow-drill kit. But that took longer than expected, because I had to fix a few of the parts. One of my cousins got bored and left, so she didn't even see the fire start. But that cottonwood fluff worked amazingly (with the proper precautions to not burn your hands off). Astrid had brought some eggs to cook for breakfast, but we cooked about half of them on my pan, right on the coals. So good! (Make sure you have the correct pan for it)

And because I can never really take home plants when I'm in Portland, I got a ton of plants to drive home with! 

I came home during the first days of summer. I visited an antique carousel museum, drove through a safari in southern Oregon, and watched a pair of tiny spotted fawns. 

My last night camping, I got snowed on. Luckily I had a warm sleeping bag! (On the drive up, I had to park in the sun. The car thermometer read 118. Granted, that was a hot hunk of metal sitting under a hot sun, but what a contrast).