Memorials

We hopped off trail yesterday at Fish Lake south of Crater Lake NP midway between Klamath Falls and Medford. Today we fly to Ohio for Dad's memorial party, and will get back on trail on Monday. 

We've been in Oregon for a few days now and the state's been full of magic. Coolers of soda greeted us a few miles in, free drinks awaited us at Callahan's resort outside of Ashland, we got free showers at Hyatt Lake campground, the first person to pass picked us up in our hitch into Medford, REI replaced our broken (again) tent for free, and a hiker we just met ( Bonanza) arranged a ride with a stranger for us to Ashland for another couple hikers' welcome home party. At the party we met a massage therapist named (no kidding) Trout America who volunteered to come to our hotel for a house call. So I'm killing time while Angel gets massaged by a stranger named Trout. The trail is a strange and wonderful place. And so far Oregon gets an A+ for hospitality. 

Now the big issues are the massive number of wild fires affecting the trail from here all the way north. Not sure how the hike will pan out, but it's going to be pretty damn memorable.

And Dad must've had it right, because instead of dreading going home for a funeral, I'm actually really looking forward to going home to a memorial party with all of the people who loved him. Hope to see lots of you tomorrow!