It is with disbelief, total amazement, and absolute glee that I write this post to you all from the great state of Oregon. That is correct we made it to Oregon. Not that there is anything wrong with California. In fact it is the most beautiful and diverse state that I have ever been to, but after 111 days and 1699 miles we were ready to move on to a new state. As I type those words, I still cannot believe it 111 days (counting rest days) of sleeping in a tent, eating out of a ziplock bag, and going without a shower while engaging in the most physical activities of our lives and yet we trek on. We have under 1000 miles left and just two states to go until we make it to Canada. Our mileage is up. We are now basically doing at least a marathon each day averaging over 25 miles per day for weeks now and we hope to increase our mileage to 30+ per day while in OR to make it through WA before
the snow starts. That is a total lie. I hope to increase our miles to 30+ per day without having Turtle beat me. I will update on that later.

For the next couple of days we are in Ashland, OR our first real town for weeks. As soon as we made it to the Trail head one of the locals pulled over and offered us a ride without us even sticking out our thumbs. That is how you know this is a great town. So for now we are just laying around filling our bellies with town food and ordering new equipment. We just ordered our 4th pair of shoes, I am having my backpack replaced for free (REI is the best), and we are having our 2nd set of tent poles sent out. One cannot help but think that all of this equipment that is supposed to last for a lifetime is breaking down but somehow our bodies are continuing to move forward granted with a healthy diet of alleve, advil, emergen-c, and crystal light energy but our feet are still moving.

We made it out of California on opening day of deer hunting season. They currently can only use bows. I talked to a hunter and he let me know that most hunters were sober enough to tell the difference between a hiker and a deer but that we may want to make some noise anyway. OR deer season doesn't start for 3 weeks and our goal is to be out of here by then. 500 miles in 3 weeks I think it can be done. How many times will Turtle hit me is the only question.