Vegas Road Trip – Camping in the Freezing Cold in Oregon

Because I travel so much and meet people from different countries, my good friends tend to be from all over the world. From my family in Poland to friends in Germany (see my Saarburg videos), and other countries. Not long ago a good friend of mine with whom I studied at some point said that he and his wife would be stopping by Las Vegas back on their way to Buenos Aires Argentina. I thought “what a great opportunity to see them again”. And of course, what a great opportunity for a huge road trip. So on a fine Friday afternoon in late March I jumped in my car and headed towards Vegas. I started in Vancouver. Here’s the route I took to get there:

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I drove for several hours and decided to spend the night just off the highway on a dirt road near a wildlife viewing area just east of North Powder, Oregon. I usually look on the map for dirt roads, National parks, and other places that are not that easy to get to because most tourists don’t go there, especially in the evening. For that matter, most people don’t go there. Except for me. So take a look, here’s where I spent my first night:

Yes, I know I look funny in the hoodie and scarf, but believe me, I was not expecting such cold temperatures, and so didn’t bring any warm clothing. Little did I realize that the haven I live in (Vancouver) is super mild. All the time. While the rest of the land within 2000km is mostly harsh. And so while leaving my home I thought “hey, I’m heading south, it’ll get warmer as I go.” No. In fact, the farther south I got, the colder it got at night. It was so windy that my car swayed on the road.

This is why I put on almost every piece of clothing that I had, from most ridiculous to least, otherwise you’d see me with my longjohns on the outside. But it was great. There’s nothing like the taste of fresh coffee while smelling it and the fragrant early spring wind that carries with it the scent of snow and the coming rain.