“We hiked in a forest. The presence of Spanish moss on the trees served as a constant reminder of the pure mountain air we breathed. The north bounders had been telling us Oregon’s flat. We looked around, saw mountains.

“Iowa’s flat,” said Maggie, “This is not flat.” She was right. Even so, Oregon was still mellow, easy hiking.”

They say in Oregon it’s not raining unless the rain hits the ground and bounces a foot back in the air. Well it rained on us for the better part of four days until we were thoroughly soaked and rather miserable.