We woke up and headed to the main building of the Sunriver Resort to reach our breakfast reservation. During breakfast I was able to move my car to one of the two the Tesla chargers to top off the range, although I knew today's driving was easily within the car's capabilities regardless of the top off. I had an excellent french toast breakfast while my wife and children enjoyed excellent offerrings of food here. This was a very well-appointed place. After breakfast my wife and daughter made their way down to the pro shop which had gift-shops section with a variety of Sunriver- and mountain-themed memorabilia on display.

My visit in the shop was brief, then my son and I went outside to the back to see the large golf course. The pandemic did not restrict usage of the golf course, a place where the participants are supposed to be far apart.

Interleaved with the golf course was a variety of ponds and small creeks. When the golf course was not in use these can be navigated using canoes and paddle boards. Eventually we made our way back to see the other facilities under construction. Several large structures, apparently meant to house activities in the wintertime, were being erected. We could see a wide variety of outdoor equipment such as bikes, available for rental, and tennis courts. We returned to our room to brush our teeth and pack up. Meanwhile I retrieved the car so we could load. The checkout procedure was to drive back to the main building and call ahead.

One of the larger lakes that was easier to see from the road was Elk Lake. We stopped by one of the displays near a line of trees thin enough to take pictures of the lake through the trees with Mount Bachelor in the background.

The display wrote about both bird watching and lightning. I took a moment to read the "Lightning Holdover" panel while I was there, then summarized it for my family when I returned to the car because I learned something new. It described how lighting strikes can cause smoldering, undetectable fires that lead to full-blown out of control fires several days later. In one example here near Elk Lake in 1998, lightning 29 days before caused a 251-acre fire.

Little did we know, in a few days, we were about to see this scenario play out first-hand on a far larger scale. We'll refer to this sign again soon enough.

We made our way south, doing our best to spot as many lakes as we could, eventually locating Davis Lake (top picture), before reaching the end of the Cascades Lakes Scenic Byway. After we reached route 58, it was getting time to have lunch and use the restroom.

When I researched the area for places to eat last night, I could not find any restaurant of interest along this route, except perhaps a Subway in Chemult. So I told my family at this time to keep an eye out for anything interesting. When we finally reached Chemult, my wife felt these stops were just a little too seedy to stop. Southbound on route 97, the offerings continued to be very slim.

Time Event Range Remaining 10:22 am Departed Sunriver Resort 281 12:31 pm Arrived Beaver Marsh Rest Area 165 Range/Distance ratio: 1.18 Conditions: Sightseeing stops, 87°F So we found a good old-fashioned highway rest stop at Beaver Marsh and used the restrooms there. The respectable quality of these facilities was a pleasant relief. But we still had the problem of finding lunch. I was hoping that my next Star Trek reference would help with lunch: we looked and no, the town of Kirk, Oregon, could not solve our restaurant dilemma either.

Our last opportunity was Chiloquin, and we drove on both sides of the river there and found no open restaurant we felt we could trust. The town looked as if their industry had collapsed. Perhaps I should put a "Lunch Anxiety" symbol here.

Time Event Range Remaining 12:38 pm Departed Beaver Marsh Rest Area 164 1:34 pm Arrive Crater Lake Resort 104 Range/Distance ratio: 1.017 Conditions: Searching for lunch So we decided simply to check in to our next overnight stay, the Crater Lake Resort, a member of the Tesla Destination Network. My daughter was very relieved to arrive at our next cabin so early. Turns out the store here had a substantial selection of Amy's microwaveable frozen dinners, snacks, beverages, and other easy ways of making lunch and dinner. So we checked into Cabin 11 here, and once we were settled we returned to the store here to buy our lunch, dinner, and the next day's breakfast to enjoy in our cabin with a pretty view of Fort Creek here. Meanwhile I plugged the car into the Tesla-native plug at the store (see bottom picture).

Cost to Charge: $0

When I originally looked back in January for places to book, I tried to reserve inside Crater Lake National Park, but every time I tried there was no availability. Like many at National Parks, it seemed like I have to book over a year in advance, so I booked at Crater Lake Resort, which even offered "glamping" tents with amenities like air-conditioning, a lot like our glamping experience in a covered wagon two years ago outside Capitol Reef National Park in Utah. This time we opted for a more normal cabin.

I was very positively impressed with Crater Lake Resort, and I would highly recommend it to anyone traveling here. It is mostly an RV park enhanced with cabins and amenities like playgrounds and recreational equipment like kayaks and canoes for navigating up and down along Fort Creek.

Crater Lake Resort stands out in this region because it was far more accommodating than the small towns with so little to offer on the way here. I would say that this little Crater Lake Resort was more accommodating, welcoming, convenient, and relaxing than even the ritzy Sunriver Resort, mostly because pandemic-mandated rules negate most of the advantages of a large resort. Emotional tension is built into the pandemic-mandated procedures at Sunriver, adding procedural rigors around obtaining basic necessities like food. Crater Lake Resort made excellent use of modern technology while exploiting its inherently lower density to more easily adapt to the pandemic and still present a low-key atmosphere. Cabin 11 felt at least as spacious as the room back at Sunriver too.

With our physiological needs satisfied and our intended destination reached, we had a chance to relax. Crater Lake National Park was a wife-mandated item, and she was so excited to be so close that she wanted all of us to drive up to have a look and pick up Junior Ranger booklets while we had daylight. Did we have the range to do it? Of course yes, even if I had not begun charging here.

At my wife's insistence, we packed up what we needed for a short day visit and made our way to Crater Lake on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway. We stopped at some of the viewpoints along the way, including Annie Creek. Time Event Range Remaining 2:51 pm Departed Crater Lake Resort 154 3:39 pm Arrive Rim Village 103 Range/Distance ratio: 2.28 Conditions: Uphill, sightseeing, 71°F When we arrived we quickly obtained the Junior Ranger booklets and Park maps, then we had a chance to take in the views of Crater Lake itself from the Rim Village, and it was stunning. I had been here when I was eleven, but this was the first time for the rest of my family.

We were well-rewarded by the early visit. The weather was excellent so it was easy to see clear across the lake, which easily demonstrated its deep blue hue. We learned that because the source of the water was solely snow and rain from the sky, no sediments or mineral deposits from rivers and other run-off like in typical lakes enter this lake allowing the water to be unusually clean and pure. Combined with a 1949-foot depth, this lake is unique because it can scatter more blue light from waters far deeper than other lakes can.

We had a great time taking pictures of the lake and of ourselves with the lake, taking as much time as we needed to take in the views from a few locations around the south rim. We saved the bigger excursions here for the next day. As the sun became lower and the weather became cooler, we shopped in the nearby gift store for shirts, coasters, and other Crater Lake-related items before it closed.

Time Event Range Remaining about 5 pm Departed Crater Lake 91 5:27 pm Arrive Crater Lake Resort 88 Range/Distance ratio: 0.15 Conditions: Downhill After a very enjoyable but brief visit to Crater Lake National Park, we returned to our room down the hill to have dinner. I plugged in my car while we cooked our food in our cabin. Cost to Charge: $0

After dinner we allowed the children to pick out desserts from the store, which we carried outside to the playground to let them play and relax. Afterwards we took the short hike to the other side of the creek and around the facilities here. It was a pleasant evening. By the time we returned to the room plenty of other people checked into other cabins and using their RVs. We settled for the night while my car charged next to the propane tank.