In search of the continuous road trip
Overheard this exchange in a bar the other day: “Memphis? Didn’t you get the memo?” “I know, I know. I’m supposed to be moving to Portland.” “Everybody that moves away from here moves to Portland!” “There’s no music scene in Portland. It’s much better in …
I’m going to miss Oregon. The full-service gasoline, the protected coastline, the strict development zones of its cities. California is coming. Fucking California. California is like Texas but filled with things I like. I like the wine, I like the weather, I like the geography … but …
I always grab the local newspaper. Always. You never know what you’ll find. You may be passing through a tiny town with a really awesome boat tradition and totally miss it without the local paper. With a little local news luck, we headed into Pacific …
The Oregon coast is special. In 1967, Oregon passed a bill making the ENTIRE coast public land. Like any legislation, it’s complicated, but Wikipedia sums it up well: The Oregon Beach Bill allows free beach access to everyone. This Bill allows private beach landowners to retain certain …
When we originally selected our trip vehicle, we were going for inconspicuousness. Just in case…just in case we got in a bind and needed to sleep on a street or at a rest area. Just in case we needed to blend in — in case …
In Salt Lake City, we found ourselves surrounded by believers, unsure what to do. Same thing happened in Portland. But instead of religious peeps, we were surrounded by hipsters, evangelical hipster fundamentalists. Beards, thick-rimmed glasses, skinny jeans, single-speed bicycles … oh my! Like in SLC, …
I should have known better than to get my hopes up. I had really high hopes for Portland, but Portland didn’t return my compliments. Instead, Portland made me feel old, boring, dreadfully normal! Maybe I should thank Portland for giving me a preview of how …
My knowledge of the Oregon Trail is almost entirely gleaned from the Apple IIe game of my childhood. Whenever I see The Dalles on the map, I recall my fictitious children dying of dysentery, my successful (and unsuccessful) attempts at fording rivers, my ability to …