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I thought the drive to Portland was 7 hours, but that must be if you go through Seattle. It only took me 5 1/2, even with a few necessary stops for water. It was really hot and sunny so my sunroof and window were open with my limbs hanging out, well just one limb, my left arm. If I had not been tanning and been white like when Sweetwater and I went to SoCal, my arm would be very burnt.
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The last water stop I made was at Grocery Outlet in The Dalles. The checkstands were filled with high class citizens with coupons and redeemable aluminum cans (5 cents a can in Oregon I think). But this one friendly checker picked me out of my line and said, “I can help you.” So I followed her over to her checkout stand but there was already a lady there with aluminum cans. So I stood there with my one Dasani water watching them count the cans, move them into different plastic bags, discuss the one plastic bottle that was included, screw up the redemption process on the computer, call for a manager to come help, watch the lady behind me move to a different line, watch the people that were behind me in the other line leave the store, have the manager called again because when my water was rang up there were leftover errors from the can-lady, and finally get my 99 cent water, which I apparently saved 20 cents on compared to other stores. Woo hoo!
You know those fish symbols people put on the back of their car, generally referring to Darwin or something? I saw one in Portland that said, “Lutefisk.”
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Another cool sign I saw was on the back of a semi. “Explosives.” A good vehicle to follow…
When I got to Portland I went and got an STA travel card, which I got a special deal on… and then I crashed Jon’s solo party at his place. We went and played ultimate frisbee for a couple hours with the kids here in Portland; it was good to do some running to contrast with my day of driving and the next day of flying.
Contrast. Lots of contrast to follow…