ROAD TRIP!! - Vancouver to Washington & Oregon - part 3

Hi,

So now, having spent too little time in Eugene, I had my final destination, Bend, on the radar, a short 130 miles east over the Cascade Mountain Range.

My 2.20pm, $1.25 bus took me along Highway 126 all the way out to McKenzie Bridge, some 50 miles. Now that's a bargain!! I'm loving all these super-cheap 'local' buses that take me miles and miles in the direction I'm headed. En route, I had as my theme music on my Discman the most recent Death Cab For Cutie cdee 'Transatlanticism', getting hyped and pumped up for the show the next day. I'm truly getting excited about this gig. The trip so far has gone pretty much 100% according to plan, with no dramas or hiccups to throw me off track. Fingers crossed it stays this way.

Dropped off at the Willamette State Forest Park Ranger Station, I was briefly in the company of hikers, fisherman, kayakers and all sorts of other outdoorsy type people.



This spot is the Gateway to all manner of nature-based sports, a spot I could easily spend endless amounts of time. But instead of registering my presence at the Ranger Station, I walked the opposite way to the highway, made my sign "East - Sisters, Bend", stuck out my thumb, and waited. I was getting to be an old pro at this by now!!

It was another hot day, above 30 degrees Celsius, and was thankful to be picked up within 1/2 an hour by Eric and Crystal, 20-something first year newlyweds on their way to another wedding, by a lake in the forest.



I love hippie weddings!!

Ride Distance - 40 miles

After being dropped off at the Suttle Lake turn-off, I spent just barely 20 minutes waiting before an old 1980's Chrysler convertible pulled over the side of the road. This I call my "Thelma and Louise" incident. Two sisters in their 40's, Emma and Barbara, cruising the country in a convertible pull over to pick up an itinerant hitch-hiker. Now, I ain't no Brad Pitt, but these two girls were no Geena Davis or Susan Sarandon either. That's as close as the Thelma and Louise comparisons get.







Anyhow, these two drove me right (around the!) into Bend, arriving just in time for me to disturb my next host with a phone call right in the middle of making a Spanish Rice dinner. Mmmmmm. Mike and Tamara, a couple in their 30's, live outside of Bend, on a property of 5 acres, with their 10-year-old son Kody, boxer dog, Amigo, 3 chickens....and Lulu the camel! I remember getting an email saying that they'd love to have me stay and help train a camel and was very intrigued. Now, I was face to face with her.





Unfortunately a combination of events prevented me from doing this - Mike's hernia operation the previous week, my short stay, and of course the gig the following day.

They are also avid extreme sports fanatics, and Bend is famed as the perfect location for hiking, biking, skiing, snowboarding, skydiving, kayaking, you name it. So it came as no surprise to me that they have all sorts of toys in their garage, including a homemade penny-farthing bicycle!! This sweet little ride is painted hot-red and is tricked out with flames on the leather seat and fat tyres. If only the crew back in Vancouver could see me now, riding this thing around the front yard!!



The people I meet - I tell ya, it's awesome!!





So, it's now Saturday August 6th, the big day of the gig. I have completed my mission, achieved my objective of getting down here by only thumb and local bus and free beds, and come in at under US$150 expenditure - waaaaaaayy under budget, sooooo, I got some play money!!!



Jon and Tabitha from Portland are coming down to this gig as well, so the plan is to meet them at the gig around 3-4pm, just before it all kicks off. It's another scorching hot 30+ degree day, perfect blue skies with just a touch of a light breeze to take the edge off the heat. Perfect for a festival.



The venue is the Les Schwab Amphitheatre, an outdoor grassed area right by the banks of the Willamette River, a sweet, serene spot, and as we arrive there is a real picnic-y light and easy vibe in the air.



Surveying the crowd, you could tell there was a definite college feel about the place. Lots of grunge-y obscure band tee's over long sleeves, ripped jeans, skate shoes, wacky hairdo's, and a distinct 'green' scent in the air. This is the audience for these bands without a doubt.





The gig wasted no time in taking off, the first band Viva Voce actually starting 5 minutes early! They're a husband and wife 2piece act, and ala Jack and Meg White of The White Stripes produce quite a big sound for two members, altho in quite a sonically different style altogether. This 2 piece are more fuzzy-pop than dirty blues, and in their 30minute set did a very good job of it too. This was the one band on the bill I had never heard of, and was prompted by the set to buy one of the 3 cdee's they'd put out.



Pedro The Lion were next. Another two-piece, I'd seen these guys support Low back in March in Vancouver, and were impressed with them then, and I was impressed with them today. Nothing's changed. They didn't have any merchandise for sale then, and they didn't have any today either. This is Tabitha's favourite band in the world, and as we sat 1/2 way up the back on our rug she was bopping away to her hearts content. Just a shame their set was only 30 minutes as well. I was made to promise I'd send her copies of the pics I took of them. Yes, as per usual I had my camera out, snapping each band, and getting some sweet crowd shots as well. I love people watching!



The band I was most curious about was The Decemberists. Their cdee 'Picaresque' had pretty heavy airplay on KEXP earlier this year, and I came to know the album pretty well. I just wanted to see if they could cut it live on stage. They have quite a big, carnivalesque, dramatic sound which can sometimes fall flat live. This wasn't the case here - they were brilliant! Everything worked a treat - they had the usual guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and were rounded out nicely with violin, double bass and piano-accordian, giving the band a kind of creole gyspy-ish sort of sound. The boppy, fun aspect was not lost on the crowd, and the audience participation section of the show during "The Mariners Revenge Song" was second to none, and had me up dancing a merry little jig. I even got a crowd round-of-applause!! Fantastic. Cdee purchase #2 right there.



In between bands I noticed a number of hacky-sack games going on. I shouldn't have been surprised. This is pretty much a given at an event like this, as its also a given that I'm gonna join in on a hacky sesh when I see one. I love that shit!! The fact that I'm actually reasonably good at it helps - I'm not very skillful at many things, so when I get good at one, I'll take it!! :-)

Built To Spill were up next. I'd seen this band live just 2 months ago as well, and had to leave early as it was the day before my Juan De Fuca hike. This time I'd get to see them in full. This is a band that had been in and out of my musical radar since the mid 90's, one of those fringe bands that you hear about, and then nothing, so you assumed they'd broken up, only to put out another album when you least expected it. Altho they didn't have any new material to tour on, Built To Spill seem to be a full-time touring band nonetheless. It shows - they know their music, and were tight as hell, their jangly, fuzzy-distorted indie rock sounded as good as ever, especially on thier wig-out extended jam sessions. Their set was on just as the sun was setting as well, and the sounds seemed to fit quite nicely with the scene. Alas, they had no merch for sale either.





Finally, the headline act, Death Cab For Cutie. A long-time staple of the U.S. college indie scene, this band have broken thru to the big time, in no small part due to getting feature airplay on "The O.C." TV show, and their last release "Transatlanticism" being absolutely brilliant. Oh, getting signed to a major label like Atlantic for the first time can't but help either. This band only came to my attention earlier this year, once again KEXP being responsible, but they've been around for 6-7 years and developed a very strong and loyal fanbase on the college circuit.





However, checking out the crowd right down the front this night, I'd say the fanbase for this band has expanded somewhat and would be more the 16-20 year old girlies now, due to the O.C. coverage. Nevertheless, they were brilliant. There is that certain geeky charm about them ala Weezer that appeals, and they write the perfect indie rock-pop tunes. They had a tour DVD on sale, so bought that, as well as a T-Shirt. Like I said earlier, I had play money!!



Okay, so now the gig's over and it's time to go home and altho hyped and excited about what's just passed, the post-gig deflation sets in. When you've been waiting for something for so long, you just don't want it to end, and that's how I felt then on the drive back to Mike and Tam's. Jon and Tabitha also had the invite to stay, so there was a bit of a couchsurfers gathering in the house. It's great when things like this come together so nicely.

The awesome thing about being way out in the middle of nowhere was just how many stars you can see in the sky. All 5 of us stepped out into Mike and Tam's backyard to lie down on the trampoline and star gaze for an hour or so. The Moon wasn't up yet, so there was even more than usual. Trying to spot Mars, which apparently was passing by, proved to be a futility. What a fantastic way to end a fantastic day tho! I went to sleep that night with a smile on my face. Life was good!

August 7th. Time to go home. Tabitha and Jon had a friend in Bend to catch up with for breakfast, so the awesome Westside Bakery was the first port of call. Next stop, Portland and a 1.35pm Greyhound bus, which would get me back to Vancouver at 11pm that night. Midway thru brekky tho, I realised I'd left my phone at the house and we had to kill 20minutes driving out there to get it, which meant leaving it very touch-and-go indeed as to whether I'd make the bus.

Driving thru central Oregon, over the mountain range and thru the forest by the stunning Mount Hood, despite Jon's best efforts, I missed the bus by 20 minutes.







Damn that 20minute detour! From here I had two options: wait 3hours until 5pm for a bus terminating in Seattle, one that stopped in every two-bit town along the way, and then kill another 3 hours in Seattle waiting for the connection to Vancouver; or, sit in Portland until 8.30pm for a direct ride, via Seattle. Either way, I'd get into Vancouver at 5am the next morning.

I opted for option 1. I spent my time in Portland checking out the coolest records shops and bookstores in town. I even found Pedro The Lion and Built To Spill cdee's to purchase, as well as a couple of other local efforts. The Greyhound bus to Seattle was pretty uneventful, altho coming down the I-5 into downtown from the soutside at night provided the immensely pleasing to the eye spectacle of Seattle's skyline with the distinctive Space Needle dominating the vista.

Killing three hours in Seattle wasn't a problem, and the 12.30am bus was on its way before I knew it. Sleep on the bus was rudely disturbed by Customs and Immigration at the border. It's a pain in the butt having to ask all these silly inane questions while your wiping the sleep out of your bloodshot eyes.

5am, August 8th, we pull into Vancouver, and I'm looking forward to getting home - but I don't have my keys! So, I sit around the station for a bit, then take a nap on a bench in the park like a local bum, then at the more reasonable hour of 7am, call my housemate Ceri to let me in the apartment. What a way to finish off the trip. I can't believe it took me 19 hours to get from Bend to Vancouver!!

All in all, I call this trip a spectacular success. Everything went according to plan, with only the extended stretch looking for a ride out of Salem, and this last stretch on the bus being the only minor hiccups. I had an amazing time, being out on the road, sampling a new way of travelling, and meeting loads of new people, making a bunch of new friends along the way, while graciously accepting the kindness and hospitality of the good people of the USA (they do exist!!)

I hope this wasn't too long an entry - it's hard sometimes when so much is going on!

Cheers,

Tony

ROAD TRIP!! - Vancouver to Washington & Oregon - part 2

Hi,

Next destination, Portland, Oregon - a nice 120mile, 2 1/2 hour drive - if I was to go straight down the I-5. But that would be too easy, and too boring, especially when I had the coastal Highway 101 option.

So this is what I did. For a measly US$1.50, I jumped on the intercity bus to Aberdeen, just 50 miles west of Olympia. I did have an ulterior motive to hit this town as well tho, I must confess. Aberdeen is Kurt Cobain's hometown. It's been described in books about him, that it is a depressing logging and lumber mill town, and a haven for rednecks. I couldn't confirm or deny much of this as I was only there for an hour or so, but I did see a lot of enormous tree logs being carted about on backs of trucks. While riding the 40miles or so out there, I thought it appropriate to stick Nirvana's 'Greatest Hits' cdee into my Discman as theme music for the journey.



What I did see tho was the bridge that Kurt once upon a time lived under, and took a few pics of "The Muddy Banks of the Wishkah" River, before getting on another local bus to a tiny wee town named Cosmopolis.





Here, at around 1pm, I joined up with Highway 101 to recommence the hitching lark. Altho, from here, it wasn't quite such a lark. Being a much less travelled highway, the traffic was very light, and it was some 30-40minutes before I got a ride. But man, what a ride this was!!



Ken was an ageing hippie, mid 50's, driving a huge van with a surfboard in the back. He was also, if he was to be believed, a US Army Drill sergeant for 15 years who served in Vietnam, a lumber mill logger, co-owned a boat that ran medical supplies between Hawaii and the Pacific Islands, lived in Australia for a bit, took surfing photography for magazines, all the while surfing every inch of the West Coast of the States. On this ride, he was driving down the coast to Newport, Oregon to meet up with a dozen of his grandkids to take them on a surfing holiday camp for 2 weeks.

No matter, he was friendly, and entertaining as hell. For every story I had, he had one that was 10 times bigger, better, more dramatic, and funnier. The ride he offered originally was to Seaside, which then extended all the way down to Tillamook. All the while, he offered to stop at several points along the way so that I could take touristy snaps.

I've been advised several times that "if you ever head south, you HAVE to check out the Washington-Oregon coast, it's out of this world beautiful". They're right! If I wasn't heading back inland to Portland, I would have stayed on the ride all the to Newport. As it was I was sad to leave it at Tillamook. A couple of the most memorable bits were:

* Driving over the bridge at the mouth of the Columbia River that separates Washington and Oregon. This is an incredibly wide mouth, leading as it does out to the Pacific Ocean, the bridge spanning some 4.1 miles.



* Stopping at the viewpoints at Cannon Beach and seeing the beach stretch down the coast for miles, with rocky outcrops jutting out of the sea, semi-reminiscent of the Twelve Apostles along the Great Ocean Road back home in Oz.

(I've since been reliably informed, that this particular rock formation below is called "Haystack Rock")





Ride Distance: 150 miles

We were having such fun on this journey that the 3 hours this stretch should take actually took us 5 1/2 hours! And so it was well after 6pm when I got dropped off, still quite a ways away from my end destination. I sat at the edge of town of Tillamook, on the Highway 6 beginning for close to an hour, and was about to concede to the idea of getting a B&B here. "15 minutes more" I said to myself. 10 minutes of that 15 passed when I got my next ride, all the way into Portland.





Jerome was mid 30's, an ex-con, having spent time in jail when he was 'young and stupid, partying hard and thinking little', but these days doing odd construction jobs and looking after his twin 13-year old boy and girl. A bit of a redneck whose furtherest venture from home was to Montana. He was one of those folk who believed that "I have everything I want here in my own backyard, why would I want to leave?"



Ride Distance - 70miles

There was somewhat of a pattern forming here with my rides. They were all kind of down -at-heel, working low-paying blue-collar jobs or somewhere towards the fringe of society. None drove especially nice cars. Another thing was that they all said they'd hitched before at some point in their life. Many said they no longer picked up hitch-hikers, because of 'society these days', but made an exception for me "because there was just something about you that made me stop". I don't know what that something is, but it seems to be working. Maybe, its because I'm a skinny white boy who poses absolutely no threat to them, who knows.

My plan for Portland was 2 nights, not nearly enough for a city like this, one that's up there with Seattle in vibe, attitude, hip and cool culture and amazing music scene. Another Pacific NorthWest city with an edgy, left-leaning, counter-cultural groove. Among other things, Portland is the bike capital of the country, something you may guess is held in pretty high importance in my book. But 2 nights was all that I could manage on this trip.

So, Jerome drops me in Portland at the edge of the University district with the sun rapidly dropping, and I realise that I don't have the phone number of my contacts in Portland on me. They are in an email on my Yahoo account. Okay, so lets find an internet cafe in town. I don't know why, but there seems to be an absolute dearth of net cafe's in Portland. Loads of cafe's that have wi-fi set up for laptops, but no proper net cafe's. I asked 3 different locals for directions to one, all of which were bogus. Finally, it was suggested I check out Powell's Books, one of a number of amazing bookshops in town, got the numbers and met up with Livi, the first of my two Portland hosts, altho by this time it was pushing 10pm, I was knackered and went straight to bed.

I had every intention of spending as much time checking out Portland that evening, and was kinda bummed I didn't get to spend more time hanging with Livi and her gorgeous Dalmation pup, Kelp.



As it was, the next morning we had breakfast and a good chat at a cool newly opened cafe in the east end of town, and then unfortunately had to part ways, Livi to work, and I to my 2nd Portland host. En route to my new temporary home, I got chatting to the bus driver, who got my #1 vote for kind deed of the day by giving me an all-day transit pass for free. Nice!

You know, there is one small thing that sucks about travelling like this, passing thru quickly and meeting new friends in new towns, mid-week - everyone else has to work! These people I meet, that are putting me up in their homes, well, I mean, I know I'm dropping into their daily lives, but I'd just like to spend more time with them, and get to know them somewhat. Case in point being Tabitha and Jon, my 2nd Portland hosts, and two of the nicest people you could meet. I had just enough time to drop my stuff off before Jon had to scoot to work at Starbucks. They wouldn't be home again until 9-10pm.

Thankfully, there's a load to do in Portland, and I made full use of the awesome 30-something degree weather, my free transit pass, as well as walking all over the city. Hawthorne Boulevard is like Commercial Drive in Vancouver, a boho, studenty strip full of bars, cafe's, bookshops, record stores and the like, a street I completely adored.











The Columbia River cuts thru the centre of the city, spanned by 9 bridges, all architecturally different, which provides an interesting vista, and is also lined by pretty, grass-lined esplanades along its banks.





Then there's the cities numerous downtown parks, with numerous small but very interesting museums. As a respite in the heat of the day, I headed to Washington Park where the Japanese Garden is located, a cool retreat of zen-like calm and serenity, replete with waterfalls and bonsai collections.









In short, Portland has everything I could possibly want in a city, from the vibe and attitude to sights and scenery. It's also known as the Rose of Oregon for its beauty. i couldn't agree more. Before I knew it, it was almost 9pm, time to head back, and I'd also realised I hadn't eaten since lunch. Just so happens that Jon & Tabitha live about 30 seconds away from a neat little cafe with an awesome creole spicy spaghetti dish...Mmmmmm.

This trip is moving too quickly. Time to move again! Hop the #12 into town to get another bus to the southside of the city, only to realise after I got off, that I should have stayed on the #12 coz that took me exactly where I needed to go! D'oh! But then I eventually get there, and am told I need one more bus (thankfully free) to get to Wilsonville, where I would recommence the sticking-out-of-the-thumb routine. End Destination, Eugene.

Luck is on my side again. Twenty minutes wait gets me a ride with Anthony and Crystal. As it turns out, I could stay with them all the way thru to Eugene, but I had to stop in Salem, about 1/2 way there, Portland's capital, and home of the Rose of Salem, Rose Barker, another couchsurfing host who i had originally planned to stay with, and also a friend of Tabitha's. I only had 2 hours in Salem, lunching and swapping stories with Rose and two of her friends, also couchsurfers, Manny and Greg.



Sushi lunch done, I was dropped off at South Salem. My luck finally ran out here. 102 degrees on the American Fahrenheit scale (about 38 Celsius), and I got stuck out on the I-5. I waited in one spot for an hour or so without success, noted on my map another on-ramp a mile down the road and decided to hit that. It was worse than the first. I then hit upon a routine of walking a mile, waiting 15 minutes, walking another mile, waiting 15 minutes and so on. About 3 hours in and one guy responded to my waving arms and stuck out thumb. His name was Steve, and all I could get out of him conversation wise was "I can take you as far as Albany", "I work for the military" and "I do maintenance". Up to this point on the trip, I had been asking nicely if I could photograph my rides for a souvenir of sorts, with most folk saying 'Yeah sure!". I was too afraid to ask this guy!

Two more rides in quick succession took me 5 miles down the road to Lebanon, from Tricia - the only single female to pick me up, and two blokes whose names I didn't get, in a ute, who said I could ride in the back all the way into Eugene. This was the most fun ride, screaming down the freeway at 70miles per hour, wind rushing thru my (rapidly thinning) hair, speeding past farmlands with distant mountain ranges silhouetted in the background and the sun approaching the horizon.



Eventually, I hooked up with my Eugene host, Ethan, who took me along to a friends barbecue. Little did I know that Ethan and co were fervent Christians, and while everyone was super friendly, there was always that hardcore religious overtones that flowed thru every conversation that made me feel just a tad uncomfortable. Most of the group were guys and gals in the mid to late-20's, a seemingly normal bunch talking about football and politics and so on, the usual standard BBQ (minus any alcohol whatsoever). Some had played soccer professionally while travelling the world and spreading "The Word", others had worked Tsunami Relief in Indonesia, while spreading "The Word". I didn't quite know how to fit in to conversations, and felt really guilty if I slipped out an expletive. Odd.



At the end of the night, someone suggested a 'prayer circle', and the 20 or so folks at the gathering huddled together as if in a rugby scrum, inviting me in to the circle to offer thanks and prayers and goodwill etc, and to "God Bless our new friend Tony on his travels, and may the Lord look over him and keep him safe wherever he may roam. Amen." or something to that effect. Granted, a nice gesture, by nice people, but I was kinda creeped out by it a bit. I just smiled and said "Thanks".

Getting back to Ethan's gaff, I was confronted by a life-size Jesus painting, with a mirror in place where his face would be. Whoa. Next morning I asked if there was somewhere I could check my email, and was driven to his church where he had an office, and used it there.

Eugene is a neat little college town, altho being out of semester, the place seemed kinda slow.



I had been told of a bus out to the east of town was at 2pm-ish, so I had 3 hours to check the place out. I opted to wander on foot and spent quite a bit of time at the 5th Street Public Market (markets are always good value), then scuttled to Skinner Butte Hill for a view over the whole town, and on the way back down bumped into Eugene's oldest building, built in 1888 - not that old really, I suppose.



With an extra couple of hours I would've liked to have checked out the University of Oregon's Museums of Art and Natural History - whose main claim to fame is owning the world oldest pair of running shoes, dated at 10,000 years old (the things you learn!!).

more to come...