DAY 91- Cadillacs, RV's, & Horses...

I decided to wake up early and get over to the famous Cadillac Ranch before the sun had risen much in the sky. I thought that it might make a more interesting photo with the angled light.  It was turning into a pretty sunrise as I drove the 2 miles that was practically a straight shot from my hotel.  I was the only one out there for all of 5 minutes. 

Photo- Cadillac Ranch with the sunrise behind it.

There was just a little gate out by the frontage road and then a dirt track that was about ¼ mile into where the ten cars were buried nose first into the Texas dirt.  The hotel clerk wasn’t lying when he said it was open 24 hours a day.  There were two spray paint cans sitting out and the other two, a cyclist and a gal in a van, asked if they were mine and then tried them to find that they were empty.  I hadn’t even been aware that you could graffiti the cars if you wanted to.  Of course, it was bring your own paint can if you did.  I just kind of marveled at why anyone would bury cars like these.    

Back at the hotel, I got ready for the day and got directions for the other places I wanted to go visit for the day.  The hotel didn’t provide a free breakfast at this one so I headed out hoping to find a place to get a cheap breakfast like Denny’s or something like that.  I ended up at the Waffle House, which is a chain in the south here that’s a bit of a dive diner but it’s a cheap breakfast.  I sat at the counter and ended up striking up a conversation with a guy from New York who was in Amarillo for business. 

It was rather funny because it seemed like he was glad to be talking to someone not from Texas.  He started in talking about how they talk slower down here and between that and the accent he keeps on having them repeat what they are saying.  He also said that they were mostly the blue collar type and he didn't fit in well with them.  Then, they kind of complain that he talks too fast too.  He went on and told me a story about how an old high school friend had passed away.  His friend had been a Dallas Football fan and wanted his ashes spread around at the stadium in Dallas.  He just got down doing that this last week with other friends.  Then, we somehow got on the subject of Donald Trump and how many wives he’s gone through and I almost laughed out loud when the guy said that Donald wasn’t very good marriage material.  I’ve heard women say stuff like that before but I never heard a guy say that before; just when you thought you had heard it all.

Photo- The outside of the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum in Amarillo.

Next, I was on down I-40 a little bit further for the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum.  The headquarters for the American Quarter Horse Association is right next door to the Hall of Fame and Museum; nice how that worked out.  As soon as I got out of my car, I’m greeted with some amazing horse statues.  I went in with limited knowledge of horses having only done my first horseback ride literally a few months ago.  I paid $5 and was directed to first go see the film.  On the way to the theater where they show a 17 minute film on continuous loop through the day, I walked through the Hall of Fame.  I will say that I did recognize some of the names and faces which rather surprised me.

Photo- The American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame.

While I waited for the film to restart again, I looked at some amazing horse oil paintings on the wall in the theater room.  The film was about a little girl and her horse; from there it talked about how much of our great country was built from being on the back of an American Quarter horse that has a great deal of versatility in what they can be used for.  I found it interesting because I never thought about what all that a horse could do.

Photo- A comparative of a man's lungs to a horse's lungs in the educational gallery.

Next, I went into the educational gallery area where there were fun kids interactive things to do in where you learned more about horses.  It went over the lineage of the horses and how the quarter horse came into being.  It went over the care of horses, the anatomy of horses, and possible careers in horses.  I was the BIG kid and I found that I was even possibly learning just a bit.

From there I went upstairs where there was a timeline about the history of horses from the late 1500’s up till almost present day.  I especially liked how in the timeline they would list other things that were going on in national or world history.  It kind of helped to put a historical perspective in it that made it easier to understand; at least it did for me.  I swung quickly by the gift shop, got a couple of post cards and I was off to the next place on my list.

Photo- The outside of the RV Museum.

The next place on my list was Jack Sisemore’s Traveland RV Museum.  I know this was a bit off the wall to say the least but it was partly because it was off the wall and different that I decided that I HAD to go check it out.  The RV Museum is in a back warehouse area of a current RV dealership but they are more than happy to direct you out to where you need to go and they are very nice about it too.

Photo- The Flxible that was used in the RV movie that Robin Williams was in. 

On the outside of the warehouse that houses the museum there’s a HUGE painted sign that says Jack Sisemore RV Museum.  The Sisemore Family began restoring and collecting unusual RV’s over 25 years ago and they’ve built a museum to display them.  They are several gems among the collection but the three that really stood out to me were: the 1948 Flxible that was in the movie RV in which Robin Williams was in, the 1921 Ford Lamsteed Kampkar that was ready to mount on the side of a model “T” Ford chassis which would “comfortably slept 6” (No way would 6 fit in there), and the 1946 Tear Drop Kit that I could very well find handy myself on my current trip.
 

Photo- The Lamsteed Kampkar-- It's advertised as sleeping 6 comfortably...
Where? And How?

The RV Museum was definitely built with love and a passion for the RV and it did feel like a bit of a walk into the past.  It’s open Monday through Saturday from 9AM to 5PM and is free to the public.  It’s also just a short bit off of the freeway too; which worked in nice for jumping back on the freeway and heading to Lubbock which was my next stop in Texas.

Photo- The 1946 Tear Drop Kit-- Now I could use one of these!

It was another section of flat boring drive through Texas on the way to Lubbock.  I will say this that Lubbock once I arrived was very, very easy to figure out how to find places; the streets were numbers or letters and very consistent.  I found the hotel got checked in and asked if there was a good BBQ place nearby.  All of the gals behind the counter just looked at me.  Well, I said I thought I was in Texas and might try some of you famous BBQ.  To which I heard one of the gals was a vegetarian and the other didn’t like BBQ.  Great I thought!  I think I need to rethink this asking the hotel staff where to eat.

Photo- Bigham's Smokehouse a local BBQ place in Lubbock, TX.

One of the other gals that they brought up front suggested a place nearby called Bigham’s Smokehouse which was a few blocks away.  That’s where I went after I ran my bags upstairs.  There were only two tables when I went inside this rustic wooden restaurant but there were cars going through a drive through on a regular basis.  I looked at the menu and then asked the guy behind the counter what was popular in the restaurant.  He said that the brisket was the most popular item on the menu followed by the pulled pork.  I ordered a two meat combo plate with onion rings and a drink.  I carried my full tray over to a table and ate.  The brisket was okay but I thought that the pulled pork was really the gem of this place.  But you have to consider that’s coming from a Yankee! J

DAY 64- The Mother Road, Road Kill, & Prescott…

I opted to get up early and use the fitness facilities at the London Bridge Resort.  I put on some workout clothes and went out to the car for my running shoes.  Threw those on in the quiet fitness room and stepped on the treadmill or as I often referred to is as the dreadmill.  I started with a quick fast paced walking warm up and then every 30 seconds I started to increase the speed up to 5.5mph which is about an 11min/mile.  It was there that I hit the threshold.  That was as fast as I could go and I was a bit disappointed because a few months ago I was running a 10:30 min/mile.  I’m slowing down and I need to get out more often run or bike and push myself when I do it too.

Prescott, AZ was the goal today and I headed north to I-40 and started heading east.  Just before Kingman, I see a sign for historic Route 66 and mention of a museum.  That sounded interesting to me so I took the exit.  About a block down I find a large building off to my right that’s called the Powerhouse Visitors Center.  I walked in, on one side is a souvenir store and on the other there’s an information both with tons of brochures about the area and Arizona; its Arizona tourists central!  Upstairs there’s a museum. 

I go upstairs and two older ladies are sitting at a desk at the entrance of the museum door.  It’s $4 to get in.  I get out my bicyclist wallet and drop it.  It pops open and credit cards and money go all over the place.  So I’m doing some small talk to the ladies as I’m crawled around on the floor picking up my stuff. I paid the ladies and walk into the museum.  It’s done in a time line fashion and talks about Route 66 history.  Route 66 started just outside of Chicago area and ended at the Santa Monica Pier.  

Photo- In the Powerhouse Visitor's Center Museum.

Route 66 started off as a major footpath that was commonly used by the Indians.  At this point Route 66 was known as the Mother Road.  This Mother Road was used later by pioneers in wagons to head out west.  The railroads were built along the same route.  Eventually, as cars came into existence they traveled along the road.  In 1926, the highway (the Mother Road) was certified as US Highway 66.  During the Great Depression millions traveled along Route 66 in hopes of finding new beginnings.  In fact, the mention of Route 66 in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath put the road on the map in history. 

After World War II, the economy surged and up along the Route 66 new towns, businesses, and restaurants came into being.  In the late 50’s and early 60’s, route 66 was in the height of its glory.  In 1957, President Eisenhower signed the bill that created the interstate system that we have today.  It ended up being the kiss of death for Route 66.  By the late 1970’s quite a few of the communities along Route 66 had turned into ghost towns; also some of the route had been paved over by the new interstates.  In the late 1980’s there was a resurgence of interest to save some of old Route 66.  Now some of the areas of the road are being maintained and have historic signage.  I found the museum very interesting.  I only thought of the 1950’s and 1960’s part of its history but there was so much more.

Photo- A great deal of Route 66 places in Kingman.

Next, I discovered that I could take another segment that goes along I-40 and it would get me to the same place.  Off I went along Route 66 again; only this road was quite a bit better maintained and traveled than the section I did yesterday.  I will admit as I went through the town of Kingman did market everything along the Route 66 and it kind of soured it for me because it was too much commercialized.  But as I went along the road, the scenery made up for all of the commercialization.  The colored rock formations gave way to sandy colored rocky piled formations and then to green topped bluffs with small green trees in fields of wheat colored grass.  It was very scenic.  I drove through an Indian reservation and I will say it was nothing compared to some of the reservations I have experienced so far.  This one looked very well kept up and had very nice community buildings.

Photo- Scenery along Route 66.

As I drove along, I saw old model T cars driving from the other direction.  They seemed to be in groups of two or three traveling along the road.  I counted at least 15 of them that past me from the other direction.  I found it interesting because they would’ve been the first cars on Route 66.  I did see other old classic cars along the route but most of them were parked and had for sale signs posted on them.

Photo- Older classic cars along Route 66.

I was ready for lunch and decided to take a chance with the Road Kill Café in Seligman.  I ended up ordering a diet Pepsi which came in a huge mason jar and a sandwich called Too-Slow-Doe.  Sorry to say there was no venison in this sandwich; it was a barbeque beef on a hoagie bun served up with your choice of fries, potato salad, or chips.  I sat at the bar and noticed there were tons of dollar bills along the ceiling of the bar area.  The dollar bills had names, dates, and numbers on them.  I asked the guy behind the bar what it was all about and he said that people leave a dollar with their name and date in hopes of locating it the next time they come through the area.  Well, good luck with that I said.  The guy laughed.

Photo- Road Kill Cafe where the motto is-
You Kill Them and We'll Grill Them!

I struck up a conversation with the guy and found out he was originally from LA.  He lived in Vegas for a while and somehow ended up here.  He would specify why he ended up here in a small town along Route 66 working at the Road Kill Café.  I asked him how he managed coming from large cities to a small town.  He said he goes to Vegas once a month.  I found him rather tight lipped and cagey.

Photo- A ceiling of dollar bills in the bar area at Road Kill Cafe.

Next, I decided to pick up the pace just a bit more and got back onto I-40.  Shortly, after that I was on Hwy 89 heading south to Prescott.  Oh, and I was told that all the locals pronounce it as PRES-kit.  I followed the Google directions again and took the LONG way to the hotel.  Go figure!  I got checked in and then drove to the Prescott’s downtown area.  It was starting to get dark already at 6pm; winter is here that’s for sure.  I went into a local gallery and got to talking with the guy manning the shop.  He was one of the artist in the shop and all of the artist take their turn manning the shop; it’s an artist’s collective.  I knew of several in Salt Lake City too.  This shop had quite a bit of variety. 

Photo- Inside of the Raven.

Then I asked about where to go eat and what not in the downtown area and he suggested the Raven.  It is like “Beer Nirvana” he said and none of that mainstream piss water served there.  That peaked my interest and it was about 3 blocks away.  I headed that direction and looked at menus in several other places along the way.  I also looked to see how busy or how much activity there was in some of these places.  Quite a few didn’t have much going on and then I got to the Raven and it had a hum of activity.

Photo- Artwork inside the Raven that's available for purchase.

The Raven serves coffee up during the day but serves beer and wine in the evenings.  They also have an organic menu which I’m sometimes wary of places that do that because then it’s to veggie for me.  But I saw a pita pizza on the menu and that sounded good.  It had sweet red peppers, onions, and olives with a bit of olive oil.  Unfortunately, they were out of the chicken that they could add on for a bit more but I had already waited in line so I stuck with just veggies and beer.  I tasted a couple and then decided on a pale ale from a local brewery.  They had at least 30 beers on tap and another variety of 40 bottled beers.  All of the beers were non-mainstream beers.  In other words you guys that drink Bud light were out of luck in this place.  I ordered at the counter then found a table along the wall.  They had some interesting art on the wall.  It really was an interesting atmosphere and there were Halloween decorations up which you would expect in a placed called the Raven.

Before I know it, I’m talking with a guy that is a disabled retired vet.  He’s planning a driving trip to Mexico starting in November.  We talked for a while and he bought me another beer.  It was an interesting conversation but what was driving me up the wall is the whole time he’s talking to me he’s staring at my chest.  I’m wearing a form fitting t-shirt and there’s no cleavage but he’s staring at my chest.  It was very disorientating.  He finally had to leave and I finished the beer he had bought me slowly.  Then, I walked back to the Prescott square which is the center of town where I had parked my car.  I found my way back to the hotel using a map the desk clerk had given me when I checked in.

DAY 60- Car Trouble...

It’s hard to believe it’s been 60 days, 2 months, since I headed out of Salt Lake City in my loaded up car heading for the northwestern US.  It’s interesting because this trip for the most part has been better than what I could’ve ever imagined in my wildest dreams.  I’ve learned to let go a little more and just be.  But I also have learned to be a little more confident as each day passes.  You only live life once and sometimes it’s so easy to hide in the everyday rhythm that you lose track of that. 

I’m lucky enough to be in a situation where there’s no true rhythm which doesn’t allow me to hide.  Sometimes that’s good but other times I get my “moments” where I want to hide and need a little down time.  I must admit that I’m working to find a bit of a balance but all in all it’s given me more freedom to just go and do than I have ever had in my life.  It’s like someone opening a HUGE double wide door and saying just go play.  The HUGE playground is 48 states and I’m plowing along with all of the gusto I can manage.

I started the day with the two egg option for the cook to order breakfast this morning at the Best Western Plus.  I thought I should mix it up a little and didn’t really feel like anything sweet after that HUGE piece of pineapple chiffon cake the night before.  I got packed up.  The plan for the day was to check out Palm Springs and then drive up to Laughlin, NV where I would stay for the next couple of nights.  The general plan is to head north just a bit and then over into Arizona.  I started loading my gear into my car when I noticed a puddle under my car.  Ah-oh!  I put my finger in it to see what it was and I pulled away red liquid; transmission fluid.  This was really not a good thing.

Photo- My poor car on the tow truck! :((

I decided to check out of the hotel and then head over to the nearest Jiffy Lube to have them take a quick look and possibly then refer me to a nearby automotive repair shop.  I turned a left on to Hwy 111 from my hotel and immediately the car started to act sluggish.  I could barely get it to go up to 30mph.  Oh-no!  I pull over and take a right at the next street but there’s no parking on the road just a bike path area.  I take a left turn into a subdivision and park the car. 

I get out my AAA card and call the card on the back.  Please, please… I think to myself let it be that I stopped it soon enough that no true damage was done to the transmission.  I give my info to the man on the phone who then transfers me to a woman that dispatches for the AAA southern California area.  I give her the address to the house across the street which is the only address I can see in the area.  She estimates it’ll be a 20-25 min. wait before the tow truck will be there.  It ended up being only about 15 minutes before I see the tow truck driving down the road. 

I stood outside my car and am waving at the tow truck driver but he’s looking at the address of the houses across the street and almost passes me.  Then, he stops and gets out.  “I’m sorry”, he says and then he slowly shakes his head side to side like Ray Charles.  “I must be blind that I didn’t see you right in front of me.  Sorry about that!”  I’m cracking up and say, “It’s Ray Charles my tow truck driver.”  He laughs, takes a look at my AAA card with driver’s lisc. and then asks what the problem is. 

I tell him and he gets my car key.  He directs me to get in the air-conditioned cab of his truck while he gets my car on the bed of the tow truck. Within a short bit he’s in the truck with me and has me sign a form which he teasingly says I’m signing my life away.  I ask if the AAA automotive repair shop is very far away.  No he says it’s about four miles away, and I say that’s good because I have a 100 miles distance with AAA.  He says he can take me the scenic drive to the shop.  Great, I say I can get the sights in of Palm Desert on the way huh?  I couldn’t help but laugh.

You’ve got an infectious laugh he says as he turns the truck around.  Then he goes onto say you know most people are not laughing in situations like this.  What else am I supposed to do being mad or angry about it won’t change it or make it better so I might as well laugh about it?  Just go with the flow.  Then, I tell him about the last time my transmission had given out on a road trip along the Oregon Coastline.  Another road trip he asks and I end up telling him about my two year plan. 

2 years!?!  He exclaims.  Wow!  He keeps on looking at me with this look of disbelief.  That’s something he’s never heard of anyone doing before and he thinks it’s cool.  That’s really cool he says.  We continue to talk as he drives to the repair shop.  He talks about the one time he drove on a trip to the Oregon coastline with no set plans.  He said it was the best family trip he can remember and it was a pretty scenic coastline.

Photo- The "Ray Charles" of tow truck drivers!  But a nice guy!

We get to the repair shop and he unloads my car after he does a quick pose for my blog picture.  He’s a bit conscious about what he calls a silly haircut.  I just laugh.  Why are we always so self-conscious when others most of the time don’t even notice stuff like that.  Then I remember my thought process at arriving at the restaurant last night.  Hmmmm…

I go in the shop and give them my info and then am about to sit down when the guy suggests that I might want to have lunch and wait over at a nearby restaurant that closes at 2PM.  We should know what’s going on with your car by then he tells me.  I walk across to the parking lot and into a little diner in the strip mall area called C.J.’s. 

C.J.’s is only open for breakfast and lunch.  It’s Friday lunch hour and it’s pretty busy.  The hostess told me to sit where I would like and someone will be right with me.  I find the only table that’s open but needs to be cleaned off.  I slowly sit down.  A guy runs over with a wash rag wipes the table and asks me what I would like to drink.  I said a diet coke but he comes back with ice tea with lemon. 

I’m not in the mood to complain.  My mind is focused on hoping that I don’t need a replaced transmission in the car.  Please, please, I hope I didn’t do any damage to the transmission.  I order the patty melt medium well done with a side a mixed fruit.  I’m still not use to being asked how I want my burger done; not something they do in Utah.  I feel a bit down at this point and I’m really not even interested in the food.  I text John and tell him I didn’t get very far.  He asks if he can do anything later and I text back maybe a strong drink after they tell me what needs to be done.

The patty melt arrives terribly greasy and I eat all of the fruit before even attempting the sandwich.  I’m taking my time and really just drinking the ice tea which really tastes good to me.  It’s kind of a nice for a change.  I tell the gal that I hope I’m okay just hanging out and that my car got towed to the repair shop over the ways there.  Oh you poor thing she says that’s no problem at all as she refills my ice tea. 

My phone rings just before 2pm.  It’s the repair shop.  It’s a broken pan and a cracked gasket that need to be replaced but he states that all of the transmission fluid had drained out of the engine.  He says they can replace those parts and refill the fluid but that might not solve the problem because more damage could’ve been done to the transmission while it was dry.  But it was a place to start and then drive it to see if more needed to be done.  I tell him to go ahead and do that and then we’ll see what is what.

I pay for the restaurant and the hostess wishes me good luck with my car.  I walk over to the repair shop and sit in their front waiting room area.  I get out my nook and just hang out.  I also watch a little TV but I couldn’t really concentrate on the TV or my nook.  I was a bit stressed out.  I text John and ask how far a drive is Laughlin.  It’s four hours but with Friday traffic it would take a bit longer than that.  It’s almost 4PM.

Photo- A street in Palm Desert not far from where I stayed the night.

 I guess I need to see about finding a hotel to stay in Palm desert for the night.  John offers his spare bedroom.  He mentions that he’s just planning on staying in at home watching some TV and that he’s been having a hankering for meatloaf.  I laugh.  I text back and say I make a great meatloaf.  He asks me to text him the shopping list and he pick up what’s needed.  Okay, why not?  I text it back and a short time later a guy from the back of the repair shop comes back and says my car is ready and it seems to be driving fine.  They drove it around the neighborhood for a bit, but he suggests I don’t go anywhere too far for a while before it’s been driven a bit more.  I told him I was planning on Laughlin.  He suggests I drive around locally and make sure there’s nothing wrong before I get out on with my traveling.

So I take my car over to the interstate and zoom along on I-10 going east for a couple of exits; then through Palm Desert in stop and go traffic.  Next it’s up to Hwy 74 and I drive up the mountain side that I came down to get into Palm Desert.  The car’s doing beautifully.  I meet John and follow him to his townhouse in a gated community.

It was fun using someone else’s kitchen to cook in and it had been a while since I had cooked for someone.  I made a dinner of my meatloaf with extra special sauce and some garlic mashed potatoes, while John opened a bottle of wine.  We had a nice meal and then just hung out and watched a movie.  I was almost falling asleep on the couch.   The day had taken its toll on me.  John suggested that I turn in for the night and wished me a good night.  I went to the guest room and got settled in for the night. 

DAY 21-- Portlandia

The house where I am renting an upstairs room is located in the Sellwood part of Portland.  It’s a neighborhood that has a small shopping haven which has a predominance of antique shops but there are a few wonderful restaurants in there too; as I discovered.  My gracious host, Jim, helped me with suggestions to local places and also directions to a biking/rec path that leads to a whole network of biking throughout the Portland area. 

Photos- The Sellwood area of Portland.

Portland is a Gold Medal city when it comes to being bike friendly and I have to say it is VERY friendly to bikes.  I took the path early in the morning and within 10 minutes and 5 miles I was in the heart of downtown Portland.  I saw several other cyclists, most of them, commuting on their way to work.  Most of the other cyclists had panniers on their bikes or loaded up backpacks; some even had various decorations on the top of their helmets. (So sorry I wasn’t faster with the camera.) 

Photo- Bike path being used by commuting cyclists with Portland skyline in background.

The main parts of the bicycle paths go right along the shoreline of the river that runs through the heart of downtown Portland.  It provides some wonderful scenery with the river, small boats, small marinas, bridges, and the city’s buildings all intermixed to give Portland its unique flavor. 

Photo- The sun above at one of the river path areas near downtown Portland.

Once I got to the downtown area, I went off the bike path and took various other bike friendly roads; most of them had a bike lane or a green lane.  I even traversed a couple of the bridges going on both sides of town.  I was amazed at how the cars were very accepting of bikes and I even had a few times I was in the wrong lane but the drivers were very patient with me.  Not at all like in SLC, where I would’ve been yelled at to get off the road along with a few choice profanities and possibly flipped off too. 

Photo- Green lanes in downtown Portland.

Bike traffic seems to have priority in this city. The bike paths were signed and told you where each off shoot went and they told you the distances to the next stop or destination.  There were even signal lights where it was just for cyclist to cross an intersection diagonally.  You would push a button on the sidewalk and they had the bike path painted through the intersection.  Just wait for the bike signal to turn green and you had right away for the whole intersection.  There were also areas where only bikes and buses were allowed in the downtown area. It was all rather mind blowing!


Photo- Signage along the bike paths.

Later I drove downtown to catch a free walking tour.  I would’ve been better off biking down to it than driving to it.  Warning- Portland is not friendly to car drivers and it can be frustrating to figure out how to get from point A to point B.  There are a combo of factors that make this so—bus and bike only road areas, one way streets, and light rail running down the center of road areas. 

Parking a car in downtown Portland can also be a real pain.  There’s not much street parking and of it much are designed for loading zones and car share vehicles.  Portland doesn’t seem to want you to bring your car to the downtown area at all.  Also, they have recently done away with the MAX’s (Portland’s Light rail & Bus system) free fare zone about 2 months ago.  I ended up finding a parking garage to park my car in for the deal of $9.95 for the whole day.

The Free Walking Tour in Portland; the Secrets of Portlandia (http://secretsofportlandia.com/ ) was a wonderful funny experience and I highly recommend it to anyone that comes to visit the city.  It starts everyday rain or shine from the front of the Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse.  The guide wears a bright green t-shirt and holds a Free Tour sign up.  He’s not hard to miss.  For about an hour and a half he takes you along the city telling you showing you landmarks and talking about all that makes Portland the very unique place that it is.  All along he tries out various bad jokes and puns.  Also, repeatedly using the one-liner of “…on a clear day you can see Mt. Hood…” among all of his other commentary.  Some of the jokes flop but some have you cracking up pretty good.  It’s a little like taking a city tour with a stand-up comedian and hecklers are welcome.  It’s an interactive fun. 

Photos- Free Walking Tour...

At the end of the tour, he stands off to the side and takes tips if you feel like it was worth the tour.  Most of the other city tour walks charge $20 and I’m betting they are not nearly as much fun.  What was even more fun about the whole thing was that at the end of the tour there were more people than what we started with.  People just joined up as we went along.  It’s well worth the $20 that I gave him, he also very willing to give tips on other things to do and where to eat in the city.

Next, I went to a “food court” in the downtown area.  It’s an open area parking lot that has been edged by these food carts that sell every kind of food imaginable.  It's like a little city of food carts that cover a block area. They are actually watched more closely by the food inspectors in Portland than the restaurants.  So thus they are safer to eat at and quite often are a better deal too.  I ordered some Thai food which there seems to be a lot of in Portland.  I had a wonderful pumpkin curry with rice. 

As I waited for my late lunch, I got to talking with another guy that was waiting for his food.  I ended up walking with him over two blocks where there was a city park we could sit down in to eat our lunches.  We visited while we ate and he gave me some suggestions for on my way to Mt. Hood.  While we were eating, I watched a homeless person start digging around in a trash can.  I made a comment and Tom, my lunch companion, said that’s Portland.  He said there was a Cop Shop over on the corner so the homeless would probably not act up or give us any problem. 

But the homeless in the area is a major problem.  They are on a lot of the corners in the downtown area by the river.  Quite often, they sleep between the river and the bike paths.  You’ll see them loaded down with their gear on bikes into the city in the mornings.  It’s sad.  Portland has the second highest unemployment rate in the country.  If you consider moving to the Portland area you should make sure you have a job first.

I walked around the city and took more pictures as I went.  I had hoped to go to the Portland Art Museum but they are closed on Mondays.  It seems like a great deal of places are closed on Mondays.  It’s like the equaling of Sundays in Utah.  Later on, when I was back in Sellwood I tried to go to a restaurant my host Jim had mentioned to me that was a 4 block walk.  But I found that it was closed on Sunday.  Instead I ended up going to a little Italian café about 5 blocks away called a Cena.  OMG!  The dessert I had at the end of a wonderful meal was to die for—Semifreddo; a frozen chocolate mousse with a warm with warm cherries!  SO Good! SO GOOD!  But I will definitely need to bike in the morning to make up for that one!

DAY 20- Chocolate, Cars, & Cheese!

I ended up staying the night at the “Hilton” of the KOA campsites.  The facilities for this KOA were deluxe and they even had a free pancake breakfast that they served in the morning at their kitchen building.  The night before, I had gone to a chocolate and wine tasting that they held at the main KOA store.  It was chocolate truffles cut up and then served with a red wine that was infused with chocolate.  It was chocolate heaven!  The wine tasted like a chocolate version of Bailey’s and was very yummy.  So yummy in fact that I bought a bottle of it and took it back to my tent site. 

Photo- My campsite at the "Hilton" KOA.

I almost drank half of the bottle while I sat at the covered picnic bench at my campsite with my plugged in computer surfing the web on my computer till it was bedtime (midnight).  Did I mention that I had a tent site where I had power and water?  It was also fenced in and rather private; too cool!

Next, after breaking camp and grabbing my free pancakes, I headed south along the coast on Hwy 101.  It was misting rather heavily most of the morning since about 7am shortly after I had gotten my camping gear packed up. (Thank goodness!)  I had asked a gal at the pancake breakfast if this was considered rain in the northwest.  “No, not yet there but it’s on its way,” she answered.

So it was some wet driving towards the south for the next 14 miles.  It never full rained but the misting got to a point of a good drizzle.  I drove about 5 miles under the speed limit because I wasn’t sure how the roads were when they were wet here.  In Utah, the roads get awfully slick when they get wet.  I think that I was frustrating some of the other drivers behind me and I took every opportunity to get over into the turn outs so they could whiz on by me.  I just didn’t want to chance it.

Photo- Car show in Seaside.

Seaside was the next town that I came to.  It’s a vibrant little community along the beach area.  They were also having some kind of hot rod car show along their main street area; only all of these cars were taking all of the parking along the street.  They also had the street closed to other cars.  It was rather fun to walk among the cars and the misting seemed to be finally waning a bit. 

But I still ended up purchasing a much needed raincoat at local store.  It’s not that I didn’t have one at all but that the one I did have was for my cycling.  It has bicycle grease on it from riding around with my bike in the back of my car.  I went to several different shops and finally found an inexpensive men’s raincoat that I liked.  I walked down to the end of the street where there was a lovely turnabout and plaza area of the town that overlooks the beach.  There were a lot of people flying kites along the beach.  T was rather fun to watch them.

Photo- The wonderful view of Cannon Beach from the south of town.

Next it was onto Cannon Beach which came highly recommended in the 1001 Places to See Before You Die book that I’ve periodically been using to help me along the way.  I lucked out and found a parking place at the end of a street just off of the beach.  I just walked over to the end of the street but didn’t go out on the beach.  I didn’t want to worry about sand in my sandals or my socks. 

Yep, I’m doing the socks with the sandals thing that is like a Utah thing.  MAN! And I used to hate that when I would see that but after living somewhere for over 20 years I guess you pick up some of the habits of the locals.  What the Heck! (Which is another Utah-ism, because they don’t say hell! They consider that swearing.  But then it doesn’t tend to hail there much either so you can’t choose to say you were using the proper word to describe precipitation either. Oh HECK!)

Photo- Cute little courtyards nested along with shops in Cannon Beach.

I walked around the main street of Cannon Beach; mainly, through some of the galleries.  I was particularly liked the art gallery in the Cannon Beach Mall called Haystack Gallery.  It had a beautiful original watercolor painting from Steve Hanks.  And another artist that I really like was Michael Schlicting who had some amazing ocean scenes done in watercolor.

Photo- A self-supported cyclist on Hwy 101.

Next, I stopped by the first viewing area just south of Cannon Beach which had a better view of the overall beach.  While there two self-supported touring cyclists I had passed earlier stopped at the viewing area too.  I talked to them for a bit.  This was their first tour of any sort and they had started in Vancouver, BC and were on their way to San Francisco where they would fly back to Ontario, Canada.  I wished them luck and when they saw my Utah plates they said that a bike tour of southern Utah was next on their list.

Photo- I took a self-guided tour.

Behold the power of cheese!  I next went to Tillamook where I took a self-guided tour of the cheese factory.  It was interesting reading about the process and then viewing some of the processing from a second floor observation area that overlooks the production floor.  Then I came back down stairs where there was an area that you could sample some of the cheeses.  I would’ve bought some cheese but I really had no way of keeping it much past the afternoon and even the smallest package was a bit much for an afternoon consumption for me.

I turned onto Hwy 6 and started heading towards Portland where I would be staying the night.  I drove through the very dense Tillamook State Forest which seemed to make a very winding road to drive on.  Then, it was on to Hwy 26 which was a double lane in each direction.  I was able to pick up some speed, and before I knew it I was near Portland.  I managed to find my way to the Sellwood area where I was renting a room for the next two nights from a homeowner that I found on the www.airbnb.com website.  A friend had given me the website to check out.

DAY 19- Longview to Longbeach & Plenty of Cars...

I left the crummy Econolodge rather early.  The weather was cloudy, overcast and looked as though it could rain at any time.  I did a quick look at the Econolodge’s  “Continental Breakfast” and opted to just have coffee.  Nothing looked good and I questioned how fresh everything was.  I drove along the Columbia River on Hwy 4, a pretty drive.  I tasted the coffee after a while and OMG; can you say bad coffee?  The person who made it must not have been a coffee drinker at all.  It was that bad!

Photo- The drive along the Columbia River on Hwy 4.

I ended up stopping at a General Store in the hamlet of Skamokawa (please don’t ask me to pronounce this name!) It was right next to a little two room post office.  I thought while I was getting a coffee I would mail a couple of postcards too.  I tried the post office and it was locked.  So I went to the General Store and talked with the clerk as I got a cup of good coffee.  I guess that the postmistress had left out on her run and would be back later in the afternoon.  I guess I’d wait on the postcards.

Photo- The General Store where I got some good coffee and directions!

I continued to talk with the clerk and discovered a cover bridge near Hwy 4 that I was on.  She gave me directions to the turn off and said that it then again looped back into Hwy 4.  It sounded great to me.  She also told me of a couple other places to check out too while in Longbeach and later in Astoria all that were on my planned route of the day.

Photo- The covered bridge.

Photo- Signage for the Covered Bridge.

I found the turn off for the covered bridge and drove 2 miles to it on a winding country two lane highway.  It was fun driving across the covered bridge.  It was dark and had a distinct nose as you drive the car over the wood planking of the bridge.  It was one of another first for me; the first time I had driven a car over a covered wooden bridge. 

It was as I was trying to get back to Hwy 4 that I ended up getting a bit lost or so it seemed.  I ended up asking a farmer that was out by the road with his pit bull mixed dog named Spud.  I thought the farmer had said Bud, when I asked the dog’s name as I went to pet it.  The farmer corrected me twice and said that his name was Spud.  The farmer had a bit of a lisp.  “Oh,” I said, “like the potato!”  The farmer just looked at me like I had two heads.  I thanked him and continued on following his directions.  I ended up back on Hwy 4.

Photos- Art along the Art Interpretive Trail at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. 

Next I stopped off at the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge just off of Hwy 4.It is tooted as being one of the most pristine estuaries in the U.S. and has over 260 square miles of water surface within its boundaries.  It has several bird and fish species; as well as Roosevelt elk, deer, river otters, bobcats, porcupines, raccoons, and black bear. I took the two hikes they have at the Headquarters: the Art Interpretive; a ¼ mile boardwalk with art displays, and the Cut Throat Climb; 2/3 mile that climbs up and down in a valley area next to a ridge.  It was a wonderful hike and just amazing that it was such a short distance from the road but you felt like it was miles.

Photo- The Cut Throat Climb Trail at Willapa National Wildlife Refuge.

Then, I got out to the stretch of land that had Longbeach on it and just wandered around.  I happened to stumble into the middle of the 29^th Annual Rod Run to the End of the End of the World.  I drove by the fairgrounds area and there was a sea of fancy cars parked out on display.  There were tons of people and the road was backed up in both directions.

Photo- Backed up traffic and classic cars.

As I’m driving along, cars of all shapes and sizes are coming up in the other direction.  There were classic cars, old cars, Model T varieties, sports cars, and muscle cars; just anything you could imagine was there.  It was pretty amazing but what I thought was even more fun was watching the people on the side of the roads.  They were in chairs; whole families with their dog and kids in tow camped out with coolers and snacks.  The whole atmosphere was like the circus had come to town.  There was also a large abundance of misc. cars in all kinds of conditions that were parked along the road with for sale signs on them.

Photos- Car, car, and more cars!

I parked on a side street a couple of blocks over and I grabbed lunch; a bowl of delicious crab chowder at Captain Bob’s.  I sat down outside on a bench while I ate and also people watched.  It was all so fascinating.

Photo- Cape Disappointment.

Then, I swung by the beach for a bit.  After all, it's the longest beach being Longbeach.  Then, I moved onto Cape Disappointment about 4 miles from Longbeach.  It’s the lighthouse that served the area where the Columbia River goes into the Ocean a very treacherous area of water to navigate.  It was a short hike of ¾ mile out to the lighthouse.  I took a few pictures but now was getting to a point where I had enough sightseeing for the day. 

It was time to head on.  Off to Hwy 401, to the 5 mile bridge that crosses the Columbia River and also serves as a go between the state of Washington and Oregon.  About 2 miles out of the Washington side is when you are actually crossing into Oregon.  They have a sign above as you go through on the bridge.  Goodbye Washington and Hello Oregon!  And thus, I’ve finished one state of the lower 48.  I might need to pick up my pace a little bit now; but we’ll see.

Photo- Hello Oregon!