Saturday

As promised, Saturday... It was quite nice. Got up fairly early in Buffalo with all of the hunters. Our ascent into the Big Horn mountains began immediately. That was a nice stretch of scenery. From there, it was the high plains basin of Wyoming. They had a badlands feel all of their own. That stretch took us into Cody, WY for lunch. It was a nice little town. Very liveable with clean air, and a rodeo nightly! After that was the favorite part of my trip... the Buffalo Bill State Park and Reservoir. The water there and its canyons were amazing to look at. Finally, we got to Yellowstone. The scenery and animals were great to see, but most of the main attractions reeked to the high heavens (with sulfur). From there it was on into Montana and we finally stopped in Bozeman. That is a fine town. Dinner at the Montana Ale Works was superb, as were the accomodations at Western Heritage Inn. I thought it was the best stop of the trip.

Sunday morning we were up and out very early. We crossed the continental divide and saw some bald eagles as we neared Missoula. Not much stopping here. Missoula looked like a pretty big place. It reminded me a lot of Corning, NY with it's lay out. More driving. The mountains are beautiful, but I get tired and bored of things after awhile. It was then on into Idaho for a short stretch. Coure de'Lene was amazing with its huge lake. Very pretty there, but no stopping. I could see myself visiting someday (and then going to Glacier National Park). Next was Spokane. This was probably the biggest city we hit the whole trip. Somehow we managed to see a small sign saying that I90 was closed in Ritzville due to a dust storm. Really??? A dust storm? We stopped and had some okay Thai food for lunch and I looked up info about this storm. It didn't sound good. It either was going to be wait it out, or find a different route. I chose the latter and we headed south, into Eastern Washington and The Polouse. The Polouse are perhaps the most amazing set of rolling hills you will ever see. They are covered in wheat and just go on, seemingly forever and ever. I'm fairly convinced now that all wheat comes from E. WA.

We drove through Walla Walla and finally came to the Columbia River, right where the gorge pretty much begins. Wow. I had never been out that far. This is perhaps where the gorge is most majestic. We soon crossed into Oregon and at this point I decided that trip would be finished that evening. So onto Portland... but not so fast. Once we reached I84, there was an ominous haze ahead of us. The Dust Storm. It had reached the gorge. I stopped to get some information, and it was safe to press on. You could see well enough to drive but the sun was completely whited out. At times it looked like an eclipse was taking place.

We finally made through the dust and by that time night was settling in. We passed through The Dalles and Hood River before making one final stop at Multnomah Falls. It was too dark to see them very well but you could head them. These are the tallest falls in the US. Then, finally Portland. I think we were on the road for 15 hours on the final day. With the dust storm there didn't seem to be any other way. Spokane didn't seem like somewhere I wanted to stay, and camping at Mt. Rainier didn't seem possible.

It's now Wednesday and I'm here. I've already met people who are from Michigan or know people in Michigan, and that's made me pretty homesick. I miss people like crazy and it's killing me. I'll get through. Additionally, my sinuses are killing me. I'm not sure what happened, but the bridge of my nose is especially sore, like someone puched me or I walked into a while. It's drivin me a little batty. Time to dig out the neti pot.

I have a places lined up where I can live. One is a funky old basement apartment in the Buckman neighborhood. It has a walk score of 92 - very walkable. The other is a nice place near Moreland and Sellwood, in a complex and across the street from Oaks Bottom park, a carnival, and he Willammette River. It's a busy car street with a walk score of only 68 - somewhat walkable. I plugged in my A2 apartment and it got a 95 - walker's paradise. Ha! I have some more places to look at today.

One thing I've learned is I like to be by the water. That was evident the entire trip here. Nothing seems to relax me more. So the 68 may win out. We shall see.

I'm going to try to get out today for some R&R. We shall see. These sinuses are limiting my ambition. But Friday, Richmond Fontaine is playing at Dante's. This is one of the biggest bonuses for me moving here, so I may start to feel a little at home then.

That's all for now. It's about 7am here. I've been early to sleep and early to rise. Stupid time zones, they're probably good for me.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz