The trip got off on the wrong foot. To get to Seattle I usually park at the Indian Casino (fo free) and take a bus to the ferry terminal. When I got to the terminal I realized that I was without my trusty cell phone. This was a serious problem. I've been on many road trips, most of which are written about in this blog. The best tool on a road trip is the iPhone. It's as useful for getting directions as it is for settling silly debates that arise during long drives.
*Side note: My first thought when I realized that I didn't have my phone was that it would be really cool to tweet all the things that I couldn't do over the course of the trip due to the lack of iPhone. I immediately realized that the first tweet would be "Can't tweet without my phone".
*Side note: My first thought when I realized that I didn't have my phone was that it would be really cool to tweet all the things that I couldn't do over the course of the trip due to the lack of iPhone. I immediately realized that the first tweet would be "Can't tweet without my phone".
My more pressing problem was that I had neglected to tell the GF what ferry I would be on and when she should pick me up. Since I don't carry around an address book at all times I couldn't have even called her on a pay phone. It really made me realize how useless I felt without my phone. I've touched on my generations dependence on technology before but I couldn't even perform a simple task like arraigning a pick up from the ferry without my phone. Luckily I had my laptop, and was able to email her iPhone to let her know when I would arrive but I still felt pretty useless waiting at the terminal not knowing if she was coming or not.
On Friday we left Seattle at 5 AM. As the old adage goes "Some people just aren't cut out for life on the road". I was that people, and instantly fell asleep until we got to Portland around 9 AM. We made good time and got to Califorinia around 2 PM, we went to the first auto shop over the border and got the smog test and paperwork along with a very awkward post-smog-test hug from the inspector. With that complete we were on to the next portion of our adventure.
My girlfriends grandparents used to live in Medford, Oregon just across the border from California. Her grandmother was a hoarder to such an extent that her grandparents had two houses completely full of random stuff including every item ever sold on an infomercial. I could have walked away with a Big Mouth Billy Bass and a NuWave Oven if I had wanted. Her grandparents have both been moved to homes 2 years ago, and her parents have taken 6 trips to clear out their houses and filled up 7 large dumpsters. This was to be the last trip where they would clear out the rest of the house and take the valuables down to California.
Her parents had arrived 5 days before to start the final cleanup. Among the items that we were to be packing up was a collection of over 100 unopened Barbie Dolls that had been growing for over 5 decades. Everything in the house smelled real funky. But after a few hours on Saturday morning we had everything done. We then started our drive home. But before we could get too far we had to stop to watch the Michigan game.
We chose a sports bar in the dusty town of Medford. It was an interesting place to say the least. I wish I could have taken a picture of it but alas I was phone-less. The sort of place where patrons would come in order two Budweiser's, drink them and leave. The bartender seemed to know everyone that came in except us. This one feller comes in and sits next to me at the bar and orders a double well vodka and a bud back. He finished the double and then he orders another single well vodka. Finishes that, chugs the rest of his beer and leaves. Couldn't have been in the place more that 10 minutes. We finished watching Michigan win and then got on the road. We stayed the night in Eugene, and mad it back to Seattle this afternoon.
Not a bad 3-day 1,000 mile adventure. Next stop is Florida on Tuesday.
We chose a sports bar in the dusty town of Medford. It was an interesting place to say the least. I wish I could have taken a picture of it but alas I was phone-less. The sort of place where patrons would come in order two Budweiser's, drink them and leave. The bartender seemed to know everyone that came in except us. This one feller comes in and sits next to me at the bar and orders a double well vodka and a bud back. He finished the double and then he orders another single well vodka. Finishes that, chugs the rest of his beer and leaves. Couldn't have been in the place more that 10 minutes. We finished watching Michigan win and then got on the road. We stayed the night in Eugene, and mad it back to Seattle this afternoon.
Not a bad 3-day 1,000 mile adventure. Next stop is Florida on Tuesday.
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