Category: Land

Postcard from the Road:

 The aisles of Powell’s City of Books in Portland, which
takes up several floors of a full city block. And then some.

We drove all the way across Oregon in the rain along the Columbia Gorge. Passed through Hood River in the dark, arrived in Portland exhausted. Decided to head straight for something familiar and comforting – a bookstore.

Sometimes Portland felt like being on a movie set – everyone was in character. 

Ok, an enormous bookstore. But from there we knew we could set up a quick base camp and figure out what to do next: get out of the rain, get out of the car, and get access to wifi.

Still raining, cold and hard. Just parking was a big hassle, and the idea of getting back in the car had zero appeal. Found a hotel close enough to walk to, just a couple of blocks away. Pricey, but anything in the city would be expensive, and we were ready for a little R&R. And food.

Got checked in, and realized we needed to bring the car around to the hotel. Then realized it wouldn’t fit into any nearby garages with that humongous luggage rack on top. On a tip from the doorman, we ran back for the car in the rain and grabbed a spot that opened up right out front on the street. Emily decided it was worth it to get up early to feed the meter. No other options, really. We’d be heading for Hood River by lunch, anyway.

I got a plane reservation and arranged for a rental car for me, and a place to stay for at least the next night.

Still buzzing from the road neither of us could get to sleep right away, but when we did we crashed hard.

Postcard from the Road:

Spent the night in Boise, at the far edge of Mountain Time. The hotel window looks out over the interstate. After midnight, tumbleweeds scurry down the highway like stray dogs, passing from one dim, yellowed skirt caste by a streetlight to the next.

Moving too fast to stop and post. In Portland tomorrow.

Postcard from the Road:

Too tired to do much tonight. We’re crossing the country at a rate of a Time Zone per day.

Sixteen hours of driving, and close to 1000 miles. It began in the dark and snow and ended in the dark.

At least the snow part is over for now.

Postcard from the Road: 

We covered 759 miles today, stopping just east of St. Louis. Wanted to save Missouri for tomorrow, since state lines will be fewer and farther between from now on. We saw 6 states today.

The driving has been good, so far. Traffic is light, weather good. A dusting of snow on the mountains in West Virginia, increasing steadily to piles here in Illinois. But all of is several days old, the highways clear. Only parking lots and side roads still packed with snow.

We lucked into a nice window – between the Polar Vortex (which froze and burst all the pipes in the hotel here on Monday, from which they’re just now recovering) and some light snow just south of here. We should get to Oregon just a day after big storm there of fierce wind and very heavy rain, up to 6 inches overnight. Hope our luck holds.

A selection of snaps from the day. Some is from the time lapse rig running on the dash, and some hand held.

Very pretty landscape, even in the hard light of winter.

Postcard from the Road: